Temperature and flow monitoring simplified

Designer, developer, and manufacturer of washroom control products, Cistermiser, will soon launch a wireless system for the continuous, automatic, and accurate monitoring – with minimal human intervention – of hot and cold water temperatures and water flow events in large pipework systems such as those found in hospitals. As HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, discovered from technical director, David Meacock, the ‘Internet of Things (IoT)’-enabled temperature monitoring system is designed to substantially reduce the workload of healthcare estates teams seeking to minimise the risk of Legionella growth by eliminating the need for frequent manual sampling and flushing of well-used outlets where water temperatures and flow remain stable.

In a highly competitive sector, continuing to innovate remains key for Cistermiser – one of the UK’s best-known names in washroom controls, whose sister company, Keraflo, operates ‘at the other end of the water system’, supplying ‘maintenance-free’ float valves and tank management systems. The latest in a line of innovative products developed over the past five years – with a launch planned for this October – is an operating platform comprising physical and software components that can enable Cistermiser to add intelligence to its new temperature monitoring unit and connect it to the Internet of Things. This gives the user a system for automatic wireless monitoring, providing real-time temperature readings on their computer screen, in order to track and monitor hot and cold water temperatures in pipework systems – critical to risk assessments. 

The system was developed over the past two years in collaboration with ‘Internet of Things’ solutions provider, SPICA Technologies. Cistermiser has committed to a long-term partnership with SPICA which will see further ‘connected device’ innovation introduced across its product range, underpinned by SPICA’s data analysis solutions. The IoTenabled temperature monitoring unit was specifically designed to enable maintenance and engineering personnel responsible for large, complex water systems – such as those found in in hospitals – to continuously monitor hot and cold water temperatures within multiple buildings without having to visit sentinel points to temperature sample manually. Instead a network of small ‘black boxes’ does the job automatically.