Water Heaters Case Studies: The Plains, VA Gas Piping and On-Demand Hot Water Heater Install
Challenge
Mr. F. had a neat old barn with plenty of horse stalls and the staff had been washing horses outside in the weather. Mr. F. asked to meet with us to discuss the feasibility of installing a wash stall. A job site visit resulted in us finding a way to convert an existing horse stall to a wash stall and converting a horse tack room into an area where all the piping and the water heater as well as a wash sink would reside.
Solution
We faced some challenges on this install, the old barn was structurally sound however nothing was level, square, or plumbed in. Our installers needed to install fifty feet of gas piping along the outer wall of the barn and doing so while making the install look good was a challenge. If the pipe was fastened directly to the barn the piping would snake in and out with the bowing and curvature of the walls. We decided to use a surveyor's level to determine level grade and then stretched a string line out to establish straightness to eliminate curvature within the sight planes of the piping. All our water piping was installed so as to drain via gravity should the tack room need to be winterized. Propane gas bottles were already on-site and we decided to install a tankless gas water heater for safety reasons as the combustion chamber is enclosed and there is no standing pilot light. Fire concerns are very real when working and installing fixtures and appliances in barns. A hot and cold mixing hose bib was installed just outside the tack room. A laundry sink with hot and cold water was installed in the tack room. Mr. F is very pleased his staff now has an enclosed area in which to wash horses.
