44 / 84
4 4
PLUMBING CONNECTION Winter 2022
ALL IS WELL WITHWELS
T
he Water Efficiency Labelling
and Standards (WELS) scheme
began in Australia during the
height of the drought in the mid 2000s.
Its inception was only a smaller part
of a larger government initiative to
try and conserve Australia’s reducing
water storage. Reducing the water
consumption from fixtures was seen as
an easy way to target large savings. The
Australian initiative to curb water usage
from fixtures started small, but perhaps
has gone a lot further than what we had
first anticipated.
The WELS scheme is Australia’s Water
Efficiency Labelling and Standards
scheme, and it was introduced to
limit the amount of water consumed
in buildings through fixtures and
appliances that can perform the
same duties with less water. It has
been a mandatory part of Australia’s
building construction industry for more
than 15 years now, which exceeds
the duration of a lot of other similar
schemes worldwide. In fact, a lot of the
world witnessed the emergence of this
revolutionary scheme
and swiftly looked to
introduce something
similar, understanding
its benefits.
The WELS scheme,
though, had mixed
responses when it
first was introduced
here in Australia.
Many licensed
practitioners and
consumers alike
resisted the initiative with a large
amount of displeasure. Homeowners
used to ample flow through high-
flowing showers were suddenly met
with products that were roughly half
to a third of their traditional flow rates.
Or toilets that easily removed waste
now had to use far less water. Plumbers
(probably unfairly) attracted a lot of the
blame for the installation of the new
‘updated’ products. The opposition to
the introduction of the WELS scheme
saw a large percentage of licensed
plumbers removing flow controllers or
adjusting products in anticipation of
being called back in their own time to
‘fix’ the shower, tap, or toilet.
EARLY PUSH-BACK
The real reason for the initial push-back
from industry though, in hindsight,
could be largely to do with the products
that were available back when WELS
began. Most of these products became
outdated overnight, having to achieve an
intended outcome using water volumes
that they were never designed for. Poor
product performance using antiquated
designs against new standards was
likely the major contributor to the
widespread dissatisfaction.
And whilst this may have been
understandably true, in the background
engineers had already begun designing
new products to align with the new
efficiency targets.
In engineering
terms, the ‘efficiency’
of a product is often
incorrectly associated
with its overall
consumption, which is
not necessarily true.
Something delivering
water at 4L/min
instead of 10L/min
does not necessarily
make it more
efficient. Efficiency
refers to how well something (in this
case water) achieves or completes a
task. Any consumption that has been
used to achieve a non-result, or which
fails to achieve a desired target, can be
considered a waste. So, a toilet using 4.5
litres to
almost
clear a bowl is not more
efficient than a toilet that can use 6
litres to successfully clear all contents.
For this reason products these days
are engineered differently to their older
counterparts, based on a knowledge
of the available water consumption.
The key is understanding the end
goal of what must be achieved. New
product designs are only now achieving
efficiency in the way that the WELS
scheme had originally intended.
ENGINEERS MEET CHALLENGES
Australian Standards test methods
have performance parameters defining
comfort and effectiveness, whilst
observing maximum water allowance.
Engineers have risen to the challenge
and are creating designs understanding
what water consumption is permitted,
as opposed to previous years where
older designs were simply forced to
comply with new legislation. If you knew
you only were allowed 7L/min, would you
design a showerhead that only reaches
peak performance above 15L/min?
Shower heads are delivering effective
ablutionary capabilities using low water
consumption that was previously thought
impossible. Taps are effectively washing
hands using outlet aerators and spout
designs intended for ultra-low water flow
rates without a dribbling affect.
And because of the new designs, it
is important to understand what this
does to a product. An older shower that
was originally designed for 20L/min
will suffer drastically in performance
when condemned to the use of an
8L/min flow controller. However,
a showerhead that was originally
designed for only 8L/min may in fact see
disastrous consequences if exposed
to significantly higher flow rates.
Rimless toilet pans flushed with higher
pressures are susceptible to splashing
around the surrounding floors.
Placing a flow controller, for example,
in the wall elbow of a hand shower not
only reduces the flow to the desired rate
it was engineered to, but also reduces
The Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme, which became mandatory in 2007, has
gone on to set water efficiency benchmarks that are the envy of the world. Plumbing Test Consultant
Terry Nguyen
from PROVE Standards & Engineering comments.
New product designs
are only now achieving
efficiency in the way
that the WELS scheme
had originally intended.
PROVE IT -
TERRY NGUYEN