PLUMBING RENOVATION
Restroom Retrofits That Make Water Savings A Top Priority

After years of budget cuts, many U.S. schools are actually in relatively healthy financial condition. Because of this, some districts are in the position to make renovations that can help overall operations of their schools.

One area receiving quite a bit of attention is the restroom and more specifically, plumbing retrofit projects. These projects are incorporating new technologies that can help improve water efficiency, minimize—if not eliminate—rest-room vandalism, reduce maintenance costs, and improve overall restroom hygiene.

And this could not come at a better time. Water is a precious resource. At any given time, parts of the United States can be experiencing mild to severe drought conditions, especially in the western U.S. Meanwhile, some experts and studies estimates indicate that as much as 20 percent of all available water is wasted because  it is flushed down the drain. In addition, water and sewer rates are constantly rising.

Truths like these make water efficiency and conservation a primary goal of most restroom retro-fitting projects. In fact, it is considered so important that the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to help facilities operate in a Greener and healthier manner, offers up to five points—out of the 32 needed to earn LEED certification— just for improving water efficiency.

Some of the restroom retrofits that help reduce water consumption and allow us to use this resource more carefully include the installation of waterless urinals, sensor controlled faucets, and re-engineered and designed toilets with advanced water minimizing technologies.

Waterless Urinals
Most schools have installed waterless urinals not so much to save water as to help reduce vandalism. The handles, flush valves, plumbing, and piping found above urinals are often the targets of vandals, especially in high schools. Damaged, the urinal can pour gallons of water into the restroom or, the opposite extreme, make the urinal totally inoperable. Either way, repairs are often costly and time consuming.

Most waterless urinal systems have no visible plumbing installed on or above the urinal, which virtually eliminates this target for damage or destruction. All the mechanicals of a water-less urinal are enclosed in the unit.

However, the primary reason most school districts are interested in waterless urinals is, as the name implies, they use no water. The way these systems work is actually quite simple: Instead of using water to flush away urine, gravity drains the urine, allowing it to flow into a cylinder or trap that sits atop the drain area of the urinal, forming a seal.

The cylinder is filled with a thin layer of liquid sealant that prevents odors from escaping into the air. As the urinal is used, the urine overflows into a conventional drainpipe, much the same way a traditional urinal works.

While waterless urinals look and function much liked traditional urinals, the savings to the school district can be substantial:
• Sewer charges are reduced
• Plumbing costs are lowered since water lines to each urinal are unnecessary
• No flush valves or sensors are required
• Installation is usually faster and much easier than installing a conventional urinal
• They are less prone to bacteria growth because the urinal stays drier than a conventional urinal.

Although the water and other cost savings can be significant, waterless urinals can differ significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer, making it vital for school district administrators to carefully evaluate the different systems available. For instance, though most waterless urinals look essentially the same, the costs to operate the different systems can vary significantly and in some situations, eliminate the financial rewards the district may have been hoping to recover by installing waterless urinals in the first place.

For example, waterless urinal systems by different manufacturers use a different type of trap/cylinder, which must eventually be replaced with use. In some units, the cylinder lasts longer than in others, requiring less frequent changing. While in others custodians need to clean out the trap, instead of simple replacement.

Some cylinders are also considerably more expensive than others. In fact, the differences are so extreme that some no-flush urinal manufacturer will substantially discount the cost of the urinal, only to recoup the profit on the cost of the trap/cylinder replacement units. For these reasons, administrators are urged to use “due diligence” when selecting a waterless urinal system for their districts.

Sensory Controlled Fixtures
Along with waterless urinals, another technology helping to reduce water use are sensory operated faucets, toilets, and urinals. The first infra- ed sensor operated fixtures were introduced in the United States a little more than a decade ago. Large airports and similar busy facilities were often the first to install these devices to help control water use and minimize the touching of these fixtures. Numerous studies have shown that for hygiene reasons, Americans like to minimize what they must “touch” in a public restroom. Its even one of the reasons that many facilities have re-designed restroom entries so no doors are required.

Although the early sensor systems did not always work as well as desired, new, more dependable systems have been developed in the past few years. In addition to helping eliminate hand contact—helping to minimize the spread of cross contamination in school restrooms—some of the other benefits of installing these infra-red devices include:
• Reduced water use
• Elimination of odors caused by non-flushed toilets and urinals
• Improved image of a school as more “high tech”
• Reduced damage to the fixture from handling and/or kicking handles to avoid touching them.

In addition, some units have an “automatic daily flush” feature that runs water through the fixture daily to prevent sewer gas build up and odors from being released from the drain.

And one of the best features of some sensory operated fixtures is that they can be adjusted to usage needs—helping save water based on frequency and duration of use. For example, schools can adjust the faucet sensory devices located in their stadiums or gyms to release more water during big events, when many people are using the facility, and less water at “off peak” times, when there are fewer people using the restrooms.

Many sensor systems are now battery operated, some use batteries as readily available as AAA batteries while other units may use specially made batteries that can last as long as 10 years without replacement. These sensor systems are most suited for retrofits because they do not require any special electrical wiring and eliminate a potential problem experienced with the direct wired systems— should there be a loss of power, the toilets, urinals, and faucets stop working.

Toilet Technologies
One of the good things about conventional toilets is that most are made to last for many years, with minimal service or repair. But this longevity can work against school districts hoping to reduce water consumption. Even though toilets manufactured after 1992 are required to use 1.6 gallons of water per flush (gpf), there are still millions of toilets in the United States that use 3.5 gpf to as much as 8 gallons gpf.

When a pre-1992 conventional gravity pull toilet is flushed, water is released from the tank through holes at the top of the toilet bowl to wash the sides. A flush valve opens and the water is then pulled down by gravity to remove the waste. In a 1.6 gpf toilet, only about half the water is released from the tank and the flush valve at the bottom of the toilet tank is enlarged to more thoroughly remove the waste.

New toilet technologies continue to be developed and introduced that make toilets much more water efficient. Some units have pressure- assisted flush valves at the bottom of the toilet and an airtight tank. As the airtight tank refills, the pressurized air rapidly pushes water out of the tank, delivering the water to the bowl much faster and more powerfully than a conventional toilet. The result is a more efficient flush using less water.

Other advanced toilets incorporate a vacuum-assist system to supplement the conventional gravity pull toilets. These systems enhance the “pull” which boosts the flush. Here too, the flush is faster and more efficient and helps minimize water use.

As the population of the United States continues to grow, water conservation will become increasingly important. Luckily, this country has experienced relatively few severe droughts as have many other countries, however they have occurred.

Although it may be a distant memory now for some, many Californians lived through one of the most severe droughts in the history of this country. In the late 1970s, the state’s water reservoirs were so low that a family of four had to live on less than 200 gallons of water per day— compared to the average of 900 gallons of water used daily today. Dishwasher use was eliminated, the two-minute shower became common- lace, and not flushing toilets became the “in” thing to do. Lawns, which could not be watered or watered very little, were as brown as the desert sand.

However, one of the good things that came out of this drought-plagued era, which lasted more than two years, was the development of more water-efficient restroom fixtures and systems that conserve water and help eliminate waste.

The three restroom retrofit technologies discussed here are some of the latest examples of how we can not only protect a precious resource, but help to make our facilities cleaner, healthier and Greener at the same time.

Klaus Reichardt™ is the managing partner of Waterless No-Flush Urinals, Inc, Vista, California.

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