A lot of Hertfordshire was planned. Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City were early garden cities, and Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead and Hatfield were built or expanded as new towns after the Second World War. A lot of their housing went up in the 1950s and 60s, and plenty of it is still owned by councils and housing associations. That shapes the TMV work here more than anything else.
New-town housing and adapted bathrooms
Housing stock of that age has been through several rounds of improvement. Bathrooms have been adapted for older or disabled tenants, level-access showers fitted and TMVs added along the way, often by different contractors on different programmes. The result is a spread of valve makes and ages, some of them now obsolete, and records that are patchy at best.
When parts dry up for an old valve, replacement is usually the sensible call. Our article on Repair or replace? When an old TMV has had its day sets out how we decide. For a landlord with a few hundred homes, the first step is a survey that tags and logs each valve. After that, a rolling programme keeps everything tested without having to get into every home on the same day.
Sheltered schemes and care homes
Across the county there are sheltered housing schemes, extra care developments and care homes, from purpose-built blocks to extended period houses in the market towns. Communal assisted bathrooms, en-suites and residents' basins usually need TMV3 valves. HSE's HSIS6 sets a 44°C maximum for baths where vulnerable people are at risk, and many sites set showers and basins lower still.
Schools and nurseries
Hertfordshire has a lot of schools, with primaries, nurseries and special schools in and around the towns. Under-fives washrooms, changing areas and medical rooms are the usual places for TMVs. We fit testing around the school calendar, and it pairs well with the flushing that's needed when buildings reopen after a holiday. See TMVs in schools and nurseries: a practical guide for the practical side.
Healthcare and labs
Hospitals, community hospitals, hospices, GP surgeries and private clinics across the county follow HTM 04-01, which means TMV3 valves and documented in-service testing to the D 08 method. Hertfordshire also has science parks and research sites, where staff showers and welfare areas tend to be the forgotten valves. They don't need the same frequency as a ward, but they still need checking.
Chalk water
Affinity Water supplies most of Hertfordshire, drawing a lot of it from the chalk aquifer. The result is hard to very hard water across most of the county. Check your postcode on your supplier's site for the specifics.
Hard water is the single biggest reason Hertfordshire TMVs stop working well. Scale stiffens the thermostatic element and blocks strainers, and the valve gets slower to shut down when the cold is isolated. We clean strainers and descale at every service, and record which valves are worst so the interval can be shortened where needed.
Getting to you
From Chiswick we pick up the North Circular and then the M1, A1(M) or M25 depending on where you are. The A10 covers the east of the county and the A41 the west. Most sites have parking, though town centre buildings in St Albans or Hertford can be trickier, so tell us about access when you book.
Towns we cover in Hertfordshire
- St Albans
- Watford
- Hemel Hempstead
- Stevenage
- Hatfield
- Welwyn Garden City
- Hertford
- Ware
- Hitchin
- Letchworth Garden City
- Baldock
- Royston
- Bishop's Stortford
- Sawbridgeworth
- Cheshunt
- Hoddesdon
- Borehamwood
- Potters Bar
- Harpenden
- Berkhamsted
- Tring
- Rickmansworth
- Bushey