Anti-Legionella Valve
Legionnaires disease:
It is a severe form of pneumonia caused by a bacterium known as legionella. People can get affected by this disease from inhaling the bacteria form water or soil. Legionella grows and multiplies especially in standing water where temperatures are within 20-45°C while the bacteria are dormant below 20°C and do not survive above 60°C.
Challenge:
The target is to prevent the development of legionella in water. Especially this valve is for the expansion tanks and vessels. These can be found in most domestic pressurized heating systems. In these tanks the water remains stagnant for a long time. Non moving water can be a good place for the growth of bacterias that causing legionella.
Solution:
A great solution to prevent the development of this disease is the use of an ANTI-LEGIONELLA VALVE. You can see this valve in Figure 2 . The valve is connected to the water expansion vessel. This is shown in below Figure 1. This valve is designed to divert a portion of the flow into the vessel so that the water content is continually renewed. Target is to prevent water stagnation, which can favor Legionella growth. The valve is WRAS Approved!
Anti-Legionella Valve specifications:
- It converts a standard single connection expansion vessel into a ‘flow through’ type as shown in Figure 3
- It has a rotatable tee-piece (DZR brass) to allow flexibility upon installation. This comes with a wall bracket for easy installation of both the anti-legionella valve and the expansion valve
- The body is made of DZR brass, and it has internal O rings made of EPDM material and a ball valve made of hostaform material
- Its working pressure and temperature are between 0.1 – 10bar and 6 – 70°C respectively
- It can be used on any standard vessel with a ¾” or 1¼” connection (1” coming soon)
