The Community Hospital of Staunton, Illinois, is a critical access hospital in the state’s southwest region. The hospital’s facility director approached GF Piping Systems for assistance with the balance of the building’s water system. The goal was to resolve long wait times for hot water and difficulties with reaching desired temperatures.
Solution
GF recommended installation of the Hycleen Automation System. This sophisticated automation package for potable water systems provides managers with real-time information through a single, intuitive, touch-screen control center. Sensors and controllers in the valves allow any divergence from desired parameters to be recognized and corrected on a timely basis. The centralized controls can be used to adjust one valve at a time or to carry out changes across the entire system. At Community Hospital, GF recommended the installation of automatic flushing valves in addition to balancing valves. GF evaluated the hospital’s blueprint and made specific recommendations for the number, type, and placement of automated valves to achieve the best results.
Results
Now that Hycleen has been installed, staff and patients at Community Hospital can rely on prompt access to hot water. Hycleen rebalances the building’s system constantly, maintaining a steady supply of water at the proper temperature. The facility’s managers can monitor temperatures and valve status throughout the building from the centralized control interface, allowing them to address any issues immediately. Automatic flushing has improved the system’s chlorine readings, and periodic problems with brown water associated with manual flushing have been resolved.
Customer Comments
“Water quality is important in any facility, but particularly in the health care industry—there are more eyes looking and stricter regulations. As our water management criteria get stricter and we work through the process of meeting the standards, Hycleen allows us to do that.”
—Dan Burns, Director of Plant Operations, Community Hospital of Staunton
“I compare it to building automation, where thermostats used to be the control for each room but now you have centralized systems where you can see the whole building. This does that for hot water loop balancing. Since we’ve had the Hycleen system, I haven’t seen brown water and I haven’t had complaints that somebody’s had to take a cold shower.”
—David Bohn, Senior Maintenance Technician, Community Hospital of Staunton
For More Information
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