Students Get Into Hot Water At School
Electric tankless water heaters pass the test in Indiana school restrooms.
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| An electric tankless water heater in a school's boys' restroom also accommodates the hot water needs of the girls' restroom on the other side of the wall. |
When Indiana Math and Science Academy, Indianapolis, was renovating a school building, its goals were to save costs on maintenance, operations, and installation. Facility management sought a water-heating system that could conserve water and be maintenance free. A problem, though, was that the new restrooms were located far from the mechanical room. The solution was to use one electric tankless water heater to handle all of the hot water needed for two restrooms.
The water heater, set at 8.5 W, was placed under the sink in the boys' restroom. The unit also serves the girls' restroom on the other side of the wall. This placement, with a short piping run, conserves water. Only one cold-water-system pipe is needed to run the unit. The coilless water-heating technology eliminates the need for periodic maintenance calls, regardless of water quality, according to the manufacturer. John Ayetekin, the schoolmaster and general manager of the academy, said the unit should reduce or eliminate maintenance costs.
The school used a point-of-use electric tankless hot water heater with coilless technology made by American Hometec, Wilmington, DE. Another AHM-C10 heater, set at 4.3 W, was installed under a sink in a health room.
The company calls its product "maintenance-free" because no coils need to be replaced and no descaling service is needed. Water is never in contact with the electric components.
Hot water is delivered within two seconds of opening a faucet. When a user opens a faucet, a switch senses water flow. A temperature sensor begins continual sensing and heating tubes warm the water. The output temperature is displayed on the front panel of the heater. The system remains on until no flow is detected.
Godby Plumbing and Heating, Indianapolis, installed the units. "I was surprised how compact and nice looking the unit is. We installed the unit in under one hour under the sink," said Mike Dorn, Godby's plumbing manager. "We set the temperature at 115 degrees and the hot water at the sink was 115 degrees." There was no drop in temperature, unlike traditional systems where hot water from a tank has to travel a long distance to a sink.
Other advantages of the tankless heaters, according to American Hometec, include:
- 3-in-1 technology. One AHM-C10 unit can accommodate three capacities (4.2 kW, 6.4 kW, and 8.5 kW). Configuring the system allows for further reduction in installation costs by reducing wire and circuit breaker size to match the application.
- 99% efficiency. The heater only uses energy while in operation.
- Small footprint. The units save floor space in commercial buildings.
- Supports green building initiatives. The tankless heater qualifies for LEED points, Green Plumbers USA preferred method, and EPA's Watersense, and meets the National Association of Home Builders' green building standards.
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