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PLUMBING CONNECTION
SUMMER 2016
TESTING THE WATERS
T
he WELS scheme primarily serves to assure
consumers that the products they buy, such as
showers and taps, are not only fit for purpose but
won’t send their water bills sky rocketing either.
Due to water pressure being a large contributor to the
water consumption of a product, product testing based on
the WELS scheme has been designed to ensure that water
pressure is no longer a contributing factor.
CSIRO, among other testing facilities, undertake various
testing procedures required for WELS registration to be
consistent and comprehensive, ensuring that products are
reliably star-rated and labelled.
Testing procedures are specified by the Australian
Standard
- AS/NZS 6400-2005 - Water efficient products
- Rating and labelling (the WELS Standard),
and form the
basis of the WELS water efficiency star ratings.
CSIRO has recently developed a new test rig to facilitate
the changes to
AS3662 Performance and testing of showers
which goes a few steps beyond the traditional ‘mean spray’
test.
“We’ve spent quite a bit of time in this area, as have
other labs and committees. There were proficiency
tests completed a while back with the aim of achieving
consistency within the Standard to a point where we were
all satisfied that what came out of one lab was going to
come out of another,” project manager hydraulics laboratory
CSIRO Stephen Smith says.
“There have been many changes going on in the
background with committees, labs and working groups to
reach a two-pronged approach.
“One was to get the flow rate down on showers because
most showers in the market place were running between
7.5-16 litres per minute which were covered under the star
rating system and then there were those running below
which were getting a rating but the rating came with a
disclaimer to suggest they may not be suitable for use.”
While original testing practices were tried and tested, it
was agreed upon across the industry, that new methods
were needed to ensure lower flow rates were properly
catered to.
“We originally tested for spray coverage, consumption
and repeatability which was quite good when we were only
looking at 3 star ratings from 7.5-9 litres per minute. The
industry wasn’t confident in the approach with lower flow
rates as we’d already had problems back in 2000 with
showers not performing up to expectations even though
they were low flow. It did damage schemes that came before
WELS so it was understandable that WELS and the industry
as a whole wanted to avoid those issues going forward”
Stephen says.
To counter those issues, two additional tests were
brought in: force and coverage.
PLUMBING CONNECTION HEADS TO CSIRO TO FIND OUT WHAT’S NEW IN THE AREA OF TESTING SHOWER HEADS DUE
TO CHANGES IN
AS/NZS 6400-2005 - WATER EFFICIENT PRODUCTS - RATING AND LABELLING (THE WELS STANDARD).
CSIRO has recently developed a new test rig to facilitate the
changes to
AS3662 Performance and testing of showers
.
WELS
WE ORIGINALLY TESTED FOR
SPRAY COVERAGE, CONSUMPTION
AND REPEATABILITY WHICH WAS
QUITE GOOD WHEN WE WERE ONLY
LOOKING AT 3 STAR RATINGS FROM
7.5-9 LITRES PER MINUTE.