Conservepump Home Smart Box Experiment

April 2010

iDus Controls Ltd., developers of smart controls for high-tech water conservation, contacted The Soap Farm to discuss the use of handmade soaps with the Conservepump Home Smart Box water conservation system.

There have been some issues with some commercial soap products affecting the Home Smart Box water filters, causing more cleaning maintenance than is desired.  Many commercial bars are actually “detergent bars” as they are based on synthetic detergents instead of natural ingredients.

Therefore it was determined that an experiment conducted by The Soap Farm using the Home Smart Box system filter and The Soap Farm handmade soap products could be beneficial to both companies.

The Home Smart Box system basically consists of the smart box which controls the pump and water flushing system, a storage tank and a piping module that contains the primary filter.

The Soap Farm borrowed a piping module which was setup as per this photo:

 The primary filter in the piping module is shown in the following photo:

Actual shower water (23 litres) was collected each day for period of 10 days.

Each day’s shower water was then run through the piping module 6 times.  Overall this created an experiment representing 60 showers over the 10 day period.

During the experiment there was no indication of filter clogging problems as no water went out through the overflow pipe.

The Soap Farm Products Used in the Experiment

We used 3 products created by The Soap Farm:

• Rose Geranium Handmade Soap which is created by the original soap making process of combining sodium hydroxide (lye) and oils (coconut, canola, olive and castor oils in this case).  This product also includes finely ground geranium leaves and baby oatmeal.
  
• Apple Cider Vinegar Handmade Shampoo Soap Bar which contains a combination of coconut, olive, castor and hemp oils.  The apple cider vinegar acts as a rinsing agent. Also included in this soap are essential oils of patchouli, rosemary and ylang ylang.
  
• Handmade hair conditioner – this is not one of our retail products but is made by The Soap Farm for family use.  This product contains an emulsifier (fatty alcohol ester) plus oils to condition the hair.

After the 10 days (60 shower experiment) the piping module filter was inspected – see the photo below:

A larger view of the filter (photo below) showed a collection of some hair and minor wax build up from the handmade hair conditioner.  There was nothing in the filter from the handmade soaps.  And the little that was in the filter did not impede the flow of water through the piping module.

Conclusion

The Soap Farm handmade soaps used during this experiment have proven to be an excellent choice to use with the iDus Controls Conservepump Home Smart Box water conservation system.

The handmade soap used in this experiment, containing finely ground geranium leaves and finely ground oatmeal, did not cause any clogging of the filter nor did it leave any residue.

All The Soap Farm soaps would work similarily with the Conservepump Home Smart Box water conservation system with the following exceptions.

The Soap Farm recommends NOT using the following soaps with the Conservepump Home Smart Box water conservation system:

• Kitchen Sink Soap - contains grit which might affect the filter
  
• Gardener’s Friend Soap - contains grit which might affect the filter
  
• Goat's Milk and Honey Oatmeal Square Soap - contains toasted oatmeal which might affect the filter
• Doublemint Soap - contains mint leaves which might affect the filter
• Ocean Mist Soap - contains mint leaves and lavender buds which might affect the filter