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Homeowner’s Mid-January Crisis Resolved by New Jersey Contractor

Surprisingly warm temperatures greeted residents of Mid-Atlantic  states In the middle of January. For people living in the area who typically face freezing temperatures, severe nor’easter snowstorms, and perilous ice storms, temperatures ranging from the mid-30s to low-40s without precipitation was almost a best-case scenario for the residents’ safety – and thermal comfort.

Despite the mild atmospheric conditions that occurred last January, homeowners who have a malfunctioning boiler, even in tranquil weather, may unexpectedly find themselves in a catastrophe at home. This was the situation a homeowner from New Jersey faced when the heating unit of a century-old home stopped working, causing the residents to shiver as evening temperatures approached the freezing point.

Ezzy Travis, a plumbing and heating contractor and solo proprietor of E. Travis Mechanical installed a HTP ELU 150K BTU boiler to substitute the feeble and inefficient one. Four days without heat or water might not seem like a lot, but can seem like an eternity for people living in the house.

“The boiler was only about 12 years old, but was not properly serviced,’’ Travis said. “With the amount of time it would’ve required to repair the boiler, it didn’t make sense. It also wasn’t piped 100 percent correctly.”

A Fresh Start

Prior to arriving at the home in the New Jersey neighborhood of Glen Rock, Travis had already fixed other home heating emergencies. Upon assessing the situation, he recognized the project required extensive repairs, rather than a short-term solution.

“A wholesaler referred this project to me,’’ Travis said. “I knew right away we’d have to replace the boiler and all the piping. Things weren’t done 100 percent correctly, and I have a standard way of doing things. All the piping in the mechanical room and the boiler had to be ripped out. The only thing that was salvageable was the indirect tank. It had been installed in August, so there was no reason to rip it out.”

Constructed in 1916, the traditional house features four bedrooms and three baths, in a 3,200 square feet area. Despite the house being quite expansive, the mechanical room’s workspace did not have the same luxury.

“That was probably the biggest challenge we faced,’’ he said. “It wasn’t a deep mechanical room. There just wasn’t a lot of room for two of us. I needed another set of hands for this one. We had to ask each other to move out of the way when we had to move within the room. It was a pretty tight squeeze with some significant space constraints.”

Contractors often encounter working areas that are cramped like a sardine can. “It’s weird because many times when you need space, you don’t have it,’’ Travis said. “Other times we’ll install something that is relatively small, and we have all the space in the world. A lot of my jobs are in areas where everybody wants to utilize every square inch of the basement. I’ll have to spend time putting down protective material for the carpet and wall, which makes it take longer. I don’t want to do any damage to the house.”

Navigating tight staircases with burdensome boilers is a risk that contractors frequently experience. When setting up the new boiler to replace the faulty one, Travis and his helper maneuvered carefully as they removed the old unit and installed the new one.

Turning Up the Heat

Finding the appropriate boiler is key for a project in an old home with many rooms and floors. Contractors must consider that houses with compromised insulation and large square feet make the selection even more important.

“I had to factor in the heat loss of the house,’’ Travis said. “In this part of New Jersey, we see a lot of houses like that. In a hydronic system, you need to do thorough heat loss analysis. I wanted to make sure that the unit we installed was able to overcome any heat loss within the house.”

The high BTU output the HTP boiler provides was the deciding factor in Travis’ choice. “I also liked the fact that it had a 11:1 turndown ratio,’’ Travis said. “I like the simplicity of it. It’s not a complicated boiler. Because of the age of the house, I was also concerned about heat loss. I wanted to make sure we had enough BTUs to heat the entire house.”

In nearly all residential heating systems, the 11:1 ratio is a significant factor to consider. Whenever a boiler or burner finishes a cycle, it uses a substantial amount of energy. Reducing the amount of complete on and off cycles by utilizing a higher turndown ratio can minimize inefficiencies, resulting in lower maintenance costs. Additionally, high turndown burners are capable of responding more rapidly to changes in demand.

The HTP units – offered in sizes from 85K BTU input and all the way up to 199K BTU input – feature high-quality stainless-steel heat exchangers that guarantees the highest quality at the boiler’s core with corrosion resistance. The amplification in water flow provided by the heat exchanger results in increased turbulence that helps scrub the internal walls, thus reducing the accumulation of hazardous deposits.

“I liked the simplicity of this boiler,’’ Travis said. “There are not a lot of moving parts and it’s pretty uncomplicated.”

Linked Together

With the help of HTP link technology, the HTP ELU boiler offers a Wi-Fi solution for remote observation and alerts staff in the instance of a system fault. The boiler’s settings can also be conveniently adjusted on location without getting up from the chair.

During his 20-plus years in the industry, Travis has suggested HTP units for several projects. “I like their efficiency, durability and simplicity,’’ he said. “I get a lot of support when I’m installing them. They’ve been a good product for me over the years.”

Despite primarily being a one-man team, Travis takes pride in resolving significant or minor issues for all his clients. “I don’t feel like I’m doing anything special,’’ he said. “I’m just doing what I do. Fortunately, we were able to come up with a good solution for this rather quickly. It’s never a good thing for a homeowner to be without heat in the middle of winter.”

Brian Giardina writes on building, construction, engineering and other trade industry topics for publications throughout the United States.

Businesses that entrust their data storage to the state-of-the art Novva data center outside of Salt Lake City will benefit from a location chosen for its many data center-friendly attributes. The area offers outstanding connectivity, low power costs, and a central-western site with easy access to a major international airport. In addition, the site’s climate and 5,000-ft. altitude allow for many hours of free cooling annually.

Just as important to Novva’s clients, the new data center has a low disaster risk. The area is not prone to earthquakes, floods, or adverse weather events such as hurricanes.

And finally, for the additional peace-of-mind that makes this data center truly start-of-the-art, the cooling system for the computer servers boasts Aquatherm PP-RCT piping that will provide virtually leak-free service for decades to come. The Aquatherm piping will never scale or corrode, and the cooling water flow will remain unchanged throughout the anticipated 50-year lifespan of the pipe. All of this data adds up to a win for Novva and its clients.

The “hyperscale” data center in Salt Lake City will be Novva’s flagship data center. The 100-acre Utah campus is planned to ultimately include more than 1.5 million square feet of data center space and will accommodate 250kW to 30 MW clients. The construction is taking place in four phases. The first phase, which includes a 300,000-sq.-ft. data center, a 120MW substation and an 80,000 sq ft headquarters office building for Novva, was completed in December 2021.

Beating the Heat

Reliable cooling systems are an essential component of modern data centers. Computer servers are notorious for generating heat—and heat is notorious for being an enemy of computer servers.

The decision to install Aquatherm pipe as part of the new data center’s cooling system was driven by Steven Boyce, vice-president of infrastructure and design at Novva Data Centers. Boyce has been involved in the IT and data center space for more than 20 years, and has worked on multiple successful startups during that time.

When I first learned about Aquatherm, it was a no-brainer,” Boyce said. “I had been using steel pipes in my builds, which would corrode and rust, and in turn, fill my equipment with sediment and pieces of rust. Efficiencies would be diminished, and the pipes would eventually have to be replaced. Aquatherm’s total installed costs are lower, and their warranty is something that no steel vendor could match.”

Once the decision was made to trust the cooling system’s performance to Aquatherm pipe, Novva turned to the Salt Lake City branch of Harris Mechanical for the installation.

Harris had experience installing Aquatherm pipe, although the Novva data center represented the company’s largest data center Aquatherm installation to date. To handle the first phase of the Novva system, Harris installed a BASX custom chiller package (which included the pumps and controls), the Aquatherm pipe for computer system cooling, and the comfort system piping and plumbing. The piping work for phase 1 began in mid-May 2021 and was completed in October 2021. The system was commissioned and turned over to the owner in December 2021.

Fast and Furious

Jeff Reading, operations manager, construction, Harris Mechanical, explained that the Novva data center started out as a core and shell project, with the office built first and the data hall scheduled to be built out later. However, as anyone in construction work knows, it’s always best to expect the unexpected.

“We finished the core and shell construction in May 2021, and the data hall was right on its heels as a change order to the original project. So it came at us fast and furious,” Reading said. “The original plan was to complete the entire chilled water loop, which runs underneath the floor on both sides of the building. However, it was decided to install the piping in stages as the facility is built out. So far we have installed about half of the piping that will ultimately go in there.”

The installation to date has included 4,418 ft of Aquatherm Blue Pipe SDR 17.6. The main system piping is 10-in., and the takeoffs are 4-in.

Training Professionals

To handle such a large project. Harris Mechanical sent several installers to Aquatherm’s U.S. headquarters in nearby Lindon, Utah, for training.

Having Aquatherm-trained technicians opens up new opportunities for HVAC and plumbing companies. The company gains differentiation in the market, and enjoys the time- and labor-savings associated with installing polypropylene pipe.

Aquatherm training is the most intensive, comprehensive training in the polypropylene piping industry. Attendees receive both classroom training and hands-on training with multiple fusion machines, and must pass a rigorous test using all the fusion tools correctly.

After the training, Harris completed the installation using McElroy fusion tools and a combination of socket fusion for the 4-in. pipe and butt fusion for the 10-in. pipe. The system runs at a low pressure (35 to 45 psi); the cooling system supply water runs at 55°F and returns to the chiller at about 60°F.

According to Reading, Harris Mechanical  had a good experience with Aquatherm piping at the Novva data center, and the ease of installation compared to steel pipe helped Harris stay ahead of the project’s tight schedule.

“It was a smooth process,” he said. “We definitely gained experience and confidence with the pipe throughout the project, and our installers became accustomed to ‘leapfrogging’ and working with more than one [fusion] machine at a time.”

A Smooth Path

The underfloor piping system presented one of the major installation challenges at this project. The floor is raised 5-ft., and all of the facility’s piping, wiring, HVAC ducting, and utilities run through the raised space.

Aquatherm’s building information modeling (BIM) capabilities and Scan-to-Fab service helped ensure that the installation went smoothly by preventing underfloor conflicts and collisions.

“Using 3D BIM and Revit really helped with coordinating this installation,” said Autumn Turner, a fabrication drafter at Aquatherm. “Not only was all the HVAC and plumbing under the floor, there were floor stands every square foot. It took a lot of coordination to avoid all those potential obstacles.”

Turner noted that careful coordination enhanced the already-fast heat-fusion installation of Aquatherm pipe, and that less time and money spent on welders is a major benefit of choosing Aquatherm.

“Aquatherm  is just easier  work with than steel pipe,” she said. “It takes a lot less time to weld, and when you add in the BIM support and drafting it was easier for the installers to get situated into the floor and navigate the space.”

Turner added that Aquatherm’s BIM and Revit capabilities will ensure the future installation phases of the massive project also go smoothly.

Rhett Coles, Aquatherm’s fabrication drafting/scan-to-fab manager, said that Aquatherm’s Scan-to-Fab service and in-house fabrication makes any piping installation easier and smoother. Spools can be custom made in any size or configuration and shipped to the jobsite ready to install. In addition, any pieces fabricated by Aquatherm are covered by a comprehensive 10-year warranty.

“In the case of the Novva data center, we were in constant communication with Steven Boyce and the owner’s group,” Coles said. “We were not providing a cookie cutter system to them. They would tell us whatever they wanted or needed and we would work directly with them to help them fully accomplish their goals.”

A reliable, leak-free piping system with a long life span, and a smooth installation in any space,  including challenging underfloor designs? The data are in: Aquatherm is the right choice for data centers.

Plumbing Champions from across the world gather at ISH 2023 to prefab some bathroom fixtures, which were then donated to a nearby local sport facility in Frankfurt.

In what was a first of its kind event at an ISH Frankfurt show, 12 young plumbers/apprentices from eight different countries from around the world gathered at ISH Frankfurt earlier this year to work together for one single goal: prefab Geberit bathroom plumbing systems on the show floor, which would be eventually transferred off site to bathrooms at Niddahalle, part of the Eintracht Frankfurt sports club, west of the city.

“We are working together as a team in a collaborative workshop to produce some new bathrooms for the Eintracht Frankfurt sports club,” said Sean Keárny, Managing Director, for the International Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Foundation (IWSH). “We built them over the first three days of the trade show, and for the final two days of the trade show, we’ll be taking them to the facility and installing them. This is the first time anything like this has ever been done at ISH, and we are excited about that.”

The skilled plumbers assembled pre-wall frame systems and internal plumbing during the first three days of the ISH show. The systems were then transported to, and installed in, bathrooms at Niddahalle, which is undergoing modernization retrofits.

 

IWSH and the World Plumbing Council (WPC), brought the Plumbing Champions to Frankfurt from the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA), the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre (Australia), Apprenticeship Training Trust (New Zealand) and the Connect Trade Union (Ireland); all hosted and working together alongside peers from the Frankfurt branch of Innung Sanitär Heizung Klima (SHK), the master craftsperson’s guild for sanitation, heating and air conditioning in the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

The Plumbing Champions consist of: Patrick Howorka, Alexander Tödter and Colin Cubr (Germany); Danny Hoekstra (Australia); Sam Madgin (New Zealand); Veronika Schächle (Liechtenstein); Alex Svetz (United States); Elijah Sommers (Canada); and Jamie Bermingham and James Stenson (Ireland).

The bathrooms in Niddahalle are more than 40 years old, built before today’s high-efficiency plumbing solutions that use less water. “Frankfurt is a water-stressed area. Drought conditions threatened significant economic damage last year when water on the Rhine got so low it impeded barge traffic,” said Dave Viola, CEO of IAPMO and IWSH (IAPMO’s philanthropic arm) and deputy chair of the WPC. “The plumbing industry can alleviate water stress through improved water technology and a skilled workforce. We’re here to demonstrate it in real life.”

The Plumbing Champions initiative showcase retrofit approaches that advance energy efficient goals for the built environment: critical industry requirements set out in modern-day, international agendas such as the European Green Deal. The team will perform tasks including joining and bending hot and cold-water piping systems, installing cisterns and brackets for water closets and basins, and joining HDPE waste pipe. Participants will install plumbing systems designed by Geberit, a European leader in sanitary products working in partnership with the Frankfurt branch of Innung SHK.

“We see value in this program as a recruitment tool, it’s a good humanitarian effort for the community, and we are going to continue to do this at the next ISH two years from now, and we are going to do this in other places in the United States through the World Plumbing Council connections,” says Tom Bigley, Director of Plumbing, UA and chairman, World Plumbing Council.

The latest of the Watts Works Learning Centers, now with 200+ employees, has opened in Ft. Worth, Texas. The 250,000-sq.-ft. facility—customized for broad training purposes, administration, and manufacturing—joins several other Watts Works Learning Centers across North America.

In addition to a working mechanical room with pressurized water lab, the facility includes a 3,600-sq-ft. Learning Center, office areas and a wide range of product manufacturing and assembly, including robotic welding and cutting, metal passivation, sheet metal rolling, precision laser metal cutting, CNC machining, and ASME testing.

At the facility, employees produce PVI water heaters, BLÜCHER stainless-steel trench and HygienicPro® drains, and Ames and Watts in-building risers. The products that are manufactured in Ft. Worth, TX are used worldwide in various commercial applications. Many Watts technologies play a role in supporting energy efficiency, safety and regulation, and water conservation.

Through innovative training, the Watts’ training offerings help customers and employees improve their knowledge of Watts products, services, and solutions to enhance their professional skills.

Other North American-based Watts Works Learning Centers are located at North Andover, Mass.; Blauvelt, N.Y.; St. Pauls, N.C.; Burlington, Ontario; and Woodland, Calif.

For more information, visit https://www.watts.com/resources/training/learn-from-the-experts.