Download a study of cost savings using AAVs as compared to conventional venting in a ten story building.
Download a study of cost savings using AAVs as compared to conventional venting at Detroit Lions Stadium in Detroit, MI.
As you are aware we have been specifying Studor air admittance valves since the IPC allowed the installation of air admittance valves. Our experience with the installation has been nothing but extremely successful. Not only are the devices reliable but anytime there have been questions or concerns IPS support staff has been outstanding. We have designed literally two dozen or more projects with Studor air admittance valves as the primary venting system. Additionally of projects designed with air admittance valves we have utilized the PAPA device in four high rise projects. All of these projects have been successful. We believe that by designing systems around air admittance valves not only provides the owner with a quality DWV system but also a very cost effective system.
Alex R. Valdez, Principal
BA Consultants, Inc.
234 Columbine Street, Suite 201, Denver, CO 80206
Click here for a printable version of Alex Valdez’s testimonial letter.
One Lincoln Park in Denver Colorado is 34 story residential high rise. The first in 20 years in downtown proper to be 100% residential. 469,096 square feet with 172 high end luxury units, with a variety from 800 square foot to 4200 square foot units. Denver’s first building with 100% Studor venting systems that have worked out well. This building utilizes the Air Admittance valves and the PAPA (Positive Air Pressure Attenuating) devices. We have had the building in operations and occupied for eight months and are very happy to say this has been successful. We met our budgeted costs for installation of the waste and vent systems in comparison to preliminary estimates offering a savings to the customer by not having a conventional venting system. We have not had any issues with the Studor products and operation of the systems.
Currently we are building several other high rises now using the Studor system furthering our ability to be cost competitive in the market while installing a good product.
James A. Schmidt, Senior Project Manager
RK Mechanical, Inc.
9300 East Smith Road, Denver, CO 80207-1757
I am glad to send you some feed back on the Braxton Condo project we recently completed in Nashville. The site manager (Barry Parker) said the entire system worked great and we had all the technical support we needed. He said “Pat was always eager to help with any questions we had”. Barry also said they performed a simulated heavy use test where they flushed several toilets, tubs, and sinks simultaneously and they had no problems and the system was very quite also. Personally I thought the design process went very well. We basically had no vent piping in the buildings, which saved us drawing time, material, and labor on floor penetrations and vent stacks.
I wish I had some numbers to give you on the material and labor savings, but the project manager and the estimating department said they did not have anything to give me. I was very pleased with the out come of the project and I look forward to working with you again in the future.
Jack Huggins, Plumbing Designer
Lee Company
Mechanical Contractors & Engineers
331 Mallory Station Road, Franklin, TN 37067
I wanted to write you and let you know about a couple of projects where Air Admittance valves saved us some money and helped us out of a jam.
I was the plumbing designer for a major Engineering/Architectural firm in Michigan which was one of the Architectural firms that did the master plans for a large big box type of hyper-mart store chain. We were working on site-adapting master plans for four new stores located in the state of Indiana. The stores were awarded to two separate construction management firms. During the bidding process, one of the firms sent in a Request For Information (RFI) from a progressive plumbing contractor who asked if he could use air admittance valves on several stores about to be built. When we contacted the owner, the owner asked for a breakdown of the cost savings.
When we researched it, we found each store had approximately 51 vents through the roof on the master plans. The building was a one-story retail construction measuring about 600 feet wide across the front of the building and about 300 feet deep from the front of the store to the back. The store sold hard lines in retail space on one side of the store. The other side sold groceries. Lease spaces lined the front of the store. The deli, produce prep, seafood, meat and dairy departments were along the grocery side of the store. The roof deck was about 32 feet in height. The walls were constructed of concrete block and the walls stopped at about 10 feet above the floor. All of the plumbing vents were designed to go up into the bar joist truss space and collected in the bay areas. Each bay had one vent through the roof.
We answered the RFI and asked for a breakdown of the costs. The building was a single story building, so there were no upper floors to contribute to positive air pressures in the system. We told them we would require at least three vents through the roof to relieve any positive air pressures in the public sewer system. All of the branch vents would need to rise 6 inches above the concrete block wall and terminate with an accessible Air Admittance Valve. The three full size vents through the roof would be strategically located. One vent to the roof would need to be at the employee toilet area, one at the public toilet area and one near the back-of-house drains in the seafood/meat department area. They cost breakdown amounted to a savings of $500 per membrane roof penetration. There was also a savings for approximately 30-100 feet of 2-inch vent pipe in vertical and horizontal positions, depending on the locations, and additional piping savings for pipe materials, labor and pipe supports for each vent through the roof location.
Their estimate of savings amounted to about $900 to 995 per vent through the roof location or just under $1,000.00 per vent through the roof. Some vents for remote fixtures did not have significant horizontal piping and were less. Using Air admittance valves on 48 of the 51 vents through the roof reduced the plumbing bid by $39,856.00 per store. The proposed savings on all four stores for labor and materials totaled just under $160,000.00.
Ron G.