By Erik Mul, Product Manager at ACO Building Drainage.
Picture the scene: a gym-goer finishes their workout and steps into the shower only to be confronted by odours wafting from the drains, murky water pooling on the shower floor, and the finish showing signs of discolouring and cracked grouting.
The unpleasant shower experience is not exclusive to gyms, but anywhere with high footfall shower rooms, such and hotels, sport and leisure facilities.
Once these issues are present, they require extra maintenance to keep in check and can incur expensive remedial work and lost businesses.
Many showers; many challenges
When showers are used frequently, debris accumulates quickly. Inaccessible traps and difficult-to-clean parts can create ongoing problems for operations. In facilities where downtime can be limited and costly, resolving these problems can present a significant challenge.
Often in hotels, sports and leisure facilities, many showers are used at once, creating flow conditions that put pressure on the system and increase the likelihood of slow drainage and standing water.
When large volumes of water move quickly, they create pressure changes within the system called siphonage. If traps are incorrectly specified, this siphonage can cause trap seals to fail allowing gasses and odours into the shower room. As well as causing hygiene issues, this can lead to guest complaints – especially in businesses where customer experience is a high priority.
When systems aren’t performing optimally, large discharge volumes can create backflow risks, leading to pooling around drains or spilling beyond shower areas. Along with the unpleasant experience for customers and hygiene risks, this also increases the chances of someone slipping.
A clean start
Traps and gullies must be easily accessible for routine cleaning. Debris build up can be mitigated in the shape and layout of the final installation. Here, removable traps and grates prove to be a clear advantage, and easily disinfected surfaces make it easier to keep to high standards of hygiene and contribute to long-term serviceability.
Specifying channels and gully systems with proven discharge performance will help prevent siphonage. Continuous channel runs in communal facilities help manage large water volumes. Well-placed trap positioning and optimised channel capacity reduces standing water and lowers the risk of seal loss under peak flow conditions.
In many cases, floor build-ups or existing pipework can be restrictive. In these situations, solutions with low profiles and adaptable outlets help prevent compromises to trap depth or falls. Rotating or horizontal gullies, modular channels and height-adjustable solutions let installers align drainage to the current flooring.
Solutions for specifiers
With its latest ShowerDrain range, ACO Building Drainage has developed new solutions to overcome hotel, gym, and leisure facility the drainage challenges, including maintenance, hydraulic performance and installation limitations. Included are the Modular 125 system for communal showers and custom channel and gully configurations for difficult layouts. Low-build solutions help with restricted floor depths.
ShowerDrain C’s hydro-formed gullies support higher flow rates while enabling easier cleaning, and ShowerDrain B features 360° rotating horizontal gullies for tiled flooring. ShowerDrain E provides similar benefits for flexible floor applications. The Passino gully uses DN100 pipe compatibility to enable simple cleaning, improved flow performance, and easier installation.
For more on shower drain specification, see ACO.co.uk.
