The Dynamic Water Infrastructure

The dynamic water infrastructure is build out of ready to install hoses and appliances. All connections should contain double sided self closing valves. So there is no water leakage when you disconnect a hose. Every connection is of the plug and play "hot swap" type. No need to turn off the main valve. Just plug in your sink or whatever.

It is important that the infrastructure is based on hoses rather than pipes. A pipe will always have to be fitted to the right size. This requires skilled workers and labor on the building site. A hose can be prefabricated in standard lengths en be bend into place by layman. Excess hose can be rolled up or zigzagged in ducts. A hose ending in standardized connectors only requires clicking together.

There are several systems on the market, which comply to the sketched demands.

____Garden____

In the garden, the plug and play system has established itself well. The Gardena hose connector is a very handy plug and play connector. They come with and without a water stop. You can easily connect a hose to the connector. Nu tools needed. No skill needed. Just the thing we want for the home too.

Above is a set which you can buy for 5 guilders in Holland. This technology is cheap when mass produced.

These connectors are available in brass too. Now they look more like the thing you would want in your home for drinking water.

____Drinking water____

Next we will show three systems for drinking water conduit from which the first two are on the market. The last one is a prototype made by myself.

The first system is not really plug and play. It uses hoses but you have to fasten the hose using a wrench. This system "Levica" from Vebon is sold in Belgium.

This next system (Estair) has more of a plug and play feel with it. It consists of all kinds of bends, valves, knees, etc. plus somewhat flexible plastic pipe. The only tool you need is a special cutter tool. This is what I will call a "dedicated tool". It is dedicated to one task only. You can not do other jobs with it, but the job it does, it does very well and with a minimum of skill required. You just have to pinch to make a perfect clean cut.

After cutting the pipe you just insert the pipe in the connector and add a security ring. dis connecting works the same. Take the ring out, pull the sleeve back an take the pipe out.

The Estair system does not feature water stops. You can not "hot swap" it. You have to have and close a main valve.

This system is sold in Germany. I bought some pieces in Holland, but later on it was withdrawn from the store. Probably because it does not have the necessary Dutch Certificates (KIWA KEUR).

The Estair system works with (fairly rigid) hose too.

The last system is more of what I think is the real solution. In this system all elements end in auto-water stop connectors. It is fully plug and play and hot swap. Starting from the hose that comes into your home, you plug in your water meter. In this you plug in a header. From the header goes (flexible, pre-made) hose-elements to sinks, toilets, washing machine, etc.

Because all elements are pre-manufactured, there is no need to cut anything. Just buy your hose at a standard length a bit longer the needed length. The curly hose buffers the extra length in the duct system.

This system does not need the normal tap-like valves in the conduit. It completely relies on the build in water stops. If you have a leak somewhere, simply pull the hose which causes it out of the header.

This picture shows a special tile (somewhat organic shaped) which hold a water outlet, similar to an electric outlet. You just plug in what you need at the moment.

Or what about this combined cold water and sewer outlet?

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