Serving a congregation of 150 faithful, Oneonta, N.Y., Assembly of God Church has increased its flock significantly since its founding in 1939. In the past 20 years alone, the number of churchgoers has more than tripled. Congregation growth has necessitated corresponding facility growth throughout the years. The current sanctuary was built in 1995, replacing an Read more
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Serving a congregation of 150 faithful, Oneonta, N.Y., Assembly of God Church has increased its flock significantly since its founding in 1939. In the past 20 years alone, the number of churchgoers has more than tripled.
Congregation growth has necessitated corresponding facility growth throughout the years. The current sanctuary was built in 1995, replacing an older chapel that had been converted from a three-car garage. Even this larger building, however, could not keep up with the rise in attendees and demand for community programs. “By 2012, with 150 people and a growing children’s program, the church needed to expand,” says Reverend John Grenier, Pastor of Oneonta Church.
The decision was made to undertake a two-story, 50- by 100-foot expansion that would contain three classrooms, boys’ and girls’ restrooms and a gymnasium. Chief among the challenges was figuring out how to run plumbing from the new facility all the way to the septic system on the other side of the original building.
An initial solution, proposed by the project’s original general contractor and architect, called for running a sewer line from the building expansion to the septic tank near the original structure—a distance of roughly 150 feet. “We would have had to run pipe in the ground the full length of the old church (100 feet) and across the side of the expansion (50 feet),” explains Rev. Grenier.
Concerned with the significant time and material costs involved with such an undertaking, Rev. Grenier was hoping for a more cost-effective and less-laborious solution. “Not only would we have had to dig up the ground, including sidewalks and driveways, by running all that pipe, but we would also have to worry about freezing pipes during the winter, not to mention replanting grass and other greenery.”
A Simpler Approach
When churchgoer and licensed plumber John Stewart heard the proposed solution, he immediately suggested a different approach. “I thought it made absolutely no sense to endure all the labor and cost of installing that much pipe when you could just use a macerating system,” he recalls.
Stewart instead recommended installing a grinding system from Saniflo. Designed for both commercial and residential applications, these systems macerate (or grind) waste into a slurry before pumping it horizontally or vertically to a building’s drain line. “I’ve been using this technology for 10 years, and it hasn’t disappointed me yet,” affirms Stewart. “It’s well-built and designed to handle more than you would think possible.”
In the case of Oneonta Church, a pump would be connected to all the plumbing fixtures in the building expansion and housed in a pit. Effluent would be pumped up 13 feet and across the ceiling and link up with a stink pipe in the old building before eventually working its way to the septic tank on the other side of the property. The proposal promised to save a significant amount of time, labor and money on the project overall.
Despite the promise of savings, the architect on the project had some initial concerns. “He wasn’t used to the technology and was worried about leaks and bursts,” recalls Rev. Grenier. Stewart’s confidence in the grinding system was so strong, however, that he managed to eventually sway the architect to support the idea. “As I kept emphasizing how much less labor and cost the grinding system would require, the first option of digging up the ground became virtually indefensible,” insists Stewart.
All that remained was to choose the pump that would best accommodate the church expansion’s plumbing needs—which were many. Discharge from six toilets, seven sinks, two floor drains and two urinals needed to be pumped up and out. “With the potential for a high volume of effluent in a short amount of time, I wanted a pump with built-in redundancy that could handle anything flushed its way,” explains Stewart.
He discovered just the product during a conversation with Bill Norris, a Saniflo sales representative working for Empire State Associates in Rochester. Norris recommended the Sanicubic 2 because it comes equipped with two grinder pumps. Both are engineered to operate alternately. They each take turns handling the wastewater so that neither is more heavily used over time than the other. A single pump is able to handle up to 50 gpm. If the incoming rate is higher than the discharge rate, the pump automatically signals the “overload” stage. This will activate the second pump and both will operate simultaneously until the condition is alleviated. When both pumps are in operation, the discharge rate increases to roughly 90 gpm.
“The last thing I want is to be pulled from my church pew because we have a plumbing problem in the middle of service,” laughs Stewart. “This unit’s built-in redundancy reassures me that demand will be met.”
Stewart was further impressed by the unit’s heavy-duty grinding power. “I watched Bill flush a packaged tampon down a toilet connected to the system and…poof…it was ground to bits,” recalls Stewart. The unit also comes with an external alarm box that gives the owner status alerts.
Miraculous Savings
Under Stewart’s direction, church volunteers installed the plumbing system over the course of three weeks. “If we had installed the plumbing uninterrupted, it would have taken roughly six hours,” explains Rev. Grenier. “Our volunteers have busy lives, so they had to break up the work.” The pump was installed inside a five- by-five foot pit, with all plumbing and venting running up and through the ceiling.
Reported complications were minimal and mostly involved running the pipe. “Since we had a team of volunteers doing the pipe runs, I often stepped in, as the certified plumber, to reassure them that they were doing it properly,” says Stewart. “We also had a few hiccups in determining which pipe angles to use coming out of the pit and into the ceiling, but we resolved those fairly quickly, and it was an easy installation overall.”
Even better for Oneonta, by opting for the grinding system installation, the church garnered substantial savings. Choosing the first option of running a sewer line through the ground would have involved expensive digging and material costs totaling nearly $40,000. “Thanks to the great cost-effectiveness of the grinding system plumbing solution and our wonderful parish volunteers who donated their time and effort, we saved roughly $30,000 on the project,” reports Rev. Grenier.
After the installation, Stewart tested the pump with all the fixtures. “Even with everything running at full speed, only one of the two grinder pumps needed to come on, meaning the unit can handle even more in the future,” says Stewart. “The high level of engineering and ingenuity put into this technology is astounding,” he continues. “All the money it saved Oneonta Church can now be used to foster our faith community and improve our children’s programs—that is, ultimately, the real victory for us.”
Piscataway, N.J. ― Are you a plumbing expert who likes to share your know-how and help improve your customers’ lives? You may be just the plumber we’re seeking. Well-known plumbing manufacturer American Standard has launched its Plumber Know How contest, aimed at identifying the newest plumbing expert to engage customers and share professional advice through Read more
Piscataway, N.J. ― Are you a plumbing expert who likes to share your know-how and help improve your customers’ lives? You may be just the plumber we’re seeking.
Well-known plumbing manufacturer American Standard has launched its Plumber Know How contest, aimed at identifying the newest plumbing expert to engage customers and share professional advice through the Company’s website, social media communities, and at special events throughout the year.
The selected plumber-expert will receive $5,000 cash, $5,000 in product allowance, and extensive exposure via social engagement, online notoriety, and in-person contact with industry personnel. The plumber will participate in the program for up to 12 months, and will have the opportunity to be personally involved with the creation of promotional and instructional content for homeowners nationwide.
Interested plumbers can enter the contest by submitting a brief video filmed casually on a mobile phone or similar hand-held device. The video should be one-to-two minutes long and demonstrate the entrant’s personality, offer a piece of helpful plumbing advice that every homeowner should know, and express what the entrant likes about American Standard. This informal video can be uploaded at www.plumberknowhow.com now through December 15, 2016.
The contest winner will be a consummate trade pro who sets the standard for plumbers nationwide. This plumbing contractor can share his/her practical experience and advice that will improve day-to-day life for customers. The ideal individual will have the right answers to homeowners’ plumbing questions, from fixing simple leaks to saving water and beyond.
Additional activities for the Plumber Know How winner may include live product demonstrations at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS), video productions at showrooms, and live social media events. The winning plumber’s social media channels will be promoted via the extensive American Standard online communities, to assist in exponentially publicizing their contracting business.
For more information on the Plumber Know How contest or to enter, visit www.plumberknowhow.com.
Washington, DC — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is honoring 20 businesses, municipalities, utilities, and organizations for their commitment to protecting the environment through water efficiency. EPA’s WaterSense partners have helped Americans save more than 1.5 trillion gallons of water and $32.6 billion in water and energy bills since the program began in 2006. “Over Read more
Washington, DC — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is honoring 20 businesses, municipalities, utilities, and organizations for their commitment to protecting the environment through water efficiency. EPA’s WaterSense partners have helped Americans save more than 1.5 trillion gallons of water and $32.6 billion in water and energy bills since the program began in 2006.
“Over the past decade, EPA’s WaterSense partners have made WaterSense more than just a label. It’s become a way of life,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “Our changing climate impacts water quality and supplies. And we need to ensure that more Americans are saving water now so that we can protect this precious resource for future generations.”
The winners were chosen from nearly 1,700 WaterSense partners, including utilities, local governments, manufacturers, retailers, distributors, builders, and other organizations who have partnered with EPA to produce and promote water-efficient products, programs, and homes.
2016 Sustained Excellence Award Winners
Delta Faucet Company (Indiana), a two-time Sustained Excellence winner, spread the word about the performance of WaterSense labeled showerheads by featuring them at outdoor showering stations that helped clean more than 34,000 muddy runners at Warrior Dash races across the country as part of its HappiMess campaign. The company’s Brizo brand donated WaterSense labeled products to more than 30 homes as part of a charity giveaway supporting pediatric cancer research.
Kohler Co. (Wisconsin) earned its fourth Sustained Excellence Award by, in part, cosponsoring the Change the Course campaign to encourage consumers to pledge to reduce water use. Additionally, Kohler’s mobile showering stations with WaterSense labeled showerheads, toilets, and faucets reached more than 2,000 San Francisco residents in need, while 100,000 Bonnaroo music festival attendees in Tennessee used similar showering stations.
The Home Depot (Georgia) is a two-time Sustained Excellence winner; all the toilets and bathroom faucets sold in its stores are WaterSense labeled. The company worked last year to ensure that all the showerheads it sells in its stores were WaterSense labeled by September 2016. To drive sales of WaterSense labeled products, the company promoted rebates and more than $43.8 million in product incentives in 2015.
KB Home (California), which received its second consecutive Sustained Excellence Award, constructed 233 WaterSense labeled homes in 2015, an increase of 142 percent compared to its labeled homes constructed in 2014. The company introduced four KB Home communities in California in which all homes will be built to meet the WaterSense specification.
2016 Partners of the Year
Promotional Partner of the Year: Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) Public Utilities Department’s Water Conservation Office expanded its Certified Blue restaurant program to include 33 new local businesses and distributed “We’re for Water” activity sheets for kids to complete while waiting for meals. Its Little Lily Pad Hop school outreach project taught students how to conserve water, and its sixth annual Athens Water Festival included a scavenger hunt for the WaterSense logo.
Promotional Partner of the Year: Citrus County (Florida) Utilities’ We’re for Water Classroom Challenge taught 400 third through fifth grade students how to find and fix leaks and save water at home. The utility also celebrated Fix a Leak Week with three adult activities: Schedule a Specialist, Facilities Checkup, and a Water Conservation Expo.
Promotional Partner of the Year: The City of Charlottesville (Virginia) promoted WaterSense labeled products during its Love Your Landscape contest during Sprinkler Spruce-Up 2015. For Fix a Leak Week, the city provided off-campus University of Virginia students with leak-detection tablets and held its annual five-kilometer race. A Blue Team of middle and high school students distributed 600 water conservation kits to utility customers.
Promotional Partner of the Year: Cobb County (Georgia) Water System, a five-time Partner of the Year Award winner, and its new mascot Tappy the Turtle promoted all WaterSense campaigns in 2015. For Fix a Leak Week, the utility supported the Water Drop Dash 5k and Water Festival, and for Sprinkler Spruce-Up it sponsored an “Ask an Expert” traveling display.
Promotional Partner of the Year: Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District launched the Great Plumbing Fixture Giveaway, where a local nonprofit selected through social media earned $1,000 in free WaterSense labeled fixtures. The district sponsored its annual Water Drop Dash 5k and Water Festival for Fix a Leak Week 2015 with more than 500 runners and provided WaterSense activity sheets for kids.
Licensed Certification Provider Partner of the Year: Energy Inspectors Corporation (Nevada) certified 233 homes for KB Home to meet the WaterSense labeled homes specification, more than double the number of homes it certified in 2014. As of the end of 2015, the company has trained a dozen inspectors to perform WaterSense specification inspections.
Professional Certifying Organization Partner of the Year: The Sonoma-Marin (California) Saving Water Partnership continued to expand the reach of its WaterSense labeled Qualified Water Efficient Landscape (QWEL) certification program. In 2015, the partnership worked with six new organizations to adopt the QWEL program and helped more than 65 irrigation professionals earn certification.
Nine additional WaterSense partners received Excellence Awards to recognize their support for a specific aspect of the program in 2015:
• Cascade Water Alliance (Washington) and High Sierra Showerheads (California) for Excellence in Strategic Collaboration
• City of Durham (North Carolina) Water Management and Sonoma-Marin (California) Saving Water Partnership for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products.
• City of Carmel (Indiana) Utilities, City of Fort Worth (Texas), Regional Water Authority (Sacramento, California), and the Toro Company (Minnesota) for Excellence in Education and Outreach.
• American Standard (New Jersey) for Excellence in Innovation and Research.
Since 2006, EPA’s WaterSense program has worked to protect the future of the nation’s water supply by offering Americans a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services. WaterSense labeled products, which are independently certified to use at least 20 percent less water and perform as well or better than standard models, have been on the market since 2007, when toilets first earned the label. Since then, the number of labeled models has grown to more than 16,000, including products used in residential and commercial bathrooms, commercial kitchens, and outdoor irrigation. EPA’s WaterSense program certifies homes with WaterSense labeled fixtures and features. To date more than 700 homes have earned the WaterSense label.
Learn more about the 2016 WaterSense Award winners at www.epa.gov/watersense.
Milwaukee Tool expands its industry-leading M12™ System with the introduction of the M12™ Drain Snake, developed specifically for the challenges plumbers, maintenance technicians, and property managers encounter when cleaning fixtures and small drain lines. Providing the benefits of both handheld and floor-mounted drain cleaning machines, the Drain Snake’s simple cordless setup, as well as its Read more
Milwaukee Tool expands its industry-leading M12™ System with the introduction of the M12™ Drain Snake, developed specifically for the challenges plumbers, maintenance technicians, and property managers encounter when cleaning fixtures and small drain lines. Providing the benefits of both handheld and floor-mounted drain cleaning machines, the Drain Snake’s simple cordless setup, as well as its new-to- world design, deliver game-changing productivity for plumbers and contractors cleaning sinks, tubs, and other small drain lines up to 25’ long.
Tool allows users to easily and accurately create professional, customized project submittals. Viega LLC announced its release of the Submittal Builder tool. The online tool allows users to easily and accurately create professional, customized project submittals for ViegaPEX and radiant systems. Using Viega’s Submittal Builder requires a few easy-to-follow steps. To create a customized submittal Read more
Tool allows users to easily and accurately create professional, customized project submittals.
Viega LLC announced its release of the Submittal Builder tool. The online tool allows users to easily and accurately create professional, customized project submittals for ViegaPEX and radiant systems.
Using Viega’s Submittal Builder requires a few easy-to-follow steps. To create a customized submittal, users simply double click on the desired documents, or drag and drop them into the “Selected Documents” column. These documents include product instructions and tech data sheets for Viega ProRadiant and Viega PureFlow Water Systems. Users can fill out fields, including customizable customer and project information that will appear on the cover page.
The tool also includes a “Prepared By” section that retains user information for ease of creating future submittals. Users may select warranties for ProRadiant, PureFlow water systems or residential fire products. Once all documents are selected, users simply select “Build Submittal.” After the project is submitted, users can view a cover page and table of contents that is editable for making changes by the engineers, contractor or other fields as applicable
“Viega is excited to introduce the Submittal Builder tool to make incorporating ViegaPEX and radiant solutions into projects easier,” said Jason McKinnon, director of technical services, Viega. “This tool makes project submittals faster and customizable, and it gives customers a better opportunity to win commercial projects.”
To access the Submittal Builder, visit submittalbuilder.viega.us.