Hotel Plumbing Management: How to Optimise It

Managing a hotel has always been a challenging job. With hundreds of guests using the facilities every day, not nearly half of them consider saving water as they would at their homes. On the other hand, plumbing malfunctions and associated interventions and repair cost you additional money, as the room needs to remain vacant until the work is done. So in order to keep your water bill low and plumbing costs minimal, nothing much remains but to adopt these commercial plumbing management tips.

Install low-flow devices

From inexpensive showerheads and factures to toilets, today many products meet the low flow criteria. Despite the increasing water expenses, hotels are hesitant to make a switch to low-flow fixtures as they fear it will damage their customers' experience. However, low-flow doesn't have to mean low-performance. Low-flow devices and appliances don't affect the water pressure, but simply regulate the amount of water released per unit of time, yet those two sometimes get confused. Low-flow heads and faucets use aerators that disperse the water jet into many tiny streams, so the same 'volume' can be achieved with less water.

Use hair catchers

It's only natural that your guests would appreciate long, relaxing, spa-like showers and baths after a long journey, but nothing can spoil their enjoyment like the discovery that the shower or bathtub is clogged. Bathroom drain clogs can be caused by soap, toothpaste, even calcium and other mineral build up, however the most notorious contributor is the hair. People naturally lose hair while in the shower, and over time, it builds up in the drains where it combines nicely with soap scum and other sticky matter. Having hair catchers installed on each drain not only prevents loose hair from entering the system but saves the hotel thousands of dollars on drain cleaning services.

Schedule regular drain cleaning

Instead of waiting for the clog to take place, why don't include drain cleaning into a regular maintenance routine. Emergency drain cleaning services often include clean ups that follow overflows and backups. preventive maintenance, on the other hand, includes scheduled hydro-jetting cleaning once in every few months, ensuring the drains in your hotel plumbing system are clear and free from clogs. How often you might need this service depends on the size of your hotel, an estimate which an experienced commercial plumber will easily tell.

Consider tempering valves

Managing one of hotel's systems always includes taking responsibility for the safety of people who use associated amenities, and plumbing is not an exception. Among hot tap water scalds that require admission to hospital, over 90% are sustained in the bathroom, resulting primarily from immersion in baths with water heated to unsafe temperatures. Certain pros, as guys behind Hot Water Nurse, for instance, combine in the skills of both electrician and plumber and are experts for installing and repairing a range of hot water devices, such as the hot water tempering valve, which acts like a safety device that shields your guests from overheated water that comes directly from your storage tank.

Plan for sewer pipe inspection

Away from home and daily tribulations, many guests forget the bathroom etiquette, flushing down things they'd never flush at home. And when things go south, pardon the pun, what seems like a local problem might easily affect the drain system of an entire floor. Scheduling a video camera pipe inspection each year not only helps identify potential problems, but buys you a peace of mind that comes with knowing that the "outgoing" end of your plumbing system works flawlessly.

Hotel plumbing specifics

Plumbing utility demands and hot water use in hotels follow a pattern that is in many ways different from other commercial venues. A conventional hotel can experience a spread out, or a very short peak demand period for hot water. If the majority of guests in a 4,000-room hotel are there for the same convention with regular 8 a.m. meetings, it can create a high utility demand over a short period when those guests are in their bathrooms in the hour or two before the meeting. A typical fixture unit loading used in residential buildings won't work in the described scenario, and requires a kind of hot water equipment sizing that is usually not given in plumbing codes.

Kitchen plumbing design

Besides the suites, there are other sections of the hotel that need careful plumbing consideration, one of them being the kitchens. Proper planning and layout of commercial kitchen plumbing can streamline the operations by arranging the flow of workers and services in ways that not only speed up the food preparation, but also save on operating costs. Considering this, the design and installation process of hotel kitchen plumbing can be easier if a food service consultant is involved in the project from the beginning.

Unlike many other commercial buildings, hotels have many specifics that require not only carefully planned and designed plumbing systems, but also features that enable hassle-free maintenance, repair, as well as measures that minimize chances of costly malfunctions.