Water Pressurization with Rick Skinker
This week, instead of a blog post we have an interview around an important water conservation topic - Water Pressure and it's impact on water efficiency
Let’s face it, water costs are increasing at alarming rates. Multi-Family owners have often responded with aerators, reduced flow showerheads and more efficient toilets, but these approaches rely on a constant that is anything but constant – consistent water pressure. Often as we attempt to address water efficiency in tenant spaces, our residents experience issues ranging from lack of adequate water pressure to excessive water pressure – understanding and addressing water pressure issues is exactly what our guest, Rick Skinker does at Indoor Water Conservation. This week, we take a dive into water pressure and its impact on multi-family real estate.
Chris: Rick, Welcome to ThirtyNine, a blog aimed at reducing the impact of the built environment, which includes energy, waste, and water. For the past 8 years you have dedicated your time to working on water efficiency in the built environment, would you mind sharing with us a little about Indoor Water Conservation?
Rick: I would be glad to. I started Indoor Water Conservation to develop water efficiency solutions in sinks and showers. The concept of water efficiency leads to conservation, cost control as well as many other water system issues. By delivering a consistent flow rate to every sink and shower in a property these benefits can be achieved. We know that when there is not enough water, many times, the user uses more water and when there is too much, there is waste of water and energy, leading to spending more money than necessary. We have learned over the past 8 years, how to effectively balance flows throughout a building.
Chris: I’ve noticed, even in my own home, which has the same shower head in all three bathrooms, that the showers seem to really vary. I’ve certainly heard similar complaints in multi-family housing, from floor to floor, sometimes even on the same floor the water pressure really changes. Why is that?
Rick: There are basically 3 reasons actual water flows, measured in the US in gallons per minute (gpm).
1 – variations in water pressure
2 – variations in source flows, which are the volume of water coming out of the pipe before the fixture (sink or shower head) is installed.
3 – variations in the hole sizes in the plastic restrictors in shower heads and aerators in sinks.
Chris: So, when we have different water pressures, from space to space, what is the effect on residents and on efficiency measures?
Rick: Manufacturers design their products to flow at a specified flow rate at a given or tested water pressure. If the water pressure is higher or lower, flow generally flow either higher or lower, but because of the other 2 factors (source flows and the plastic restrictors), it is important to consider all of the factors that influence actual flows.
So, for example, you can have high water pressure and low source flows and have low flows. Conversely, you can have low water pressure, high source flows and larger than spec’d plastic restrictor holes and have actual flows that are much higher than the manufacturer’s rated flow.
Chris: Why is it that we always hear about aerators and low flow fixtures, but rarely hear about the importance of water pressure assessments?
Rick: It is much easier and cheaper to remove aerators and plastic restrictors than to change water pressure. Because of the cost to install equipment to change water pressure, this is usually only looked at as a last resort and only in extreme situations.
Chris: What kind of payback period do you tend to realize when implementing water pressurization controls?
Rick: Indoor Water Conservation’s solutions do not change water pressure, in fact we custom calibrate our flow limiters to deliver the flow rate our clients want based on the variations in water pressure and source flows. Also by taking out the plastic restrictors and aerators our solutions remove those factors to all us to control flows only based on water pressure and source flows.
Chris: Can you walk us through what an indoor water assessment looks like?
Rick: Yes, our Tech’s take actual flow tests in about 10% of a property’s unit’s sinks and showers and them we run a detailed assessment using current water, sewer and energy rates as well as usage assumptions obtained from our client and prepare an Indoor Water Assessment report to show the current water use by unit and in total in sinks and showers and then show water and cost savings that can be obtained by balancing flows to the flow rates that the customer wants. This information, together with our Solution Cost allow the customer to understand the potential savings and ROI.
Chris: Is there a particular type of property or location in the property that tends to have the most opportunity to save water?
Rick: Every building is different, however, older buildings with multiple floors typically have the most opportunity to reduce consumption and save money.
Chris: Once you identify that you have water pressure issues, what is the next step to address this issue?
Rick: Our approach is to focus first on if the current actual flows show opportunity to reduce consumption and costs. Then, if savings are there and the customer wants to obtain them, we have our Tech’s take water pressure and source flow readings in various locations of a property to give us the information needed to properly size our flow limiters to reach the desired flows. Once we manufacture the right size flow limiters and deliver them, our customer installs. After they complete the installation, we send a Tech to the property again to conduct a Post Audit. This confirms that the installation was done completely and correctly and that we obtained the desired flows.
Chris: I believe you actually did a video on this for the hotel industry, but it is equally applicable to multi-family:
Chris: Sometimes there are rebates or incentive programs for energy reduction or water efficiency, are there similar programs that can help offset the cost of addressing this issue?
Rick: It depends on the location. Our solutions have great rebates or incentives in Chicago, SoCal and other cities. Where they are available we work with our customers to obtain them.
Chris: Once a candidate property is identified and rebates or incentives are identified, what comes next?
Rick: We complete the Indoor Water Assessment, present to the customer for them to make their decision. If they want to implement our solution, they make the down payment, we send a Tech to run the calibration, we manufacture, ship, they install and when complete, we come back to verify.
Chris: Do I have to replace all of my fixtures and faucets when I install these fittings?
Rick: You keep your same fixtures. Our devices are installed before the fixture.
Chris: What about my tenants, they have been known to remove low flow aerators and replace showerheads. How does your solution address this?
Rick: Our devices can be installed so they can’t be removed. Our solutions are sustainable, they will last and last.
Chris: It seems like other property types might also benefit from this, especially if there are a lot of plumbing fixtures present. Can you speak to other types of properties that may be good candidates for this type of water efficiency measure?
Rick: Yes, any property with sinks and showers. Hotels, apartments, student housing.
Chris: If someone wants to look into water pressure assessments further, how is the best way to reach you?
Rick: Contact and tell me certain details about the property or properties, including address, how many units, send a recent water and sewer bill. We will then determine the best way to conduct the Indoor Water Assessment. Our website is: https://indoorwaterconservation.com/, I can also be reached at 619-392-8961 or via email at: rskinker@indoorh2o.com
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Stay well!