JPH085141A - Hot water-circulating type bathtub device equipped with gas water heater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately detect a slight gas leakage by a gas meter, and prevent a judgement of 'slight leakage' due to an erroneous operation of the gas meter from generating by connecting the gas meter wherein a micro-computer is incorporated, to a piping. CONSTITUTION:This hot water-circulating type bathtub device is equipped with a circulation pump 2 which circulates bathtub water a hot water cleaning means 3 for hot water, a gas water heater 4 which heats the hot water to be circulated to a specified temperature, and a control means 5 which detects the temperature of the hot water and controls the operation of the gas water heater 4. The control means 5 is equipped with a 24 hour timer 5A and a memory means 5B which stores a pause period of time wherein the operation of the gas water heater is stopped for a specified period of time. When the 24 hour timer 5A reaches the pause period of time which is stored in the memory means 5B, the control means 5 temporarily stops the operation of the gas water heater 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hot water circulation type bath apparatus having a gas water heater which circulates hot water in a bath to keep the water clear and keeps the gas water heater at a constant temperature.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A hot water circulating bath apparatus having a gas water heater for keeping the temperature of hot water constant and a means for refining hot water for cleaning the hot water has been put into practical use. This hot water circulation bath device keeps the hot water temperature at a constant temperature and continuously filters the hot water to remove foreign matters such as dust and keep it clean. For this reason, it is a very convenient and highly water-saving device that can take a bath 24 hours a day without exchanging hot water in the bathtub.

[0003] This hot water circulating bath apparatus generally uses, as hot water refining means for filtering hot water, a primary filter for removing large dust such as hair contained in the hot water and fine foreign matters contained in the hot water. Along with this, a filter of a bacteria breeding member that kills bacteria contained in warm water is used. The primary filter is detachably attached to the suction port of the bath so that it can be easily washed.

Porous stones such as "barite stones" or natural stones obtained by crushing stones to sinter them into a porous state are used as the bacteria breeding member. The bacteria breeding member efficiently removes ammonia (sweat), protein (stain) and the like that are emitted from the human body. The bacteria breeding member
This is because ammonia and proteins contained in warm water are filtered as follows.

The bacteria breeding member for circulating hot water is
It provides a comfortable environment for the reproduction of bacteria, where the bacteria parasitize and protozoa that feed on the bacteria are generated. Bacteria decompose by eating ammonia and proteins contained in warm water as food. Since the protozoan eats this bacterium, sweat and dirt in the warm water are effectively removed.

The hot water which is kept clear by the bacteria breeding member is heated to the set temperature by the gas water heater. The gas water heater is ignited to heat the hot water when the hot water gradually cools and becomes lower than the set temperature. When the hot water rises to the set temperature, the gas water heater will stop operating. The gas water heater is repeatedly operated and stopped to adjust the hot water temperature to the set temperature. The set temperature is usually adjusted in the range of 38 to 45 ° C.
For example, when the set temperature is 42 ° C., the gas water heater is ignited when the temperature drops to 41.5 ° C., and the operation of the gas water heater is stopped when the hot water temperature reaches 42.5 ° C. With this control, the hot water temperature is maintained within the range of 42 ± 0.5 ° C.

[0007]

An apparatus for heating hot water with a gas water heater can make running costs easier compared to an apparatus using an electric heater. The cost for the amount of heat is because gas is easier than electricity. In addition, since the gas water heater can increase the amount of heat generated per hour, it has a feature that it can be heated in a short time when replenishing water in the bathtub. Furthermore, since the amount of heat generated is large, the gas water heater can also be used as an instant water heater for a shower.

However, in the hot water circulating bath apparatus having this structure, a gas meter having a built-in microcomputer may detect "small leak" even though no gas leak occurs. This is because the gas meter with a built-in microcomputer is programmed to detect "a minute leak" unless there is a time when the gas is not used once or more for one hour or more in one month. It is almost certain that there is a time when a normal gas appliance is used, and there is a time when it is not used continuously for one hour or more for one or more times in one month. Therefore, it is programmed to determine that gas is leaking if this condition does not occur.

However, since the hot water circulating bath apparatus operates continuously for 24 hours, it may not be stopped for more than 1 hour per month. This condition occurs during the cold winter months when a large amount of heat is lost from the bath. It also occurs when the heat insulation properties of the bathtub are poor. This is because the gas water heater is ignited within one hour when the temperature of the hot water drops.

Therefore, the conventional hot water circulating bath apparatus having a gas water heater has a drawback that it displays "small leak" even when there is no gas leak. Since the gas water heater using the pilot fire uses gas continuously for 24 hours, the same problem occurs. In order to prevent this adverse effect, when using a gas water heater that uses a pilot fire, the program of the gas meter incorporating the microcomputer is changed. 1
Even if there is a pause of more than 1 hour during a month, it is not judged as a "small leak". That is, the gas leak detection condition is changed to be ignored.

When the program is changed as described above, the "small leak" is not displayed even if the hot water circulating bath apparatus is used. However, since the gas leak condition is ignored, even if a minute gas leak actually occurs, the minute gas leak cannot be detected. This is because the hot water circulation bath device operates normally, and even if a minute gas leak occurs, it cannot be detected.

The present invention was developed for the purpose of eliminating this conventional drawback, and the important object of the present invention is to:
A hot water circulation type equipped with a gas water heater that can detect minute gas leaks by using a gas meter with a built-in microcomputer, and can eliminate false indication of "micro leak" due to a hot water circulation bathtub To provide a bathtub device.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has the following constitution. A hot water circulation type bathtub device equipped with a gas water heater comprises a circulation pump 2 for forcibly circulating the hot water in the bathtub 1, hot water supplied by the circulation pump 2, and a porous bacterial breeding member filled therein. The warm water clarification means 3 for cultivating bacteria in the bacteria propagation member to remove ammonia and proteins contained in the warm water, and the hot water clarification means 3 and the circulation pump 2 are arranged in the hot water passage circulated. Has been
A gas water heater 4 for heating hot water to a constant temperature and a control means 5 for detecting the temperature of the hot water and controlling the gas water heater 4 are provided.

The control means 5 includes a 24-hour timer 5A,
The storage means 5B is provided for storing a pause time for stopping the operation of the gas water heater 4. When the 24-hour timer 5A reaches the set time, the control means 5 temporarily stops the operation of the gas water heater 4.

In the hot water circulating bath apparatus of the present invention, the operation of the gas water heater 4 is stopped for a certain time by the 24-hour timer 5A, but when the operation of the gas water heater 4 is stopped. When the gas water heater 4 is used as an instantaneous water heater for hot water supply to a shower or a faucet, the suspension of operation can be canceled. That is, the gas water heater 4 may be configured to stop only the operation for heating the warm water circulated in the bathtub 1 and not stop the hot water supply. Since the gas meter 6 with a built-in microcomputer determines that it is a "minimal leak" once or more than once an month for 1 hour or more when gas is not consumed, when stopping the operation of the gas water heater 4 at a fixed time every day, hot water supply Even if the operation stop is released at that time, hot water will not be supplied for 30 consecutive days during the downtime.

The rest time when the operation of the gas water heater 4 is stopped by the 24-hour timer 5A is optimal at midnight when no bath is taken. Furthermore, the downtime for stopping the operation of the gas water heater 4 is
It is set to, for example, 65 minutes, which is longer than the time (generally 60 minutes) at which the gas meter 6 incorporating a microcomputer detects a gas leak.

[0017]

In the hot water circulation type bath apparatus equipped with the gas water heater of the present invention, the warm water is continuously circulated through the bacteria breeding member of the warm water refining means 3, and the warm water is clarified by the microorganisms such as bacteria living in the bacteria breeding member. Hold on. Therefore,
You will be able to take a bath 24 hours a day without changing the bath water. The hot water is kept at a constant temperature by the gas water heater 4.

The control means 5 uses a 24-hour timer 5A to count daily time. When the time to be stored in the storage means 5B is reached, ignition of the gas water heater 4 is interrupted for a certain period of time. The time for interrupting the ignition is set to, for example, 65 minutes, so that the gas water heater 4 is not ignited even if the temperature of the hot water falls below the set value for 65 minutes. The time during which the gas water heater 4 is stopped is detected by the microcomputer of the gas meter 6. Therefore, even if the gas water heater 4 repeatedly ignites within 60 minutes in order to warm the hot water to the set value, the gas meter 6 suspends its operation once a day for 60 minutes or more. It is not judged. When a gas leak actually occurs, a small amount of gas is consumed when the gas water heater 4 is not operated, and the gas leak is detected.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiments described below exemplify a hot water circulating bathtub apparatus embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the present invention does not specify the configuration of the hot water circulating bathtub apparatus to the following.

Further, in this specification, in order to make the claims easy to understand, the numbers corresponding to the members shown in the embodiment are referred to as "claims column" and "conventional problems are solved. It is added to the members shown in the column of "means for performing" and the column of "operation and effect". However, the members described in the claims are not limited to the members shown in the embodiments.

A hot water circulation type bath apparatus having a gas water heater 4 shown in FIG. 1 is a bath 1 and a circulation pump connected to the bottom of the bath 1 via a primary filter 7 and a circulation pipe 2. 2, hot water refining means 3 connected to the discharge side of the circulation pump 2, a gas water heater 4 connected to the discharge side of the hot water fining means 3, and the discharge side of the gas water heater 4 is a bath. 1, a circulation pipe 2 connected to 1, and a control means 5 for controlling the operation of the gas water heater 4.

The gas water heater 4 is connected to a gas pipe via a gas meter 6 containing a microcomputer. The gas water heater 4 has a built-in heat exchanger 4A that is heated by a gas burner 4B. The heat exchanger 4A heats the hot water in the bathtub 1 circulated by the circulation pump 2, the water supplied to the bathtub 1, and the water supplied to the shower. The circulating hot water in the bathtub 1 and the water used in the shower and the bathtub 1 are heated in different waterways.

The operating state of the gas burner 4B is controlled by the control means 5 to keep the circulating bath water at the set temperature.
When the temperature of the bath water becomes lower than the set temperature, the gas burner 4B is added to heat the bath water. When the bath water rises to the set temperature, the operation of the gas burner 4B is stopped.

The control means 5 is connected to a temperature sensor 8 for detecting the temperature of the bath water on the discharge side of the warm water refining means 3 in order to detect the hot water of the bath water. The control means 5 controls the operation of the gas burner 4B by the signal from the temperature sensor 8 to keep the temperature of the bath water at the set temperature. Control means 5
Includes a temperature setting member 5D that sets the temperature of bath water. The hot water setting member sets the hot water temperature to, for example, 39 ° C to
Hold at the set temperature of 46 ° C.

The control means 5 controls the operation of the gas burner 4B to keep the temperature of the bath water at the set temperature. Therefore, when the temperature of the bath water becomes lower than the set temperature, the gas burner 4B is ignited. However, in the specific time zone, the gas burner 4B is not ignited even if the temperature of the bath water becomes lower than the set temperature. The time for temporarily interrupting the ignition of the gas burner 4B is preferably set to an appropriate time zone from 2 to 5 o'clock in the middle of the night when there is almost no bathing. The time during which the gas meter 6 is not compulsorily ignited is preferably set to 65 minutes. This is to prevent the gas meter 6 having a built-in microcomputer from determining "small leak". The gas meter 6 with a built-in microcomputer judges "small leak" depending on whether or not there is a state in which the gas is not consumed for 60 minutes or more once or more in one month. For this reason, if the operation of the gas burner 4B is forcibly stopped once a day for 65 minutes, the gas meter 6 will "leak slightly".
There is no judgment.

In order to realize this, the control means 5 comprises a 24-hour timer 5A, a storage means 5B and a CPU 5C. The storage means 5B stores the time when the gas burner 4B is not compulsorily ignited. 24-hour timer 5
A is a clock, which accurately counts time. CPU5
C calculates signals from the 24-hour timer 5A and the storage means 5B to control the operation of the gas burner 4B. When the 24-hour timer 5A reaches the rest time stored in the storage means 5B, the control means 5 uses the CPU 5C to cause the gas burner 4B to operate even if the temperature of the bath water drops below the set temperature.
Temporarily stop the operation of.

Gas burner 4 stored in storage means 5B
The rest time of B is preferably 65 minutes at midnight. This is because the current gas meter 6 with a built-in microcomputer judges "small leak" depending on whether or not the gas is not used for 60 minutes or longer. The pause time stored in the storage means 5B is set to be several minutes longer than the time for which the gas meter 6 determines "small leak". This is to prevent the error from being judged as a “small leak”. Therefore, if the time for which the gas meter 6 determines "small leak" is shortened, the pause time stored in the storage means 5B is lengthened.

As described above, in the device for forcibly stopping the operation of the gas burner 4B at a fixed time every day, the gas meter 6 having a built-in microcomputer does not judge "small leak". In this hot water circulation type bathtub device, the bath water temperature may be slightly lowered when taking a bath at midnight when the gas burner 4B is not ignited. However, even if the gas burner 4B is forcibly stopped for 65 minutes, the temperature drop of the bath water is slight. Therefore, taking a bath at midnight causes almost no problems.

However, if the operation of the gas burner 4B is forcibly stopped after taking a bath at midnight, hot water cannot be used from the shower or the faucet of the bathroom. In order to eliminate this drawback, the control means 5 shown in FIG. 1 cancels the rest of the gas burner 4B and ignites when the shower or hot water of the faucet is used. In order to realize this, the control means 5 is provided with a flow rate sensor 9 which detects that hot water in a shower or a tap is used. Flow sensor 9
Is connected to the hot water channel of the shower or faucet. The flow rate sensor 9 detects the signal drained from the shower or the faucet by C
Input to PU5C. The CPU 5C ignites the gas burner 4B with a signal from the flow rate sensor 9.

As described above, the hot-water circulating bathtub device that ignites the gas burner 4B when hot water in the shower or faucet is used can bathe at midnight and use hot water from the shower or faucet. However, this device does not forcibly stop the gas burner 4B when taking a bath at midnight. In this way, even when the gas burner 4B is ignited when taking a bath at midnight, the gas meter 6 with a built-in microcomputer produces a "small leak".
It is rare to judge that. This is because, for one month, the user takes a bath at midnight every day, and rarely enters the bathing time stored in the storage means 5B. The gas meter 6 with a built-in microcomputer is 1
If there is a time during which the gas burner 4B is not ignited for more than 60 minutes even once in a month, it will not be displayed as "micro leak". Therefore, even if the gas burner 4B is ignited on the day of bathing at midnight, there is no day of bathing during the rest period of the memory means 5B for one month, and it is not judged as "small leak". .

The warm water refining means 3 of the warm water circulating bath apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has a bacteria breeding member built into the casing. The bacteria breeding member cleans it by passing the warm water flowing into the casing. Bacterial breeding member is to inhabit bacteria here to clarify warm water,
It is also possible to use a porous "Mugihanishi", or a natural stone such as Makuhanishi, which is crushed and sintered into porous particles.

The warm water refining means 3 of this structure breeds bacteria in the fine voids of the bacteria breeding member. Bacteria clean the hot water by degrading the dirt (ammonia and proteins from the human body) contained in the hot water. Bacteria propagate on the dirt contained in the warm water as food and decompose it to clarify the warm water. Therefore, if the hot water does not contain any dirt, bacteria will not grow, but when hot water circulating bath equipment is used to remove dirt from the human body, bacteria will grow and the bacteria breeding member will be filtered. Ability is improved. Since the bacteria that inhabit the bacteria-propagating member multiply more when there is a large amount of food, the filtration capacity of the bacterial-propagating member is automatically adjusted by the amount of ammonia or protein, that is, the amount of dirt contained in the warm water. However, if the filtration capacity of the bacteria breeding member is exceeded, warm water becomes cloudy.

The bacteria breeding member in which bacteria and protozoa live and which filters hot water, is superior to the warm water refining means 3 such as activated carbon that simply physically removes foreign matter in the warm water for a long period of time. Continues chemical action. In other words, it is hard to cause clogging. This is because it decomposes dirt and makes warm water clear. However, as it is used for a long period of time, the hot water permeation pressure loss gradually increases. When the pressure loss becomes large, the bacterial propagation member is washed.

In the circulation pump 2, the hot water circulation amount is determined in consideration of the size of the bathtub 1 and the heat generation amount of the gas water heater 4. When the size of the bathtub 1 is, for example, 500 liters,
As the circulation pump 2, a pump driven by a motor of about 1/4 to 1 horsepower is used.

[0035]

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION The hot water circulating bath apparatus of the present invention is a gas meter having a built-in microcomputer, and is characterized by being capable of detecting a minute gas leak without malfunctioning as a "minute leak". This is because the hot water circulation type bathtub apparatus of the present invention forcibly stops the operation of the gas burner at a fixed time by the 24-hour timer and the storage means. A gas meter with a built-in microcomputer determines that it is a "small leak" if there is no gas for a certain period of time within a month. This is because if there is a minute gas leak in the gas pipe, the gas is continuously consumed.
In the gas burner of the present invention, the control means forcibly stops the operation of the gas burner for a certain period of time, so that gas is not consumed at all for a certain period of time unless gas leakage occurs in the gas pipe. Therefore, it is possible to detect a "small leak" with a gas meter having a built-in microcomputer, and it is possible to prevent an erroneous determination as a "small leak".

Like the hot water circulating bath apparatus of the present invention,
For a device that consumes gas intermittently for 24 hours, it is extremely important to reliably detect gas leakage. This is because the main plug cannot be closed when not in use. Therefore, it is extremely dangerous from a safety point of view to change the program of the gas meter with a built-in microcomputer to ignore the detection of "small leak". In the hot water circulation bathtub device of the present invention, the gas meter incorporating the microcomputer has a "small leak".
To eliminate the malfunction. Therefore, the hot water circulation bath device of the present invention realizes a feature that the running cost is lower than that of electricity and that the bath can be safely taken for 24 hours.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a hot water circulation bath device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Bathtub 2 ... Circulation pump 3 ... Hot water refining means 4 ... Gas water heater 4A ... Heat exchanger 4
B ... Gas burner 5 ... Control means 5A ... 24-hour timer 5
B ... Memory means 5C ... CPU 5D ... Temperature setting member 6 ... Gas meter 7 ... Primary filter 8 ... Temperature sensor 9 ... Flow rate sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A bathtub (1) is connected via a circulation pipe and a circulation pump (2), and a porous bacterial growth member is filled therein, and the bacterial growth member is filled with bacteria. A warm water refining means (3) for breeding to remove ammonia and proteins contained in the warm water, and a gas for heating the warm water circulated through the warm water refining means (3) and the circulation pump (2) to a constant temperature. In a hot water circulating bathtub device comprising a water heater (4) and a control means (5) for detecting the hot water temperature and controlling the operation of the gas water heater (4), the control means (5) is
It is equipped with a 4-hour timer (5A) and a storage means (5B) that stores the rest time that stops the operation of the gas water heater for a certain time, and the 24-hour timer (5A) stores it in the storage means (5B). The hot water circulation type bathtub device having a gas water heater, wherein the control means (5) is configured to temporarily stop the operation of the gas water heater (4) when the rest time is reached. .