PIPES,VALVES & FITTINGS
How motorised valve design enhances engineer efficiency
James Clark, technical training manager at Drayton, explains how well-designed motorised valves can help engineers work more efficiently by reducing unnecessary callbacks, simplifying maintenance, and minimising time spent diagnosing faults
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n today’s heating sector, where labour shortages, rising costs and increasing customer expectations continue to put pressure on installers, product selection has never been more important. Every component within a heating system contributes to overall performance, but it can also have a significant impact on installation efficiency, maintenance requirements and long-term project profitability.
Additionally, these components can play a significant role in both customer satisfaction and profitability for installers, particularly as the cost and impact of callbacks continue to rise. A single component failure can disrupt schedules, require additional site visits and generate labour and travel costs that quickly outweigh any initial saving made on the product itself. Although motorised valves account for only a small proportion of a heating system’s overall cost, their role is critical to its performance. Responsible for directing water flow, controlling heating zones, and triggering boiler operation, they are fundamental to the efficient and reliable day-to-day running of the system. Despite their significance, motorised valves are typically thought of as a highly commoditised product category, with purchasing decisions typically based on upfront cost alone. However, a perception shift seems to be taking place with greater weight being placed on how they can deliver time and cost savings to heating engineers.
What are the impacts of callbacks?
The financial impact of a callback goes beyond the price of replacing a failed part with travel time, identifying the fault, labour and customer dissatisfaction all contributing to the actual cost of the issue, which usually tends to outweigh the original saving thought to be made by choosing a lower-costing product.
This is especially important when working within settings such as social housing as minor faults can become highly disruptive across many
properties. Therefore, specifying trustworthy motorised valves, such as those offered by Drayton, minimises downtime and cost. In the case of motorised valves, easy maintenance is becoming as important as reliability when it comes to the value of the product.
Why is simple maintenance important?
Traditionally, many motorised valves have been designed with permanently fixed actuators, meaning they require extensive intervention when a fault occurs. For example, engineers needing to drain entire sections of the system to simply replace a failed actuator which adds labour time and more disruption for the resident. Therefore, designing motorised valves with
repairability in mind is key. For instance, Drayton’s motorised valves feature snap-on actuators, which allow engineers to replace the actuator instead of the full valve and without the need for additional plumbing work in the event of a failure needing to be rectified. The actuator can be removed without the
use of tools, enabling quick replacement and significantly reduced repair times. The ability to separate the actuator from the valve body speeds up fault finding as it allows engineers to quickly identify whether an issue is electrical or mechanical, such as debris or blockage within the valve itself, without dismantling the wider system.
Repairability to enhance sustainability
Alongside reliability and ease of maintenance, repairability is also growing in importance in the industry especially as sustainability is so important. Instead of replacing entire valves when a component fails, many manufacturers are prioritising repairability in product design. The ability to replace actuators or individual internal parts of a motorised valve instead of removing the entire valve helps to reduce waste, lower lifecycle costs and extends the lifespan of the product.
Additional benefits for engineers?
Installer practicalities are another significant consideration when it comes to product specification, especially while labour and cost pressures are rising across the industry. Features that make installation and maintenance quicker and more straightforward lead to substantial time savings on jobs. Motorised valves with spacious terminals can make wiring easier and improve accessibility for engineers. Similarly, industry-standard wire colours allow for simple replacement of competitor valves, which helps engineers complete jobs more efficiently while avoiding wiring errors. Small details such as these all work to make a clear difference to engineers’ day-to-day life by enhancing installation speed, streamlining maintenance, and improving overall usability. Reliable performance in a heating system is also vital for engineers, and motorised valves that deliver this is essential. Therefore, some manufacturers guarantee quality and reliability by subjecting each one of its motorised valves to rigorous testing at its UK-based factory so that they can be installed with full confidence in their performance.
An approach shift
When selecting motorised valves, it is vital to consider the value across their life-span, rather than focusing on the upfront costs of the item. Reliability and seamless maintenance processes of these products play a major role in achieving efficiency, enhanced customer satisfaction and reducing additional unnecessary cost to heating engineers, which is particularly important in today’s climate of the cost-of-living crisis.
28 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JULY 2026 Read the latest at:
www.bsee.co.uk
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