Energy Efficiency Tips for your Home with Jarvis Gatti from Valley Plumbing & Heating
The Wilden Living Lab is progressing with the “Phase 2″ home build. We are so grateful to have many businesses that have contributed to the build of this new research home, and we will be featuring each of them in our upcoming blog posts.
First, we would like to introduce Valley Plumbing and Heating. Valley Plumbing is a valuable contributor to the net zero “Next Generation Home” we’re currently building for the Wilden Living Lab research project.
We talked to General Manager, Jarvis Gatti, to learn more about how the Wilden Living Lab Phase 2 Home Build install was different from a standard home. Keep reading if you want to learn more about what plumbing you should consider for your energy efficient home.
Jarvis’ plumbing tips for an energy efficient home:
“Eco Performance” style faucets and shower valves limit the amount of water being consumed. These faucets save water and the energy required to heat the water.
Upgrading to a Heat Pump Water Heater uses approximately 1/3 of the energy of a standard Electric Water Heater.
Upgrade a standard Power Vent Gas Water Heater to a high efficiency gas On-Demand Water Heater, that only heats the water when required.
Adding a Drain Water Heater Recovery, which uses the heated waste water and pre-heats the water entering the water heater through a heat exchange process.
What is Drain Water Heat Recovery All About?
Jarvis shared that “Drain Water Heat recovery has been around for several years now and with the growing need to save energy to meet higher efficient homes this is one more option to improve energy efficiency in your home.
By re-routing drains that use both warm and hot water to a central location the Drain Water Heater recovery will capture upwards of 40% of the heat and pre-heat the cold water prior to entering the water heater.
There are no pumps or electric components to this system and no contact with the sewage system which therefore requires very little maintenance!
In order to capture most of the drainage into one location in a home there must be good planning and consideration prior to building a new home.”
We hope that this information is helpful for you when it comes to making decisions for your home in order to move towards more energy efficiency and lowering our carbon footprint.
For any future plumbing and heating needs consider working with Valley Plumbing and Heating. You can learn more about them and their services here.