Aqua Link - an Efficient and Safe Way of Providing Hydration in the Workplace

Quick Quiz:

1. What is the world’s most advanced centralised dispense solution (CDS)?
2. What CDS has a dynamic SMART reporting system?
3. What CDS is eco-friendly, uses ultra-efficient cooling technology … and has a dual-pump system, guaranteeing zero downtime?

Answers:

1. Aqua Link
2. Aqua Link
3. Aqua Link

A class of its own

Aqua Link is the world’s most advanced single-sourced drinking-water system for multiple dispense locations.

The Aqua Link Control Unit (ALCU) is installed in a plant-room environment, such as a basement or attic, and from that source, ambient, chilled, and sparkling water is filtered and distributed to any number of drinking-water outlets on any number of floors. At each outlet, a dispense-tap solution of your choice, such as Aqua illi or Aqua Alto, can be connected to the Aqua Link system. The CDS saves a lot of space at dispense points and is up to 55% more energy efficient than individual dispense units.

Pure genius

Because the water is double-filtered in the ALCU, all pipes in the Aqua Link system carry only 100% purified water, which means that limescale is never an issue. The CTO filtering process, which removes calcium, taste, and odour, leaves the water beautifully clear, fresh, and delicious.

The water is disinfected by means of LED (light-emitting diode) UV (ultra-violet) light, which is significantly more effective than the UV lamps used in other centralised dispenser systems, disabling 99.99% of all microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and microbial cysts. Ultra-violet light waves damage the nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) of microorganisms so that they’re unable to replicate, leaving your drinking water pure and safe.

Full marks for economy

Aqua Link is a bit of a swot. Gets top marks in everything. Loved by customers … Not a favourite among its competitors.

Aqua Link’s specialist subject is Economy. When interviewed, Aqua Link told us that its favourite word is Saving. (Actually, that’s not true. I made it up. Its favourite word is Hydration … No. Made that up too.) Nevertheless, whilst hydrating a whole workforce, Aqua Link does make a lot of savings – in quite spectacular style.

Saving space

Because all drinking water is delivered to multiple hydration stations from the control unit, where it’s filtered and chilled, a lot of space is saved at the dispense points. If all drinking-water taps operated independently, dedicated cupboard space would be needed to house each unit. With Aqua Link, however, all that’s needed is the tap on a worksurface.

Saving the environment

At each outlet, up to 600 cups of pure drinking water can be dispensed. Every hour. The equivalent amount of bottled water would produce a huge amount of plastic waste to be carted away in a recycling vehicle that swallows a gallon of fuel every four miles.

Aqua Link uses R-290 cooling technology. In the context of refrigeration, R-290 is propane (C3H8) – a safe and effective coolant. What’s great about R-290 is its very low impact on global warming.

Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of a gas’s contribution to the Earth’s greenhouse effect. The amount of heat absorbed by a gas in the atmosphere is expressed as a multiple of the amount of heat an equal mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) would absorb over a particular period of time – typically 100 years. The GWP scale takes into account two factors: the amount of heat potentially absorbed; and the length of time the gas retains the heat. Some gases will break down and release heat within a few years; others, like carbon dioxide, which is the base unit for GWP, retain heat for thousands of years.

Propane has an exceptionally low GWP of 3 (three times more warming potential than CO2) and its ozone depletion potential (ODP) is 0, meaning that this gas is not a threat to the environment.

Saving money

There’s no doubt that water-dispense units are an economical solution for the provision of healthy hydration in the workplace. And it’s also widely acknowledged that a centralised dispense system provides additional savings.

The energy needed to power the whole Aqua Link system is significantly less than the energy needed to power an equivalent number of discrete units. As additional dispense outlets are added to the system, the proportional cost of running each tap becomes lower. What better way to accommodate the increasing demands of a growing company!

Saving time

The Aqua Alto or Aqua illi tap can dispense up to six hundred cups of chilled (still or sparkling) and boiling water an hour. The Aqua Bottling Systems will give you up to 180 litres of chilled, ambient, or sparkling water every hour. There are no queues and extended periods of downtime – and these dispense points can all be modules of the Aqua Link centralised dispense system.

Aqua Link, as usual, goes one better than its peers in that it runs on a dual-pump system.

Most CDSs operate on just one pump. If that pump needs servicing, the system is out of action. Not so with Aqua Link.

In the event that there’s a problem with Aqua Link’s operational pump, the second pump kicks in automatically, maintaining smooth and efficient continuity of service. No downtime. Business – and hydration – as usual.

Aqua Link philosophy

Aqua Link is all about the clean simplicity of water and the vital role it plays in maintaining a healthy balance in the bodies of all living things.

The beating heart of Aqua Link may be out of sight in the basement of your workplace, but it’s fully conversant with Aqua Libra Co team via Internet connection. Connected to its own network, the Aqua Link Control Unit (ALCU) operates independently of the customer’s local area network (LAN) system, providing dynamic reporting on all aspects of the system. We receive automatic notifications concerning:

• volume of water used
• incoming mains-water pressure
• water temperature
• flow rate
• detected leaks
• CO2 replacement management

Aqua Link’s philosophy?

Information. Communication. Connectivity.