flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Tankless water heaters improve water heating efficiency in an Indiana condo community

Sponsored Content Plumbing

Tankless water heaters improve water heating efficiency in an Indiana condo community

Cascaded Navien NPE-240A tankless water heaters installed in three phases at condominium community in Culver, Ind.


By NAVIEN INC. | May 4, 2020
Jason Richards, A+ Plumbing Heating and Cooling, with Navien NPE-240A tankless water heaters

Jason Richards, owner of A+ Plumbing Heating and Cooling, installed Navien NPE-240A tankless water heaters at Culver Cove, a condo community in Indiana. Photo: Navien

     

Culver Cove is an 80‑unit condo complex located on Lake Maxinkuckee near Culver, Ind.

Originally hot water was supplied from three strategically located utility rooms, each with six 100‑gallon commercial tank‑type heaters. Circulating pumps and mixing valves were required to prevent scalding. Rich West, Executive Director of Culver Cove, was looking for a more efficient hot water system to reduce energy costs, especially during low demand periods. His research led him to the Navien Premium Efficiency (NPE) tankless water heaters that would eliminate the energy cost of constantly running the tanks to be ready for hot water demand.

West worked with Mike Lambert, then with Mid-City Supply Co., and Clark Boyles of P-M & Associates, the Navien distributor and rep in northern Indiana. They recommended a phase one installation of five cascaded Navien NPE-240A units for about one-third of the complex—about 26 units, from one to three bedrooms each. With the proven energy savings of the first phase, Culver Cove proceeded to change out the other two utility rooms that served the rest of the condos.

 

Culver Cove, an 80-unit condo community in Culver, Ind., installed Navien tankless water heaters to improve energy efficiencyCulver Cove, an 80-unit condo community in Culver, Ind., installed Navien tankless water heaters to  improve its overall energy efficiency.

 

Lambert and Boyles worked with Jason Richards, Owner of A+ Plumbing Heating and Cooling, to work out details for sizing, designing, and installing the system. The installation of each section took about a week and a half, including removing the old tanks. The five Navien units used two sets of four-inch PVC vent pipes that ran through the roof in an existing 12‑inch B vent.

 

BENEFITS OF NAVIEN NPE TANKLESS SYSTEM

Efficient hot water supply.  “The five Navien units are cascaded so when the master unit comes on, it triggers the next one in line to help as needed, and so on until all units are running if necessary,” said Richards. “Each time a Navien unit comes on, it’s a different master-slave situation, so all five units have equal run times.”

Technical factors. “Unlike the old tank system, we could eliminate the external circulating pump and mixing valve, since we can set the temperature at 120 degrees,” said Boyles. Another factor in selecting Navien NPE-A tankless water heaters was the internal recirculating pump and buffer tank, which assure an uninterrupted flow of hot water.

 

Old conventional water heaters at Culver Cove, Inc., condominiumsOld conventional water heaters at Culver Cove condominiums were replaced to improve energy efficiency.

 

Energy and water savings. “We have noticed a decrease in our energy cost from NIPSCO, our local gas supplier—a real dollar savings every month,” said West. “We have applied for an energy rebate. I also have seen a decrease in our domestic water use.”

Easier installation. “One of the main reasons we went with Navien is the ability to use PVC,” Richards said. “The common venting also makes it less expensive. In this retrofit situation, we could use existing penetrations to run our vents. That saved a lot of labor.”

For more information: NavienInc.com.

Tags

Related Stories

| Aug 11, 2010

Autodesk 2010 Certification Now Available for Design Professionals

Autodesk, Inc., (Nasdaq: ADSK), today announced that design and engineering professionals can become Autodesk Certified in AutoCAD 2010, Autodesk Inventor 2010, Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010, and AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 software. Becoming Autodesk Certified allows professionals, and companies boasting Autodesk Certified employees, to validate their industry skills and knowledge, demonstrate expertise and gain credibility.

| Aug 11, 2010

Jacobs, CH2M Hill, AECOM top BD+C's ranking of the 75 largest federal government design firms

A ranking of the Top 75 Federal Government Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants

| Aug 11, 2010

AGC: Construction unemployment reaches 19.2%

Unemployment in the construction sector climbed to a “horrendous” 19.2 percent (not-seasonally adjusted) as an additional 59,000 construction workers lost their jobs in May according to new federal data, said construction economist Ken Simonson today.

| Aug 11, 2010

Gensler, HOK, HDR among the nation's leading reconstruction design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report

A ranking of the Top 100 Reconstruction Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants

| Aug 11, 2010

Gensler, Arup, HOK among the largest office sector design firms

A ranking of the Top 100 Office Design firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants

| Aug 11, 2010

Gensler among eight teams named finalists in 'classroom of the future' design competition

Eight teams were recognized today as finalists of the 2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom. Finalists submitted designs ranging from an outdoor classroom for children in inner-city Chicago, learning spaces for the children of salt pan workers in India, safe spaces for youth in Bogota, Colombia and a bamboo classroom in the Himalayan mountains.

| Aug 11, 2010

AECOM, WATG top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 75 largest hotel design firms

A ranking of the Top 75 Hotel Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants

| Aug 11, 2010

Parsons Brinckerhoff, Dewberry among nation's largest multifamily design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report

A ranking of the Top 75 Multifamily Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit /giants

| Aug 11, 2010

USGBC’s Greenbuild 2009 brings global ideas to local main streets

Save the planet with indigenous knowledge. Make permanent water part of your life. Dive deep water for clues to environmental success.  Connect site selection to successful creative concepting. Explore the unknown with Discovery Channel’s best known guide. These are but a few of the big ideas participants can connect to at USGBC’s Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, taking place on November 11-13, 2009 in Phoenix, Ariz.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Plumbing

EPA to revise criteria for WaterSense faucets and faucet accessories

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to revise its criteria for faucets and faucet accessories to earn the WaterSense label. The specification launched in 2007; since then, most faucets now sold in the U.S. meet or exceed the current WaterSense maximum flow rate of 1.5 gallons per minute (gpm). 



halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021