Planning and renovating sanitary facilities on campsites

General requirements

User safety

The sanitary equipment at campsites must be safe to use for people of any age and with a wide range of physical conditions. Reaction times will often be slower for older people and children. Reliable protection against burns and scalding is therefore essential to prevent injuries. People with reduced mobility must also be able to use the sanitary equipment safely at all times. Facilities are therefore required that combine safety, simple usability and reliable functionality.

User hygiene

Germs that cause disease are often transmitted via direct contact with fittings and handles. High standards of hygiene are therefore needed to minimise the risk of infection and ensure the safe use of these facilities. With a many guests using the site every day, the hygienic use of fittings is especially important on camping grounds. Solutions that reduce or avoid physical contact therefore make a key contribution to user hygiene.

Clean and easy to maintain

Sanitary facilities at campsites must be especially hard-wearing, and able to withstand intensive cleaning and disinfection procedures. Quick and thorough cleaning is also important, to ensure that facilities remain clean, well-maintained and ready to use at all times. Surfaces that are durable and easy to care for are therefore a must: they make operations easier while helping cleaning teams in their day-to-day work.

Everyday functionality and user comfort

Sanitary equipment must support the daily campsite activities. Fittings and other sanitary fixtures must therefore be intuitive and easy to use, designed to be durable and require very little maintenance. Family and children’s areas are an essential part of every modern camping site. These areas include lowered wash basins, baby changing rooms and accessible sanitary facilities. Washing-up areas with clean sinks and hot water for crockery also make a big difference to everyday comfort for campers.

Drinking water hygiene

On campsites, maintaining drinking water hygiene is especially important. Stagnation can occur as a result of the irregular use of individual tapping points. This is especially so in off-peak periods or when sanitary equipment remains unused. Vulnerable user groups include older people, pregnant women and children, for example. These individuals have a higher risk of falling ill if drinking water is contaminated by bacteria like Legionella or Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A regular exchange of water is therefore essential.

Operational sustainability and saving water

The economical use of water and energy is also important. However, these water-efficient solutions must be compatible with the requirements for drinking water/user hygiene. The aim is to operate the installation to conserve resources while remaining hygienically safe.

Wash basins

Taps should be intuitive, comfortable, hygienic and safe to use for all of the campsite’s visitors. At the same time, they must be durable, easy to care for and resistant to vandalism, as they will be used by a wide variety of guests.

Showers

Apart from ensuring safety in terms of hygiene, showers must also reliably prevent any risk of a scalding or burn injury. Showers should be straightforward to use for patrons of all ages. At the same time, showers need to be hard-wearing, as they will be used intensively by different groups of people.

WC facilities

The WC facilities on camping grounds must be safe to use for people with a very different physical abilities. Accordingly, the equipment needs to be simple to use and meet high hygiene standards while also offering sufficient space to move around in.

Kitchens

At campsites offering catering facilities, kitchen areas need to prioritise the hygienic supply of water and operation of the taps provided: this is needed to avoid cross-contamination while also maintaining strict standards for food preparation. Robust materials and straightforward cleaning are also all-important here.

Technical/utility rooms

Technical/utility rooms are often infrequently used, although they still require reliable sanitary solutions. Compact, space-saving fittings that require no additional installation effort are needed here.

Optimised user hygiene

Taps should not only be hygienic but also intuitive to use. This is especially important for families with small children.Thanks to contactless operation, the risk of contact infections is significantly reduced. This is decisive benefit on camping grounds used by different groups on a daily basis. At the same time, electronic, water-efficient taps help to keep operations resource-friendly.

Anti-scalding and burn protection

There are several codes of practice in Germany that specifically mention anti-scalding protection in sanitary facilities, including DIN EN 806-2, DIN 1988-200 and DVGW W551 section 5.5.1. However, these are only advisory in nature. On a more general legal basis, building operators must act to fulfil their public safety obligations. In public sanitary facilities, these obligations always include the provision of anti-scalding protection. Building operators are free to choose a structural or operational approach to achieving the required level of safety in this context.

Electronic wash basin faucets like the XERIS E², CELIS E² or PURIS E² are ideal for use on wash basins in guest areas. These fittings enable hygienic, contactless operation and feature high-precision, time-of-flight technology. Water only flows when hands are within range of these sensors. Thanks to contactless operation, the risk of contact infections is significantly reduced. At the same time, these electronic faucets help to keep operations resource-friendly. Water only flows when actual usage is detected. Compared with conventional single-lever mixers, this achieves reductions in consumption of up to 70 percent. The water temperature can be conveniently adjusted using a side-mounted control. All HD-M faucets in the new E² fittings series are equipped with mechanical hot water limiting, allowing individual adjustment of the maximum flow of hot water through the faucet.

The LINUS D-C-T concealed shower is a good choice for shower facilities, for example. All LINUS models feature intuitive CVD touch electronics that automatically stop the flow of water after a preconfigured time, thus reducing both water consumption and energy use. The showers’ rugged front panel, made from brass with a brushed stainless steel finish, is ideal for constant use by a large number of guests. The integrated ThermoProtect thermostat offers an additional layer of protection: the temperature of the water exiting the fitting can be limited to 38 °C in the case of suitably equipped models. If the cold water line fails, the flow of water also stops automatically, which provides an extra level of anti-scalding protection.

The flow times can be adjusted to the specific requirements present on site. All electronic LINUS and VITUS shower fittings are equipped with a thermostat. With anti-scalding protection, plus a water stop if the cold water line fails, these offer vulnerable users extra protection against scalding.

For greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness, electronic fittings can be easily networked with the SWS/SMART.SWS SCHELL water management system. This system handles centralised programming, control and monitoring for the fittings, plus full logging of relevant data such as stagnation flushes.

For WC areas on camping grounds, SCHELL offers the EDITION E and EDITION E Manual WC controls. These hygienic and water-efficient solutions are triggered by an infrared sensor. The control is triggered automatically by a hand moving near the sensor. More accessible activation is achieved with a room monitoring system that detects patrons leaving the WC. The EDITION E Manual version, which is also triggered by an IR sensor, has an additional emergency trigger that means the WC flush push button can be operated manually for a flush in the event of a power failure. The rugged stainless steel front panel is ideal for use on camping grounds. The EDITION E and EDITION E Manual WC controls also feature an automatic stagnation flush. This flushes every 24 hours after the last use.

The new SCHELLTRONIC E² electronic exposed urinal flush valve has been specially designed for use in sanitary facilities that see heavy use. As such, it offers a wide range of functions that are carefully coordinated to different usage scenarios. The odour trap flush tops up the water in the trap at regular intervals to prevent it from drying out and letting odours develop. For hybrid urinals, a hybrid flush is available. This ensures that a flush is triggered at a specified interval rather than after every use.

The vandal-resistant, all-metal housing of the SCHELLTRONIC E² is durable, hard-wearing and easy to clean. Featuring a high-quality, modern appearance, the fitting blends in easily with any designer/functional series.

Electronic SCHELL fittings from the digital E² generation connect directly to the SCHELL app thanks to their integrated Bluetooth® technology. This makes the solution ideal for fitting configuration, management and record-keeping on camping grounds with a local facility manager. For the faucets in the wash basin series XERIS E², CELIS E² and PURIS E², and for the SCHELLTRONIC E² urinal flush valve, the user-friendly app offers a practical range of functions as well as simple, lightning-fast setting options. A wide range of options exists for stagnation flush planning, including fixed intervals, date series or smart, demand-based flushing. With smart, demand-based flushing, flushes are recalculated and executed daily, after allowing for usage levels. Flushing is skipped if usage levels are high enough. This creates the perfect symbiosis of drinking water hygiene and water efficiency.

SCHELL’s GRANDIS E kitchen tap features a hybrid design, which offers contactless operation alongside manual controls. The single-lever mixer offers conventional manual control, while the integrated infrared sensor ensures contactless operation with the preconfigured water temperature. A repeat short-range reflex – via infrared – also stops the flow of water hands-free before the end of the flow time. The built-in sensor responds to hand movements at a distance of approximately 3 cm. This prevents the accidental activation of the water jet when the sink is simply being used for some other activity – such as the placement of a saucepan into the sink. Hard-wearing, easy-care surface finishes and reliable technology make the GRANDIS E ideal for the demanding campsite environment.

The fitting is designed to be networked with the SCHELL SWS/SMART.SWS Water Management System for centralised programming, control and monitoring. All stagnation flushes are also logged in full by the system.

Electronic, contactless wash basin taps like the WALIS E wash basin tap are ideal for rarely used utility sinks. Needing little space, these economical taps are suitable for both cold and mixed water, and therefore the perfect choice for these out-of-the-way rooms. Easy upkeep is another bonus. The WALIS E is also designed for networking with the SCHELL SWS/SMART.SWS Water Management System.

The most important precondition for maintaining drinking water quality and avoiding excessive concentrations of Legionella bacteria is a regular and complete exchange of water. This must be completed across all tapping points and at least once every 72 hours. In the peak summer season, this exchange of water can typically be achieved during normal operations at camping sites. In the off-season, however, the sanitary facilities experience less use or even no use at all. Due to the seasonal nature of campsite operations, operators often make use of a Legionella management plan. Manual flushing of the drinking water system is time-consuming and wastes water, however. This approach also offers no options for measuring temperatures in the piping. This means flushes are needed more often. The solution is an intelligent water management system like SWS/SMART.SWS. This system offers support for maintaining drinking water hygiene thanks to automated stagnation flushes and end-to-end record-keeping. This enables cost-effective, energy-saving optimisations by the targeted management of water volumes and a wide range of analysis functions. This automated approach is considerably more efficient and water-efficient than manual flushing.

SWS/SMART.SWS offers a streamlined and digital approach to keeping sanitary installations working hygienically and efficiently across all major tapping points. The water management system also helps operators to save plenty of time and human resources, giving them more time to attend to their guests or other tasks. As the system keeps a full record of all relevant data, operators can easily prove that they have taken the necessary measures to comply with the German Drinking Water Regulation.