Water Heater Solutions with Lexington Plumbing & Heating Company

Case Studies

by Lochinvar Marketing Department | 08/10/2011

Established in 1945, Lexington Plumbing and Heating Company is a premier plumbing contractor in Kansas City, Missouri. For many years, Lexington has used Lochinvar products to provide efficient and economical solutions to satisfy their customer’s boiler and water heating needs. Two jobs performed in 2010 illustrate this principle.

In the heart of Kansas City stands the Lowell and Carlisle Building. Built in 1931, this historic build is a multi-story, luxury apartment complex seen in the picture at the top of the page. It is a 64 unit building with tub and shower combos.

After years of transitioning through many different systems, the owner was looking for ways to acquire advanced water heating equipment and install a system with high efficiency and longevity. The owner was looking for a reliable replacement system that would lower fuel costs through highly efficient operation.

Lexington Plumbing had been providing plumbing service to the Carlisle Building for many years. They knew the existing system and they knew ways to help the owner with his proactive approach to system replacement.
 
Lexington offered the owner the Armor water heater with the Lock-Temp storage tank. The Armor offered the high efficiency and the reliable operation the customer wanted. The Armor features a fully condensing, stainless steel heat exchanger that takes in cold city water and heats it with up to 96% thermal efficiency.

The water heater’s negative-regulation combustion system can adjust to tough working conditions and modulate to match the changing hot water demand that is a characteristic of apartment buildings. The Lock-Temp storage tank is the best in the business featuring the patented Lock-Temp baffle which is specially designed to absorb and flatten inrushing water. The contents of the tank are allowed to stratify naturally, pushing the hottest water to the top of the tank providing 80% of the water to be stored at usable design temperatures.

Replacing and upgrading the domestic water system for an entire 64 unit apartment complex is a large proposition. Lexington was able to complete the work quickly but it was their “Hot Shot” system that kept the complex from going without hot water. The Hot Shot is an ingenious portable hot water system developed by Lexington. A service van is fitted with a Lochinvar Copper-fin water heater. With quick connects on the van’s side and food service grade hoses, the Copper-fin can be connected to the building’s water system to maintain uninterrupted hot water supply, while Lexington plumbing replaces the domestic water heater system at the facility.

Whole Foods is a natural and organic food grocery chain with 299 outlets nationwide. When Whole Foods needed a new water heater, it was logical that they would install high quality equipment with high thermal efficiency. The Whole Foods store in Overland Park, KS had two Lochinvar Super-Charger water heaters.

After eleven years of service, one of the Super-Chargers was due to be replaced. Since the Super-Chargers had worked so well, it made sense to the owner to go with Lochinvar products. Lexington Plumbing looked to replace the 80% efficient Super-Charger with a Shield water heater that offered a thermal efficiency up to 96%. For almost the same amount of money as a Super-Charger, Whole Foods was able to purchase a Shield water heater that will save them money on gas usage while recovering hot water more quickly.

The Shield water heater features an advanced stainless steel condensing heat exchanger mounted onto a storage tank. With no flue tubes in the storage tank and swift water flow through the heat exchanger, the Shield can operate lime scale free. With tank-type, under-fired water heaters, lime scale will build up and inhibit heat transfer. Just ¼” of lime scale can increase fuel consumption and raise operating costs as much as 25%.

Because of the heat exchanger design and operation, the lime scale free operation will keep its 96% thermal efficiency throughout its long service life.