For residential plumbers, there have been two schools of thought for plumbing a house: home run and trunk and branch. Both have their positives and negatives, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish with the plumbing system. However, you may not know there’s a new (and smarter) way to design and install a residential plumbing Read more
residential
For residential plumbers, there have been two schools of thought for plumbing a house: home run and trunk and branch. Both have their positives and negatives, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish with the plumbing system.
However, you may not know there’s a new (and smarter) way to design and install a residential plumbing system that installs faster, uses less materials, requires fewer connections, minimizes your liability and operates more efficiently.
It’s called Logic plumbing.
A Logic plumbing design can only be used with PEX piping, but since PEX is now used in more new-home construction than copper and CPVC combined, you’re most likely already using it. (And if you’re not, you need to check it out. PEX is highly durable, flexible and more cost-effective compared to copper and CPVC.)
The Logic approach leverages the flexibility of PEX pipe to minimize connections and reduce potential leak points while also incorporating multiport tees located near fixture groupings to both limit the amount of pipe and connections needed while also improving installation efficiencies and system performance.
What’s a multiport tee?
I’m sure right now you’re wondering, “What’s a multiport tee?” It’s essentially a bunch of tees all molded together to create one long tee with multiple outlets. This innovative product minimizes connections and is the heart and soul of a Logic design.
For example, six regular tees will have 18 connections, but a flow-through multiport tee with six outlets will only have eight connections (six connections for the ports, a main flow-through inlet and a main flow-through outlet). Think about how much faster you could install a system when you’re making half the number of connections.
And get this — while multiport tees may resemble a manifold, they have the benefit of being hidden behind walls without the need for an access panel. Yes, you heard that right. No need for an access panel, minimizing costs and labor to help keep your projects on schedule and on budget.
Multiport tees are made of engineered polymer (EP), a thermoplastic material that has been used in plumbing applications for more than 20 years. EP has superior mechanical, chemical and thermal properties that provide dimensional stability in demanding applications, including areas of high stress, heat and moisture.
And, like PEX, the EP material in multiport tees resists corrosion, pitting and scaling, so it creates a highly durable system that’s engineered to last. Best of all, multiport tees (as well as all EP fittings) are approved for direct burial in the soil or concrete slab, so they are ideal for in-slab plumbing applications.
The Logic layout
So what exactly is a Logic plumbing layout? It’s quite simple: a main line connects to a multiport tee with distribution lines going out from the tee. These individual lines extending from the single multiport tee provide water to all fixtures in a single or adjacent grouping.
This design uses significantly less pipe than a home-run layout, with just a few more connections. Plus, it requires considerably fewer connections compared to a trunk-and-branch installation.
For example, a 2,300-square-foot, two-story home using a Logic design requires only 637 feet of pipe while a home-run system uses 1,515 feet of pipe. That’s more than twice the amount of piping necessary.
In addition to the added costs required to install all that extra pipe, the system performance is also greatly reduced due to added pressure loss and longer wait times for hot water. Plus, all the extra pipe can lead to issues isolating hot and cold water lines. This increases heat transfer and energy inefficiencies within the plumbing system.
And, while it’s true a Logic installation uses slightly more connections than a home-run layout (59 vs. 48 in the 2,300-square-foot, two-story home example above), the amount of pipe savings is significantly more beneficial with the labor and material savings you get with less pipe to install (not to mention the efficiency of the system).
A Logic layout also installs much faster compared to a trunk-and-branch system due to the vast reduction in connections. With the two-story home example above, a Logic layout uses a mere 16 fittings and 59 connections compared to a whopping 96 fittings and 165 connections for trunk and branch. That’s six times the number of fittings and nearly three times the amount of connections!
All those added connections greatly increase your liability with more potential for leaks, plus it also limits the performance of the system with increased pressure loss.
So there you have it! Just a few “logical” reasons why you should consider a smarter approach to plumbing a home that will improve your installation times, limit your liability and offer an all-around better-performing system for the end user.
Kim Bliss is the content development manager at Uponor. She can be reached at kim.bliss@uponor.com.
Lochinvar is enhancing its top-performing high-efficiency condensing residential KNIGHT Fire Tube Boiler series with 95 percent DOE AFUE and advanced control functionality for optimized heating comfort. Now in its fourth generation, the designed, engineered and assembled in the U.S.A. KNIGHT Fire Tube Boiler contains 13 models — seven wall-mount options (55,000 to 399,000 Btu/hr) and Read more
Lochinvar is enhancing its top-performing high-efficiency condensing residential KNIGHT Fire Tube Boiler series with 95 percent DOE AFUE and advanced control functionality for optimized heating comfort.
Now in its fourth generation, the designed, engineered and assembled in the U.S.A. KNIGHT Fire Tube Boiler contains 13 models — seven wall-mount options (55,000 to 399,000 Btu/hr) and six floor-standing models (55,000 to 285,000 Btu/hr) — with turndown ratios of up to 10:1.
“Lochinvar’s engineering team does not rest on the success of a great product, and the KNIGHT Fire Tube Boiler evolution is proof of our relentless push to improve performance for homeowners and make installation and set up a snap for contractors,” said Dan Rettig, residential product manager at Lochinvar. “Whether a contractor is installing for new construction or performing a drop-in replacement on an older boiler system, the KNIGHT series has the flexibility and muscle to meet the space-heating demands of nearly any residential application. This is without a doubt the best KNIGHT boiler yet.”
To achieve cost-efficient performance and rugged reliability for homeowners, the KNIGHT Fire Tube Boiler is manufactured with high-quality components, including a corrosion-resistant stainless steel fire-tube heat exchanger and a negative regulation combustion system. Additionally, each KNIGHT boiler will be packaged with a variable-speed ECM circulator, which can save up to 90 percent on operational costs over a conventional circulator.
Every KNIGHT Fire Tube Boiler comes equipped with SMART SYSTEM, the industry’s most advanced boiler control system, which now includes the CON·X·US Remote Connect option and the LOCH-N-LINK® USB Programming feature. The Set-Up Wizard guides contractors through installation programming while Lochinvar’s exclusive CON·X·US Remote Connect option allows a technician or homeowner to monitor and manage the boiler from a mobile app.
Lightweight with a compact footprint and easy-to-access components, the entire series is designed to make installation, setup and serviceability straightforward for contractors. For instance, the KNIGHT Fire Tube Boiler features:
- LOCH-N-LINK USB Programming with parameters uploaded from a thumb drive
- Universal vent adapter, which allows for easy transition to multiple types of vent material
- Variable-speed pump that increases system efficiency and reduces operational costs
- Dual location parameter memory for quick and simple component replacement
- Electrical outlet on the unit for a work light or condensate pump
- Wall- and floor-mount options with top and bottom water connections.
For larger residential applications, KNIGHT Fire Tube boilers can be cascaded together for redundancy and may also be paired with an indirect water heater.
The high-efficiency condensing gas KNIGHT Fire Tube Boiler series first launched in 2005. Since its introduction and through four generations, the KNIGHT Fire Tube boiler has established a reputation for reliable performance among contractors.
For more information about Lochinvar, visit www.Lochinvar.com.
By Gary Kellermeier Owner of Kellermeier Plumbing & Heating, Inc. Basement flooding is a lot of things – and all of them bad. It’s expensive. It can cause illness. And, it causes stress – a lot of stress. Especially if the basement is finished. Wet insulation and wet sheetrock can cause mold and mildew, which Read more
By Gary Kellermeier
Owner of Kellermeier Plumbing & Heating, Inc.
Basement flooding is a lot of things – and all of them bad. It’s expensive. It can cause illness. And, it causes stress – a lot of stress.
Especially if the basement is finished. Wet insulation and wet sheetrock can cause mold and mildew, which can cause serious illness. Wet framing is a concern because it can cause structural damage, which can greatly drive up repair bills, sometimes by thousands of dollars.
Simply put: It’s a big headache – and it’s expensive — to clean up and to replace lost property after a basement flood.
So, in the interest of preventing water damage, the first thing is to make sure the basement walls and floors are protected as well as they can be from water. It is also absolutely imperative to make sure the sump pump is working properly. An automatic sump pump should help keep normal amounts of groundwater from building up in the basement. It will act like a floor drain and keep the water from rising.
Unless there’s something wrong with the sump pump.
In fact, most flooded basements are the result of faulty sump pumps. Yes, power outages sometimes contribute to flooding, but the majority of basement flooding is caused by sump pumps that have failed or otherwise can’t handle the amount and flow of water.
To avoid plumbing service repair bills that can happen when a sump pump needs attention, and to prevent damage to property that is the result of flooding, homeowners should take the first step in prevention by making sure the sump pump is not more than 10 years old, the usual life expectancy of a sump pump. The best way to know the age of a sump pump is to keep the receipt; in fact, put it in a file to pass off to the next owner of the home, as a courtesy – and a headache preventive.
Basement flooding is preventable. To help avoid the results of flooding, keep handy this list of things that can disable a sump pump:
• Tripped circuit breaker: Make sure the sump pump has a dedicated circuit. If additional items are connected, it could trip the circuit.
• Faulty switch: The sump pump’s switch might be stuck against the side of the pit. Or, debris might be caught in the pit, causing the switch to fail. Be sure to inspect the switch to make sure it’s operating freely.
• Clogged strainer: Sump pumps have a strainer at the bottom that the water flows through. If the strainer is clogged, the water won’t flow through properly and the basement could flood.
Another effective way to help prevent basement flooding is to install a two-pump system, which insures there will be a back-up pump should one pump fail. It also has an alarm to alert homeowners in the event of a failure.
Basement flooding can be very expensive, and it certainly is a very big headache. It is also preventable. Being proactive by knowing what problems to look for in sump pumps currently in use and by becoming educated about alternative systems is advisable.
About the Author
Gary Kellermeier is the owner of Kellermeier Plumbing & Heating, Inc., in Haskins, Ohio. The company offers its exclusive FloodGuard, a system with two sump pumps, a solid state control box and two level controls, which insures there will always be a backup pump available. To learn more, contact Gary at 419.823.7626 and visit kphcomfort.com.
Summary
The best way to avoid damage to personal items and other property that is the result of flooding is to prevent the problem in the first place. One way to do that is to check the sump pump. A sump pump should help keep normal amounts of groundwater from building up in the basement. In fact, though, most flooding problems are caused by sump pumps that have failed or otherwise can’t handle the amount and flow of water. FloodGuard is an exclusive two-pump system that insures there will always be a back-up pump available – and alerts when there is an issue.