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Zurn flush valve question?

Hi,

This comes under "I'm just curious".

At work, we have urinals that have these ZURN automated flush valves on them. They have some kind of "electric eye" sensor, so that, after a person leaves a urinal, the thing flushes by itself. The sensor could also be proximity activated, but its pretty sophisticated, since you can't just wave your hand over the "eye", and make it flush. Something has to be the right distance from the "eye" for a certain amount of time, or it won't activate. Pretty ingenious.

I've spent a lot of time contemplating how these things are powered. There are no wires running to the valve assembly. There is a small encasement, but not large enough to hold a substantial battery supply, which, IMHO, would be necessary to power some kind of solenoid valve.

Does anyone know how these things work? It would give me something else to think about when I'm at work.

Reply to
Darmok
Loading thread data ...

Infrared. Might have a turbine generator?

N
Reply to
NSM

Probably a long life battery. The electronics only runs intermittently and the solenoid only has to get the flow started. The water does the rest of the work.

I suppose the water flow could also charge a battery or supercap, but then what happens if no one has to pee for a long time? :)

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Reply to
Sam Goldwasser

Reply to
Bennett Price

Very interesting. I looked over those Kohler models. I'll have to see if Zurn has a similar site. The Zurn models we have are no where near the size of those Kohler units .. maybe 1/4 the size. Perhaps they operate on the same principle though.

Reply to
Darmok

Hi!

The one at my place of work is electric. It runs on 4xAA batteries that supposedly last for at least 2,000 flush cycles. It is of the Sloan Valve Company brand. That's as per the user's manual.

At first I thought that this thing might be recharged by water flow, but sometimes the water pressure isn't very good...and as a result the unit would not get charged up.

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

Yeah, the Zurn units where I work look like they could hold 4 AA batteries. 2000 flushes, huh? I wonder if that's been tested ;)

Reply to
Darmok

Hi!

I don't know, but it might make for an interesting experiment! :-D

Of course, with the programmed in delay (you can't just make it flush unless you cover the sensor for a while first...there is no "rapid firing" of this unit allowed) you might be in the bathroom for a LONG time.

The manual also gave the specs for carbon-zinc batteries, which didn't seem to have near the lifetime. I'm not too surprised by this--carbon zinc batteries seem to do a lot better with a steady low load on them.

Very theoretically I could take the one at work off and examine it. The key is hanging in the janitor's closet, which is not usually locked up. Of course, if I tried something would probably go wrong and water would start gushing from the valve.

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

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