Domestic Hot Water Piping
In today’s modern setting, domestic hot water system (DHW) has become a necessity. You only appreciate a good supply of hot water when it stops, especially when you’re in the middle of taking a bath. This realization might not come close during the dog days of summer where you don’t need the extra heating loads, but the domestic hot water system will surely be at the top of your priority list whenever the cold winter comes.
At NY Engineers, we are experts in designing your domestic hot water system from the ground up. With skilled proficiency matched with state-of-the-art workflow technology and equipment, you will absolutely reap the benefits of an efficient hot water supply in your multifamily residential unit or your business premises.
Our duly licensed plumbing engineers take this chief principle into account: hot water should be delivered on demand at the right temperature for your tailored usage.
For a DHW system to be successfully efficient, your hot water heating storage system, water-saving plumbing fixtures, and the distribution water system per se should be fine-tuned to function congruently with each other.
You could be tempted to calibrate and deliver a quick DIY fix on your system, but if one element goes haywire, it could wreak havoc on your whole DHW system, leading to more utility costs and inconvenience for you in the long run. Banking on our expertise means that you do not have to deal with the detrimental effects of extreme temperature – from scalding hot to freezing cold. At NY Engineers, we can hit the balanced equilibrium of lukewarm water for your favorable benefit.
In other cases, your DHW system delivers the hot water supply with ideal temperature, but reaches far beyond the optimum waiting time of 5-10 seconds when you tap your kitchen faucet or bathroom lavatory. Our experienced plumbing engineers will give you the lowdown on what happens behind the scenes: your distribution system, or in other words, the domestic hot water piping from your heater to your point-of-use plumbing fixture entered an idle, cooling down phase. Therefore, distribution losses took place.
To put it simply, your wait-time for hot water increases because of the long distances and increased diameter of the domestic hot water piping. The bigger the distribution system, the greater the distribution losses. This inefficient wait-time for your hot water supply translates directly to water and energy wastage: water that should have been indispensable and easily at your reach, goes down the drain, and you are forced to incur more utility costs. During these times of sustainable sensitivity, wasting gallons of water is not very appealing especially when everyone’s taking great strides on renewable measures.
However, this is not a lost cause. Energy and water conservation might come at a price, but you will definitely recoup a far larger payback, not only financially, but also environmentally. At NY Engineers, our expert plumbing engineers can design a straightforward solution for you. Equip your wasteful distribution system with a hot water recirculation system.
Here’s how it works in principle: rather than letting cold water waste away down the drain while you wait for your hot water supply to arrive, we can engineer a loop to keep the hot water supply up and running at all times. Using a recirculating pump, the hot water from your furthest plumbing fixture will circulate back to the water heater through the domestic hot water piping. Installing a hot water recirculation system saves you valuable resources such as time, money and energy.
Up the Ante with Top-of-the-Line Domestic Hot Water Piping
However, there’s a drawback if the recirculation system is not efficiently designed. At NY Engineers, we guarantee you cost-effective savings in all our signed-and-sealed DHW system designs. We are conscious of the direct correlation between the behavior consumption of end users, peak demand hours, overall water volume demand and the fixture flow rates.
It is not practical and economical to keep your hot water recirculation system running in full-looped operation for 24/7. Whether newly-built or renovation project, our duly licensed plumbing engineers can design from scratch or overhaul your DHW distribution system with demand-based solutions.
Save more money and water when we equip your system with smart-controlled timer and temperature control. This way, you can set and automatically switch your system on and off based on your peak and off-peak periods, while lowering the water temperature set point. Changing from constant to on-demand circulation system also benefits you two-way: your pump is not overused and distribution losses are decreased drastically, leading to more energy conservation.
Another water-saving measure that we fully integrate in our DHW systems design is to keep your domestic hot water piping in short runs. If this is matched with smaller ½” diameter pipes, your hot water supply will be up and delivered right to your fixture in no time.
It is important to note that material specification and pipe insulation play a significant role in the efficacy of your domestic hot water distribution system. Cold water supply lines is very much different from hot water supply lines, such that only these pipe materials can be specified to withstand the maximum water temperature: copper, polybutylene (PB), chlorinated polyvinylchloride (CPVC), random polypropylene (PP-R) and cross-linked polyethylene (PEX).
Additionally, uninsulated hot water pipes can cause a 5-10°F temperature decrease from the farthest fixture to your water heater. In layman’s terms, your heated line cools quickly without insulation so you have to run the risk of restarting the hot water distribution cycle all over again. At NY Engineers, all cost-effective and energy-saving measures are rounded up in our engineered designs of DHW distribution system. Learn how we deliver plumbing excellence in our list of high-profile projects.
