Posted Jan 05, 2011 @ 05:08 PM
Honesdale, Pa. —
Installing tankless water heaters at the Western Wayne High School will cut energy costs, Superintendent Andrew Falonk said.
“Thirty percent less energy consumption cost,” said Dennis Stinson, HVAC Dept. Manager for Harry Eklof and Associates, Landover, Md.
Stinson said the Navien gas-fired, tankless water heaters, aka “on-demand” heaters, burn at 98 percent efficiency. “Most water heaters are somewhere around 70 percent range,” he said.
Don Hiller Plumbing and Heating LLC of Honesdale was the successful bidder on the project at $35, 271.18, said Western Wayne business manager Rose Emmett.
Hiller replaced the school’s old, leaking unit with three gas-fired water heaters, and three storage tanks, a system set up to continue working even if one of the units, for whatever reason, should need to be shut down.
“(You) could isolate a tank and have 66 percent of capacity,” Hiller said. The backup system ensures it’s “no longer all or nothing” system, he said.
Superintendent Falonk said: “The reason we went this way is because the system that was there since 1972 failed and was an electric water heater. We had the opportunity to go with the new technology.” It also would have been more expensive to replace the failing system with a new electric one, he said.
Falonk said the new tankless system, “gives you the water on demand. It only heats the water that you are using at that specific time. So, you’re not maintaining or sustaining hot water in a containment tank ...We know there’s a savings because we’re not containing and sustaining hot water 24/7.
“Schools have multiple down times between seasons during the summer, weekends and during the school day when there is very limited demand for hot water for showers during a school day. With this system, we can conserve energy by only heating the water that’s necessary on demand,” Falonk said.
The superintendent said they are also installing the same type of system in their new “green” elementary school in Hamlin.
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