TM Electronics (TME) TC Wall
Port System
Imagine
being able to achieve water temperature testing of hard-to-access pipes, tanks
and thermostatic mixing valves (TMVs) without the need to either remove panels
or work at height.
Add to
this, very low unit costs, instant results and a choice of manual or paperless
recording options, and you can begin to see the attraction for hospitals
estates managers faced with the daily challenge of legionella risk management
compliance.
Princess Elizabeth Hospital
States of Guernsey hospitals have adopted TME’s TC Wall Port
System to simplify water temperature testing of hard-to-access pipes –
especially for return loop monitoring.
“The size and spread-out nature of our site
makes a supply on demand hot water system impractical so what we have instead
is a hot supply and return system where hot water is kept constantly flowing
around the loop,” explains Water
Safety Technician, Roger Le Tissier. “Our
Water Safety Plan requires us to have a minimum temperature on both supply and
return, which is so much easier with the TC Wall Ports because we don’t have to
remove the panels to get the results.”
TheTC Wall Port System offers a
practical method of remote temperature sensing which is cheap to install,
produces instant results, fewer false negatives - and crucially, once in place
reduces the time and cost of ongoing temperature tests by removing the need to
take down panelling or work at height. This new streamlined approach makes them
ideal for simplifying compliance with the Department of Health’s guidance (HTM)
04-01 on Safe Water in healthcare premises and the HSE ACoPL8 guidance on
Legionella Risk Management.
How does the system work?
TC
Wall Ports are miniature, wall-mounted thermocouple sockets which
speed up and simplify temperature testing of hard to reach locations like
concealed pipework including TMVs, subordinate loops and high-level water
storage tanks.
Each port
measures just 52 x 52 mm and houses either a single or double thermocouple
connector, linked to any given water outlet using a length of fine wire with a
fixed surface, air or immersion sensor. Temperatures are taken by simply
plugging a hand-held thermometer into the port, delivering instant results with
no loss of accuracy from up to 20 metres away.
A
significant advantage of using fine wire sensors left permanently in place is
their speed of response and enhanced accuracy. TME Managing Director, Tom
Sensier: “TC Wall Ports are quick and
easy to install and even easier to use. Plugging in your thermometer to get a
measurement is as easy as charging your mobile phone but better because the
results are instant! There are also far fewer false negatives as the fine wire
sensor is left taped in situ directly attached to the pipe surface.”
The Guernsey
Strategy
Princess Elizabeth is Guernsey’s only acute hospital, made up of
12 wards and various departments including all of the island’s diagnostic
facilities. The hospital is managed by the States of Guernsey Health, Social
Care & Wellbeing Department, which provides integrated health and social
care to Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. Alongside a number of UK NHS Trusts and
Local Authorities the States of Guernsey,
have been early adopters of the system.
Clive Martin, Head of Estates: “Our hospital safety laws in Guernsey are pretty tough, and
rightly so, resulting in some difficult challenges. This is particularly the
case when it comes to monitoring subordinate loops - one of the most well-known
problems in the field of water safety management. We have over 800 subordinate
loops alone, and many are located behind closed panelling, which can be quite a
headache.”
TC Wall Ports have
been installed on a number of the wards at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital,
specifically to help monitor subordinate loops, situated behind panels, which
previously would need removal every time a temperature had to be taken. “We’ve been very impressed with the Wall
Port System,” says Clive Martin.
“Both the single and double wall ports,
which we use with TME’s legionella thermometer kits and dual purpose
surface/immersion probes to monitor water temperatures across the estate.”
Double
TC Wall Ports are the most recent addition to TME’s
Legionella Range. Maintaining the same miniaturisation, this new style wall
port features two thermocouple inputs instead of one, offering an ideal
solution for hot and cold pipe monitoring, either in settings without TMV’s or
when there is concern about the quality of the unblended water supply before
the TMV is reached. These Double TC Wall Ports are supplied with integral wires
in a choice of lengths depending on the setting.
What about versatility?
TC Wall Ports can be
easily fitted and left in situ, and are supplied either ready wired or with
wires available separately, in different lengths and thermocouple types with
PTFE or glass fibre insulation. Several ports can be mounted together in one
location, allowing multiple measurements to be taken quickly and safely from
one position.
They are
compatible with any thermocouple input thermometer although for manual spot
checks TME
recommends its MM2000 instrument range which features robust, high accuracy,
waterproof thermometers and a wide range of compatible temperature probes and
sensors. The MM2008 with integral 1 and 2 minute timer is particularly useful
for ACoPL8 testing.
TC Wall Ports are also
ideal for delivering a more seamless, paperless method of temperature
recording. This is easily achieved by applying a label with a unique
configurable barcode to each port, which can be used to record and store
temperature readings using TME’s unique MM7000-2D
Barcode Scanning Thermometer. This portable, Bluetooth thermometer
has a built-in barcode scanner, is battery powered and requires no Wi-Fi
connection for taking measurements. It can be used to record a temperature
reading without using pen, paper or PDA.
Crucially
for Water Safety Plans, using a barcode to record temperature checks is ideal
for proof of flushing as it proves that recording has actually taken place, reducing
the possibility of human error or falsified results, while maintaining a body
of data for analysing compliance.
For
continuous 24 hour monitoring and temperature profiling, the ports are also
compatible with thermocouple input data
loggers supplied
by TME.
Is the system affordable?
With unit
costs as low as £16-25 per water outlet the affordability of our TC Wall Port
System speaks for itself.
Tom Sensier: “The
low cost of TC Wall Ports makes them a very affordable option for both
retro-fit and new-build. Use them to complement an existing BMS or to plug the
gaps where none exists; solve problems on an individual ward or – as others
have done – roll them out across your entire estate. Long term savings in time
and labour are guaranteed.”
