Big savings with intelligent mixers from FM Mattsson

FM Mattsson conducted the project in collaboration with Umeå University and AB Bostaden. The tests were performed over approximately two years (October 2012 to August 2014) in almost 100 apartments in AB Bostaden’s newly built properties in the Ålidhem quarter of Umeå. An ecologger installed in each apartment registered indoor temperature, electricity use and cold and hot water consumption.

After a year, the standard FM Mattson 9000 mixers were replaced with FM Mattsson 9000E mixers in a third of the apartments, and the other apartments were used as reference. The test results and measurements showed that switching to energy-saving mixers reduced the total hot water consumption by 30% compared to the reference apartments.

“To my knowledge, this is the only full-scale test carried out on energy-saving mixers in Sweden,” says Staffan Andersson, a lecturer in energy technology at Umeå University, who supervised the tests and evaluation.

“There are two main routes to saving hot water: technical solutions and adopting new habits. Our study shows that switching to energy-saving mixers is a simple way of reducing energy consumption,” says Staffan.

Intelligent mixers have a Cold Start function, meaning that only cold water comes out when the lever is pointing straight forwards. The hot water is only activated when the lever is turned to the left. The mixers also have an integrated flow restricter.

Energy costs are one of the biggest expenses for property owners. The energy required to heat hot water is part of a building’s total energy consumption, so consumers’ hot water habits also have a strong effect on energy savings.