Evaluation of water conservation system for sterilizer cooling mechanism: a preventive maintenance study

Abstract

It is indicated that sterilization in hospitals is one of the most important and major process directly affect treatment activities. One of the major underlying problems in this field is amount of water consumption. A principle challenge many hospitals face is in identifying the way of water waste and reducing its consumption. In this research a modification in cooling trap of autoclaves is presented. Also related efficiency evaluated through direct measurement of water consumption. Correlation of data and measurement implies that using water saving system in steam sterilizers reduce more than 60 % water waste as an average, Although it directly depends on the type of autoclaves. In this case gravity autoclaves compared with vacuum type. It was seen applying water saving systems to vacuum autoclaves brought better results than gravity types. It is also concluded, retrofitting sterilizers with water conserving system was determined to be a very cost effective water conservation measure for Iranian private hospitals. Payback is expected to be less than 3 months, dependant upon initial constant water flow of the sterilizers being retrofitted, hours of operation (including standby), and the level of incentives provided by the utility.