Uncategorized

With PEX installations in new-home construction surpassing copper and CPVC combined, professionals need a reliable PEX product they can count on that will offer long-lasting performance and durability.

Uponor is answering the demand with even more solutions for designers and installers to incorporate the value of a complete PEX plumbing system throughout a home or multifamily building.

With the ProPEX^® water service offering, installers can connect directly to a water meter, eliminating the need for additional fittings and couplings, allowing professionals to provide the reliability, high-performance and efficiency of a complete Uponor AquaPEX^® plumbing system from inlet to faucet.

Targeted for single-family homes and multifamily submetering, the offering is available in engineered polymer (EP) straight or angle fittings as well as lead-free (LF) brass straight or angle valves for connecting ¾” and 1″ Uponor AquaPEX^® pipe to ⅝”, ¾” and 1″ water meters. Both fittings and valves feature NPSM swivel connections found on all water meters sized ⅝” to 1″.

The offering has tamper-resistant features to meet AWWA C708-2011, Section 4.3.11 requirements. The fittings and valves have holes that allow for wire to be inserted and soft-soldered to prevent dismantling.

The offering also includes mounting brackets to support the water meter system. The mounting brackets, which can be can be secured to the floor, wall or ceiling, hold the meter and piping in place while securing the system around the fittings or valves.

To learn more, visit uponorpro.com.

As the southwestern drought maintains its white knuckle grip on the central and lower parts of the Golden State, Californians continue to find resourceful ways to trim their water consumption. Businesses large and small are no exception.

Seaside resorts—with massive pools, landscape to tend and mountains of laundry to wash—are among the largest water-consuming businesses aside from agriculture.

One famous resort in Santa Barbara is a 360-room ode to SoCal luxury. A guest reclined next to the pool, sipping a 93-point Pinot Noir, might find it easy to put all troublesome thoughts aside. But the resort’s outdated, wasteful water softening system wasn’t nearly as serene.

 

Environmental sustainability is something that resort management takes seriously, so late last year they began searching for solutions. With the help of nearby Matilija Pure Water Systems, they’ve recently made water- and salt-saving strides.

“The maintenance department contacted us early in 2015 about replacing the resin in their water softening system,” said Matt Raley, general manager at Matilija. “After visiting the facility, we developed a plan to save water, salt, and maintenance expenses.”

Time for an upgrade

Southern California’s water is hard, anywhere from 25 to 50 grains, and total dissolved solid levels range between 600 to 1,000 PPM. It’s this—along with a more recent emphasis on conservation—that has created high demand for water quality specialists in the Golden State.

And in Santa Barbara, Matilija Pure Water Systems leads the pack. The nearly-70-year-old firm provides uncompromising water quality service to the greater Santa Barbara area. All of their field staff either hold WQA (Water Quality Association) certification, or are working though the Professional Certification Program. And each technician carries a $500 well water test kit.

As the largest locally-owned water treatment company in the area, Matilija’s 10-truck crew focuses on residential and commercial water filtration, softening and purification. Their technicians maintain the systems they install, right down to scheduled salt deliveries.

The existing, 30-year-old water softening system at the resort included two, 60-cubic-foot mineral tanks. The steel vessels are so large that they were put in place before construction of the facility was compete. Raley wondered if it was worth the expense to replace the media.

After inspection, the answer was a resounding “no.” When the system was installed in 1986, it was generously sized to serve the entire resort. Not long after, plumbing changes across the 24-acre property removed half the load from the big system. Even so, the system wasn’t performing.

“The valves weren’t working correctly, so maintenance personnel were manually regenerating the media tanks,” said Matilija’s Service Manager, Daniel Masse. “And quite often, they had to do it twice, wasting a lot of water, time and salt. That’s a huge expense. We suggested they consider replacing the system instead of re-bedding it.”

Because of its huge volume, replacing the softener media would have been 25% of the cost to replace the entire system.

Fast-paced improvements

Within three weeks of the initial visit, Masse had designed a new system and the project went out to bid. In just a few short weeks, the resort would have a system that cut their salt use in half while actually delivering soft water.

“Ours wasn’t the lowest bid, but we also don’t cut any corners,” said Masse, who’s been with the company since 2010. “For example, I learned that one of the bids reduced the three-inch water lines down to two-inch valves. After we explained why we specified the larger valves, the resort saw the higher value in our proposal.”

In late June, with Masse leading the charge at the resort, a subcontractor was hired for extra manpower on the fast-paced project. With the laundry and main water heaters depending on the water supply, resort management wanted the task completed in a matter days.

“We installed a metered Watts WS3 valve and two alternating, 30-cubic-foot mineral tanks,” continued Raley. “We’re the largest Watts dealer in this area. Over the past 10 or 15 years using the product, we’ve found the support we receive to be outstanding. It’s also a big benefit to work with a manufacturer that makes a component for just about every application we encounter.”

Despite being half the size of the original mineral tanks, it was no walk in the park getting the new units in place. There was no room to install the new system next to the old one, so water lines needed to be piped into the adjacent boiler room. The new tanks were lowered over a handrail and eight feet down into the mechanical space.

A large, three-way bypass valve was installed right away, and new schedule 80 PVC was suspended from ceiling anchors.

“Before the retrofit, the resort was manually-regenerating their tanks, using two pallets of salt each month, and still didn’t have soft water,” said Masse. Now, they’re using half as much salt, water tests indicated zero grains of hardness, and the system regenerates automatically.”

The entire eight-day project was a race against the clock. Hiring the extra help played a key role in the success of the project, and so did familiarity with the products used.

“When we find good products, we stick with them,” said Raley. “We’re not the cheapest source of water quality expertise, but we provide premium service and carry high-end components. We shy away from less expensive water treatment products because we’ve learned they just doesn’t hold up in SoCal.”

Matilija Pure Water Systems’ dedication to superior product and service is apparent. If one look at an installation isn’t convincing enough, the fact that they have between 3,000 and 5,000 reoccurring customers tells the rest of the story. It comes as no surprise that a resort that’s known for an uncompromising guest experience would hire water quality experts with the same reputation.

“Given the option to marginally improve the old water softening system or make great strides to conserve salt and water, the resort management chose to make a real investment in the future,” said Raley. “That says a lot about their commitment to providing the best possible atmosphere for guests, as well as their standpoint on environmental sustainability.”

Winter’s strangle hold of frigid sub-zero temperatures has finally taken hold here in Minnesota. I’m sure many of you too have been blasted with arctic air and the storms that come with it. I think we’re in for a good old-fashioned winter and to be honest, it’s a welcome event.

Last year’s winter weather was terrible for business here in my area and I am very much in need and looking forward to the late night emergency no-heat calls or the many frozen/burst pipe repairs a typical winter inevitably ushers in. I never wish these situations on any of my customers; however, it is how we make our money so it’s good for the bottom line.

This past week our temps began to drop leading into the weekend; with lows bottoming out near -30F air temp and windchill reaching as low as -55F the calls have been coming in fairly regularly now. No heat, frozen pipes, a couple broken water pipe and even a frozen stock tank are some of the issues I’ve personally dealt with so far.

Just this last Sunday you might have seen a Facebook or Instagram post from an early morning emergency call I received from a new customer without water at any of their faucets. With overnight lows reaching well below -25F I was curious whether they had a frozen pipe inside their home or if the well supply line to the house has actually froze underground. I quickly found the problem upon arrival with the help of my infrared thermal imager, a tool I cannot imagine being without.

As mentioned in my post I have a few thermal imagers, two by Flir, one from Milwaukee and another from SEEK Thermal. Each is a little different from the others but all have proven extremely useful when diagnosing problems with both plumbing and heating systems. I should also mention how valuable these tools are to verify the proper operation of radiant heating systems as well. On a more than one occasion I have used an imager to show my customers where embedded heating lines are installed and that they are in fact operating as designed; something nearly impossible to do with any other tool.

Back to the frozen plumbing call.
When I arrived to the house with no water I immediately turned on all the faucets, walked downstairs into the mechanical room and attached my thermal imager to my iPhone. Within a minute I was able to identify the likely problem, a fresh air supply duct spilling -13F cold air directly onto the inlet copper tubing to the whole house water softener. As you can see in the photo the area around the softener is only 28F, something I would have eventually figured out but there was a lot of piping near the rim joists and strapped in front of an outside wall so I have no doubt it would’ve taken more than one minute.

Thankfully none of the copper had burst or even expanded so once I had thawed the ice plug in the softener piping it let loose and water was flowing to each faucet. Problem solved. Quickly thanks to a tool I will never be without and continue to find new uses for everyday.

Residential construction is definitely on the upswing here in Missoula, MT. We’re quickly approaching the levels we saw before 2008, and I hope we don’t quite hit that peak again.

I say this because the quality of work suffered in ’08. I was strictly doing service at the time, but pressure on all the trades was so high that shortcuts were taken on construction and installation, and it didn’t do any good for the collective tradesmen’s reputation around town. I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief when things slowed down. At least initially.

 

In the years leading up to the “crash,” I was able to establish a local reputation as someone who could figure out a solution for most plumbing and hydronic problems related to poor workmanship and improper installation. This served me well when I started my own company in 2011.

So, everyone here is getting busy again, but things are a bit different for me this time around. I now own a three-person company, and we do plenty of installation work. As we’ve grown, we’ve been mindful to use the best practices and products for the each application, instead of using a broad-brush approach on everything we encounter. We’ve expanded our comfort zone to better serve our customer base and it’s proven worthwhile.

Warm floors without water

About 60% of our heating work is hydronic. It’s our opinion that there’s no system more comfortable than in-floor radiant, but there are applications where it’s just not feasible.

This spring we were working on a new, 3,500-square-foot residence where heat and AC was being supplied by a heat pump. An additional hydronic system wasn’t in the budget, but the homeowner really wanted floor warming in the master and guest bathrooms. With a total of about 55 square feet, installing a boiler wouldn’t have been cost effective, even an electric boiler.

We decided to try an electric radiant mat product for the first time. After pricing the few systems on the market, we settled on the Watts Radiant HeatWeave. Despite having a one-ton pickup full of tools, we never used anything other than a multi-meter, glue gun and a pair of scissors.

Watts provided everything else need for installation. It came with a “LoudMouth” alarm that sounds if you nick a wire. The kit also included a slab sensor and a thermostat, so that you can program the system to maintain a specific floor surface temperature, or opt for room temperature.

 

With adhesive strips on both sides of the mat, there’s no specific orientation or direction you need to run. It simply sticks to the subfloor. While reading the directions, the first bathroom took about an hour-and-a-half. The second room took less than an hour.

In the past, electric radiant has always been something I’ve left for an electrician or a tile guy to install. From here on out, it’ll be a source of revenue for us.

Comfort is Queen

While comfort was king in ‘08, efficiency is just as important on new construction projects these days, as I’m sure you know. Homeowners are looking to shrink utility bills, and they’re asking for hi-efficiency equipment.

In the past year we’ve started using heat pump water heaters when a boiler isn’t present. After trying two different brands, we’ve gravitated toward the Bradford White.

 

The customer who asked us to put in the electric radiant also got an 80-gallon Bradford White AeroTherm™ Series heat pump water heater. Unlike most of the heat-pump water heaters on the market, you’re able to lay the unit on its side during transportation. That’s a plus, because the heat pump unit adds substantially to the tank’s height.

On that note, we’ve also found that the AeroTherm is significantly shorter than many other models, making installation and service a lot easier. The other brand we tried was probably a full foot taller, and about four inches narrower in diameter. Since you’re not supposed to stuff a heat pump water heater in a closet anyway, the diameter is of little concern.

 

These types of water heaters are more expensive than their standard electric counterparts, but they often qualify for state and local utility rebates and tax credits.

I don’t know about other brands, but the AeroTherm comes standard with a 10-year limited warranty. For an efficiency-minded customer, it makes a lot of sense.

Convenience and conservation

There’s one more product that has cemented its roll on nearly every new construction job we handle now; domestic hot water recirculation systems. When the AeroTherm was installed in the home, so was a Taco SmartPlus domestic hot water recirculation system.

In the mid-2000s, we installed very few DHW recirculation devices, but times have changed. California’s water shortage has raised awareness to the topic in recent years, and people have grown more impatient. Generally speaking, everyone wants hot water ten minutes ago, whether they’re of a conservation mindset or not.

Knowing your demographic helps here. If it’s a job in town, we lead with water conservation. Missoula is an environmentally-savvy place, so mentioning that a DHW recirc system can save up to 12,000 gallons of fresh water each year generally grabs attention.

Outside of town, where bigger, gaudier homes are pretty common, it’s all about convenience. Very rarely, in either of these situations, are customers completely uninterested. In most cases, recirculation systems aren’t cost prohibitive.

The vast majority of the residential new construction we do is custom, in which case we don’t even list DHW recirculation as an option. It’s simply in the bid. If the builder comes back later looking to cut costs, I tell him to put laminate countertops in the guest bathrooms instead of granite, and keep the recirc.

 

In 90% of our residential projects, and on every commercial job we do, we’re installing dedicated hot water return lines with a SmartPlus circulator. The system’s “smart” mode records each time hot water is called for during a seven day period and then duplicates the pattern for the following week. It can also be set to “pulse” mode, operating for 150 seconds every ten minutes, maintaining hot water at all fixtures.

For new construction or retrofits where there’s crawlspace access, we can typically run dedicated return lines and install the system for under $1,000. If dedicated lines aren’t a possibility, we’ll go to a system like Taco’s HotLink, with a crossover valve that allows hot water to return to the water heater via the cold water line. This approach has an even smaller price tag.

As I said, the new construction game has changed since the last economic upswing. Competition is arguably even stiffer, but the quality of work has much improved by all the trades. We’ve evolved with the market by providing the best service we know how, and finding new sources of revenue.

 By Andy Mickelson, owner, Mickelson P&H. Andy has built a solid foundation for his business through hard work and perseverance. His performance on high profile jobs in the Missoula, Montana area have placed him at the top of the list for area customers seeking a knowledgeable contractor in the plumbing, hydronic and HVAC field. Andy has served as a United Association Instructor at the Missoula Joint Apprentice Training Center for the Local 459. His passion for industry education, advancement and professionalism make him a well-respected local businessman.