When La Trobe University underwent renovations, they had to readdress their responsibility to provide their staff and students with easy access to clean drinking water. With a variety of classroom and outdoor settings, it was a complex project.
Where do you start? Which system do you choose? Which size water tap best suits which location? When one location is serving 20 faculty and another spot 200 students, each site demanded a tailored solution.
By working together with our team, they determined the right size taps and fountains for every single location. Now, they’re efficiently running over 200 systems.
What began as a complex project concluded with their whole cohort having constant access to clean drinking water across the entire campus. Determining the correct size for each water tap was a critical step in that process.
Want to talk with the experts? The Water People can help you decide on the size of your water tap, no matter what industry you're in.
What do you need to know about the size of your water filter unit?
In this article, we’ll address the three key steps to calculate the required size of your water unit, ensuring that your organisation has a constant supply of filtered drinking water.
We'll cover the different types of taps available, the key factors in determining the size of your water tap, and the specific products that you may select for your project.
Keep reading to tap into the specifics.
Step 1: Confirm that a water tap is the optimal solution
Measure twice, cut once. Before diving into the depths of a complex project, it’s helpful to take a step back and ensure you’re applying the optimal solution.
For example, when we began maintenance for the offices of Red Energy, we noticed they were purchasing multiple small twin packs of CO2 bottles for their sparkling water. It was a reasonable solution. But not optimal.
By converting the small CO2 bottles with larger refillable CO2 cylinders they reduced their ongoing maintenance costs substantially, as well as maintenance labour. As their offices served 200 staff, their savings were dramatic.
Before selecting your water tap, consider whether your needs would be better served by a different solution, including:
Still, if you determine that filtered water taps are best, you’ll need to decide which water combinations your organisation requires, selecting from:
Once you confirm the optimal solution for your organisation, you can progress to determining the required size of the tap.
Step 2: Calculating the size of your water tap
When you’re responsible for the infrastructure of your organisation, you want the best long-term solution, not a quick fix. That’s why you recognise it’s vital to match the size of water filter taps with the water filtration rate.
However, our master plumbers cannot fit every specific detail of how to calculate the size of your water tap into this one article. To put it another way, our plumbers have dealt with the consequences of trying to fit too much into a small space. We have also serviced plenty of units that are overworked and under size for the demand set upon them.
So without getting into the plans and specifications, let’s explore some of the fundamentals that you need to consider when calculating the exact size water tap that you require.
- Population — How many people will use the tap daily? 20 or closer to 200? The capacity of each unit must meet the approximate usage.
- Frequency of use — Infrequent or almost constant? Along with the number of people using the tap, the frequency of use impacts the capacity required. Will the filter tap require a high demand all at once, or will it be used more sporadic during the day?
- Plumbing — How is your current plumbing infrastructure set up? Does the plumbing under your sink require reconfiguration or does your unit also need to provide mains hot water as well? The under sink size of the unit must be considered.
- Flow rate — How much water can pass through? The flow rate will limit the suitable size of the tap.
- Servicing — How efficient do you want your maintenance tasks to be? Evaluating and exploring the ongoing service project costs over the long-term can create significant savings.
Once you've worked with one of our master plumbers to determine the exact tap size your project requires in each location, you’ll then need to select taps and fittings. So let’s take a quick look at some of the most popular choices.
Step 3. Selecting filtered water taps to meet your preferences
The Water People stock a range of taps in every size. Whether you want boiled, chilled, sparkling, or hot water, there’s the exact tap to meet your requirements. Let’s take a quick look at some of the most popular models so you get a quick overview of your options:
- Billi Alpine Sparkling & Chilled 100 - For an office of up to 50 people, this tap is affordable, aesthetic, and comes with sparkling and high-chilling capacities.
- Zip Hydrotap All-in-One Boiling & Chilled 160/125 - With a capacity of 40 persons, this tap is a great all-rounder with hot and cold options.
- Billi Alpine Sparkling 200 - Able to serve 200 cups per hour to an office of 100 people, this tap offers sparkling and chilling options.
Determining the exact size water tap that your organisation requires a look at your infrastructure, an analysis of the capacity required, and a complete understanding of your preferences.
With this introduction to filtered water tap sizes, you’re well on your way to ensuring your organisation has a constant supply of clean filtered drinking water.
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