The Association
The domestic water booster system was original to the late 1990s redevelopment, age related failures were becoming increasingly more common and the hydro-pneumatic tank had failed. Additionally, the original system was a duplex design; therefore a single pump failure would result in no redundancy until the failed pump was repaired/replaced.Replacement of a domestic water booster system in any fully occupied residential community always presents significant challenges, the most significant being limiting the duration of a complete domestic water system shut down to reduce the impact to the owners.
In the case of Metropolitan Place additional consideration of the following were required:
- Provisions to ensure that domestic water remained available for the retail tenants
- A means for the replacement pumping system to provide 100% redundancy even if a single pump were to fail.
The Solution
The duration of the domestic water outage was reduced significantly by setting the new booster pump skid in place, roughing in all piping/electrical and prefabricating all piping necessary for final cut over to the new system prior to shut down. Due to these preliminary measures, once water was shut down; it became a relativity simple matter of connecting the new system to the existing incoming and leaving water lines, terminating the electrical connections, starting up and adjusting.
Advance investigation of the water supply to the retail tenants confirmed that provisions existed that would allow water to continue uninterrupted while the booster system was being replaced.
The selection of a triplex pumping system ensured that the new system would provide redundancy in the event of a single pump failure.
The Results
An energy efficient booster pump system using advanced controls and variable frequency drives (VFDs) now provides reliable domestic water to the owners. The triplex pumping system ensures 100% redundancy in the event of a single pump failure. A new hydro-pneumatic tank allows for system pressure to be maintained during low usage without the need for a pump to operate.The Board Testimonials
Provided By:Kim Pinson, CMCA Property Manager
“The purpose of this email is to highly recommend AMS Mechanical for any significant HVAC or plumbing needs. Several years ago they replaced the MUA units on the roof of Metropolitan Place via helicopter lift and the project went off without a hitch. At the very beginning stages of the pandemic last spring, they also replaced our domestic cold water booster pump. There was a lot of concern on the part of residents not having any water in their units given the newly discovered health crisis. The original estimated time without water was up to 12 hours. Due to careful planning and a lot of advance work on AMS’ part, the residents were only without water for approximately 5-6 hours and this project also went smooth as silk. Very knowledgeable staff, responsive and a pleasure to work with."