Working with E-LAB Consulting, a leading specialist sustainability engineering consultancy company, we approached the BASIX technical support team with our innovative H-BOX unit with the aim of recognising the product for it’s water savings potential.
Various water savings calculations and theoretical water savings were modelled, showing potential savings ranging from 16 to 25% depending on the proposed hot water design, apartment size, number of occupants, etc.
These savings were also validated through a case study where the H-BOX unit was retrofitted into an existing building to reduce the HW delivery times. The embedded network company of the building provided anonymous data of the hot water usage for the apartments before and after the installation of the H-BOX for a 2 year period. Due to limitations in access, the full benefit of the H-BOX could not be achieved by circulating hot water through the entire apartment, however, despite this the H-BOX proved to reduce hot water consumption on average by 10%. Of course, had the circulation of hot water continued through to each fixture, the water savings would likely be closer in line with the water savings initially calculated.
This data, along with the proposed water savings calculations was accepted by BASIX in June 2022. Now within the BASIX tool, if using a central hot water system, the H-BOX system can be utilised by selecting a “Hot Water Re-heating Circulation Device” to indicate that this device is present and will apply a water saving to your sustainability score.
Note that at this stage the main change has been to remove the validation that prevented the use of an ‘on-demand hot water recirculation system’ to be connected to central hot water system. The water savings offered under the ‘on demand’ type system is similar to that demonstrated by the H-BOX, and so this category was suitable to be updated to recognise the savings offered by the H-BOX system. BASIX is still in the process of updating the wording in this section as well as in the help note to mention the use of a “Hot Water Re-heating Circulation Device” which will be the generic term for a H-BOX product.
With most projects, we see an average of a 1% increase in the overall BASIX water score, which is a significant achievement for any project.
Now, there are even more reasons to specify a H-BOX into your next project!
