By Nick Tallos
“I turned on the water in the shower and waited for 10 minutes. Warm water finally started flowing, however it never lasted more than a minute and alternated mostly with cool to cold water.”
That’s the exact quote extracted from an online review of a guest who rated a hotel in Pennsylvania on Tripadvisor.com. The reviewer gave the hotel a rating of two out of a possible five. The site is full of similar comments from guests complaining about how long it took them to get hot water when they wanted to take a shower or wash their hands.
In the hospitality industry, when a guest turns on the hot water in their room, most wait patiently for the water to run a while to the proper temperature. Guests do not like to wait too long for their hot water according to the International Hospitality Association. In fact, they specifically address “the availability of hot water” as a factor for consideration in their quality standards and star rating systems that they set as the bar for multi-star ratings.
The cost to deliver hot water to insure customer satisfaction means the domestic hot water system must be balanced in a way that keeps the delivery time low. Until recently, that meant larger recirculating pumps, more recirculating flow, more wear and tear on your hot water system, and more cost.
Reduced Demand on Hot Water System
However, now modestly priced stainless steel control valves are available that use a temperature sensor and may be installed at the endpoints of domestic hot water systems. This inline fitting thermostatically controls a temperature set point typically in the 110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit range, or at any specified temperature. The thermostatic signal subsequently controls hot water flow through the hot water system’s branches, which controls temperature to the individual endpoints: showers and other fixtures in the hotel or lodgings facility. Instead of using flow to control the availability of hot water on demand, it uses temperature and consequently requires much less work and demand by the hot water system.
What does this mean for hospitality owners and operators? It provides greater efficiency, lower total costs, and a solution that promotes LEED projects and a “greener” building configuration.
A self-operating thermostatic valve controls flow in response to the temperature of the water flowing through the valve. This was developed specifically for domestic hot water applications. The underlying challenge for hotels and large facilities such as condominiums, apartment buildings, stadiums, hospitals and universities is that patrons want to turn on the hot water and would like it to be hot in some reasonably expected time frame, without a guest waiting a long time when they turn on a faucet for hot water.
Read more on Green Lodging News: www.greenlodgingnews.com/domestic-hot-water–faster-better–cheaper
CircuitSolver® was recently featured in Contractor Magazine, the online resource for mechanical contracting.
THE CIRCUITSOLVER® VALVE for domestic hot water systems is easy to install and maintain. It responds to changing water temperature and automatically changes flow to keep temperatures evenly distributed. It is constructed of all stainless steel.
View the release here
Valve Delivers Rapid Hot Water and Savings in Domestic Hot Water Systems
WARMINSTER, PA – September 26, 2012 – ThermOmegaTech, the global leader in the design and manufacture of self-actuating temperature control valves, has announced the launch of its new CircuitSolver valve for domestic hot water systems.
The company extensively researched the problem of hot water not being rapidly delivered to all parts of a building and utilized its self-actuating temperature control valve technology to solve it. The result is simple, an elegant piece of equipment that is easy to install and maintain, saving time, money, and energy.
“We are thrilled to announce CircuitSolver after hearing what trouble it can be to get hot water instantly to all parts of many buildings,” said James Logue Jr., President and CEO of ThermOmegaTech. “We have been developing valves to control the temperature and flow of water in many settings over the past 27 years. When we recognized this problem in the plumbing industry, we knew that we could develop a simple valve that would change the way engineers solved domestic hot water system problems. It is no longer necessary to install manual balancing valves and spend lots of time and money installing and maintaining them. Instead, CircuitSolver responds to changing water temperature and automatically changes flow to keep domestic hot water temperatures evenly distributed.”
Water flows to the path of least resistance and many buildings require multiple branches off the hot water supply line. Since hot water use is dynamic, the path of least resistance is constantly changing and manual balancing valves cannot properly resolve these issues. CircuitSolver fixes this problem when installed at the end of each supply branch.
Additionally, it eliminates the need for oversized recirculating pumps, minimizes heat loss by reducing fluctuations in average temperature and flow rate, and lowers flow in hot water return lines minimizing erosion-corrosion problems caused by excessive velocity.
The result is a dramatic reduction in water waste, energy savings, and greatly improves comfort and satisfaction from all users of the domestic hot water system.
When entering water temperature is below CircuitSolver’s set point, the thermal actuator will begin to open the valve to establish a flow rate that will achieve set point. If the water temperature exceeds the set point, the valve will begin to throttle back to find the current equilibrium point.
Continuously operating at the optimum temperature minimizes system heat-loss thereby saving energy. This constant, automatic response to water temperature enables each hot water branch to quickly and consistently deliver the right temperature of hot water to each connected fixture. The valve, which is constructed of all stainless steel, complies with California AB1953, and meets NSF-61 standards.
“After we installed CircuitSolver, we saw nearly 50% reduction in the time it took for the enhanced hot water delivery to reach the plumbing fixtures,” stated Bob Albanese, Construction Manager representing the Austonian in Texas. “It was simple to install and looks like it will be even easier to maintain. Our residents are quite pleased with the enhancements we’ve made to our system.”
CircuitSolver is currently available for sale. More information is available at www.CircuitSolver.com. Appointments with engineers from ThermOmegaTech can also be made through the website to determine if CircuitSolver is the right solution for any hot water distribution challenge.
ThermOmegaTech has over two decades of experience in the design and manufacture of valves for freeze protection and scald protection, mixing and diverting, steam traps, ambient temperature control, surface sensing applications, and custom designed valves. The company’s valves protect billions of dollars of rail equipment each year, and can be found in hotels and condominiums, commercial dishwashers, boiler systems, commercial laundries, safety showers and eyewash stations, thermal solar panels, and more. ThermOmegaTech’s valves are all environmentally friendly, and no outside power source is needed to activate them.
About ThermOmegaTech, Inc.
Founded in 1983, ThermOmegaTech is the global leader in the design and manufacturing of the most advanced, reliable, and compact self-actuated valves for temperature control. The company holds over 25 patents for the design and manufacturing of valves for freeze control, scald protection, and tepid water mixing in the rail, manufacturing, processing, healthcare, hospitality, and building industries, to name a few. All ThermOmegaTech products are made in the United States of America.
More details are available here.
