Central Heat Pump Water Heating for Senior Housing
Reliable Hot Water. A Simpler Path to Electrification.
Domestic hot water is essential infrastructure in senior living communities. At the same time, many senior housing properties are operating aging central water-heating plants that use significant energy and can be difficult to replace without disrupting residents.
WaterDrop Systems provides a factory-engineered central heat pump water-heating solution designed to make that transition more manageable.
By integrating heat pumps, thermal storage, controls and critical system components into a packaged solution before it reaches the jobsite, WaterDrop can reduce field complexity, simplify installation and provide a more predictable path to central DHW electrification.
Why WaterDrop Makes Sense for Senior Housing
Senior housing can present a particularly demanding domestic hot-water application. Buildings may have substantial recirculation loads, high and recurring hot-water demand, aging central equipment and limited mechanical-room space. In occupied communities, prolonged interruption of hot-water service can also be especially difficult.
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WaterDrop approaches these challenges as a complete central hot-water system, rather than a collection of individual heat-pump components that must be assembled and coordinated in the field.
Factory Built to Reduce Site Work
WaterDrop moves much of the piping, assembly and system integration into a controlled factory environment.
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That can reduce the amount of work required at the property, simplify coordination between trades and make installation more predictable.
Designed for Central Hot Water Loads
WaterDrop systems are engineered around the domestic hot-water requirements of the building.
For senior living communities with centralized DHW and recirculation, this allows heat-pump capacity, thermal storage and system controls to be designed together rather than addressed as separate components.
A Practical Retrofit Option
Existing senior housing buildings were rarely designed with central heat pump water heating in mind.
Mechanical rooms may have limited space. Existing structures may not support large new storage tanks. Electrical and plumbing infrastructure may already be constrained.
WaterDrop's packaged approach can provide additional flexibility, including the ability to locate the central plant outdoors when site conditions permit.
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Low-GWP COâ‚‚ Heat Pump Technology
WaterDrop systems use COâ‚‚ (R744) heat pump technology, providing an electrification pathway that combines high-efficiency water heating with an ultra-low-global-warming-potential refrigerant.
For senior housing owners pursuing energy-efficiency, electrification or decarbonization goals, WaterDrop provides a central DHW solution designed around those objectives.
Success in Senior Housing
Kingsview Manor | Fresno, California | 106 senior affordable homes
63,150 sq. ft. | All-electric DHW retrofit
Kingsview Manor needed to replace two central gas-fired water-heating plants serving its senior housing community.
The existing system was experiencing significant energy losses associated with constant recirculation, poorly insulated piping and hot/cold crossover. The project also faced a physical challenge: the existing mechanical room did not have the space or structural capacity required for the thermal storage needed for the new central heat-pump system.
The project team selected packaged WaterDrop systems and moved the new hot-water plants outdoors.
Two WaterDrop systems were installed, each incorporating nine COâ‚‚ heat pumps, a 505-gallon primary storage tank and a 120-gallon swing tank. Additional heat-pump capacity was incorporated into the design to accommodate future increases in occupancy.
The Result:
Three Days. Three Hours of Downtime.
The WaterDrop installation was completed in three days. Actual hot-water downtime was approximately three hours.
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For an occupied senior housing community, the project provides a powerful example of how factory-built central heat pump water heating can reduce the disruption associated with a major DHW system replacement.
5pm-8pm
DAILY
