Bed pans fresh as rainwater
Horst Michael Arndt is sometimes called a technology freak. His enthusiasm is largely the reason why rainwater flows through bedpan washers and flush toilets in hospitals in Ruppin (Brandenburg) Germany.
As general manager of the Ruppiner Kliniken GmbH he commissioned the Grützmacher planning office to bring some of the technological ideas of his management team to fruition. At Grützmacher, Jörg Hennicke thought the rainwater concept so ‘brilliant’ that a system of pumps and cisterns was developed not just to water the gardens, but also to cleanse toilets and bedpans – the latter supplied by Meiko from its Offenburg plant. Each of these bedpan washers comes equipped with a booster heater to bring the rainwater temperature up to the necessary operating temperature of 50 degrees.
Two underground cisterns (capacity: 600,000 litres of rainwater each) were constructed and an overflow pond created in the hospital grounds. As required, the pumping system drives the water to wherever needed.
‘The equipment works flawlessly. So far there have been no complaints,’ said Gabriele Plaasch, the hospital’s nursing director, who has seen the project evolve from its beginnings. ‘Even if we don’t achieve a large economic advantage I consider the use of rainwater ideal from a technical standpoint. It is especially soft and clean. A significant side-effect of using rainwater is that the equipment is not scaled.’
Jörg Hennicke remains convinced that the use of rainwater is an excellent energy alternative in an area little previously considered, but he does recommend anyone interested in its use should learn more first. In Ruppin, for example, a test system with artificially controlled bacterial exposure was built to determine the critical threshold of rainwater. He also points out that there is now a DIN for rainwater that must be considered.
12.11.2008
