DarkRange55
Enlightened
- Oct 15, 2023
- 1,791
Pretty simple.
Hotels usually oversize their systems and it's also the sheer volume compared to a house. The recirc system also makes a big difference (would almost double it on a house and some large mansions have this and this is also why you get instant hot water). There's a lot of calculations that go into it. Typically they have two boilers for redundancy so you can get 100% on one since sourcing even a single part is hard, you can't just go to Home Depot. Engineers can also install flow meters on them to see the water usage during say a two week period. Boilers are also just extremely efficient these days, in the high 90's%.
Because water expands when heated, they install expansion tanks to help relieve the volume (compresses the air) because of the hot water recirculation system.
Apartments by comparison, it just depends, now most new places use individual water heaters. Less heat loss and the peak times are usually just night and morning. Less craziness.
A lot of new hot water heaters are glass-lined.
en.wikipedia.org
For pipes:
Copper can be extruded and its more malleable to work with. Brass is easier to machine and mold. (Valves have moving parts).
Copper for potable water because steel rusts but even galvanized breaks down but now they're going to PEX (plastic). Plastic is still mostly for residential use. Fire hazard - really nasty fumes. Copper and black iron don't burn and PEX is not strong enough for high rises (pressure).
Schedule 80 plastic heavier wall plastic rated for 250 psi. Copper is rated M, L & C levels of copper. Schedule 40 normal residential. Black iron pipe was used for drainage pipe but it would clog up. Drain waste vent and drain pipes are now even copper. Sprinkler pipes are black iron so it's always a pretty constant cold temperature not much flex.
GPM - gallons per minute, GPM = flow
Pressure = PSI
On hotels and apartments they almost always have the bathrooms next to the hallways to minimize the amount of pipes. Also rooms on hotels are usually next to each other because they are usually tied into each other.
I could go on but that should be enough for now…
Hotels usually oversize their systems and it's also the sheer volume compared to a house. The recirc system also makes a big difference (would almost double it on a house and some large mansions have this and this is also why you get instant hot water). There's a lot of calculations that go into it. Typically they have two boilers for redundancy so you can get 100% on one since sourcing even a single part is hard, you can't just go to Home Depot. Engineers can also install flow meters on them to see the water usage during say a two week period. Boilers are also just extremely efficient these days, in the high 90's%.
Because water expands when heated, they install expansion tanks to help relieve the volume (compresses the air) because of the hot water recirculation system.
Apartments by comparison, it just depends, now most new places use individual water heaters. Less heat loss and the peak times are usually just night and morning. Less craziness.
A lot of new hot water heaters are glass-lined.
Circulator pump - Wikipedia
For pipes:
Copper can be extruded and its more malleable to work with. Brass is easier to machine and mold. (Valves have moving parts).
Copper for potable water because steel rusts but even galvanized breaks down but now they're going to PEX (plastic). Plastic is still mostly for residential use. Fire hazard - really nasty fumes. Copper and black iron don't burn and PEX is not strong enough for high rises (pressure).
Schedule 80 plastic heavier wall plastic rated for 250 psi. Copper is rated M, L & C levels of copper. Schedule 40 normal residential. Black iron pipe was used for drainage pipe but it would clog up. Drain waste vent and drain pipes are now even copper. Sprinkler pipes are black iron so it's always a pretty constant cold temperature not much flex.
GPM - gallons per minute, GPM = flow
Pressure = PSI
On hotels and apartments they almost always have the bathrooms next to the hallways to minimize the amount of pipes. Also rooms on hotels are usually next to each other because they are usually tied into each other.
I could go on but that should be enough for now…
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