clothes-washerhot-waterrental
I recently bought a four family property. I wanted to provide washers and dryers for my tents, 1 set per two units. However, I have run into an interesting dilemma. People want hot water on the washers but where should it come from? I don't think it's fair to run the hot water from one of the tenants hot water tanks.
Is the only option to get a 5th hot water tank dedicated to the washers? If so, who's gas line do I use to heat the tank? Any common solutions out there I am missing?
There could be several factors that may be contributing to the situation. It sounds like an air quality problem. This could be caused by airborne mold spores, chemical contamination from bad paint or flooring adhesives (VOC's) etc. , CO from a malfunctioning heating or A/C unit or something from outside getting in. I have had to address this problem with some customers in the past. We contracted an air quality testing from a local environmental testing lab. In your case, I would first consult with the management of the property. Explain the situation, confirm your conversations in writing, (document, document, document) and see if they will contract this service. If they won't for some reason, then I would have it done privately. Depending on the results and plan for mitigation, these costs should be reimbursed by the landlord. At minimum, it would give just cause to break the lease. If the results are bad and the management won't work with you, share the results with your local code enforcement office as they may help you and require the management to fix the problem. Once the type of irritant is identified, then the cause will be much easier to find. Good Luck.
If all the plumbing in the image is 3/4", then I'd simply tee off as near the new faucet as practical. In the drawing, somewhere between the laundry and the kitchen.
If you're worried about losing pressure to the other fixtures when the faucet is on, then you'll want to tee off using a 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/2" tee.
That way you'll have 3/4" all the way to the kitchen, but the supplies to the new faucet will only be 1/2". This configuration will help maintain pressure to the kitchen, when water is being drawn from the new faucet.
You'll want to install "anti-siphon frost-proof sillcocks".
These have a vacuum breaker built in, so water won't be pushed back into the plumbing. Without this feature, you could potentially contaminate the water supply. This is required by code in some areas.
The frost-proof feature should prevent the plumbing from freezing during the winter. The sillcock has a long stem, so the water is actually shut off way back where it connects to the plumbing, instead of right at the spigot. This means that when the valve is closed, there should be no water in the entire assembly. Basically, the water is shut off back inside the warm house, instead of outside where it's cold. NOTE: If you have a hose attached to the spigot, make sure the hose drains after each use during the winter.
Best Answer
Since this is a common facility for your tenants, it should be installed in such a way that neither tenant is paying for the gas or electricity required for the washer.
If there is no common hot water heater in the building, then you should do the following:
Have an additional electric meter installed to supply electricity to the common areas of the building. Depending on local regulations and the size of the building, this may need to be a commercial meter.
If you want to use gas for the hot water and dryers, have an additional gas meter installed.
In order to supply hot water to the washers, you may want to investigate tankless water heaters which take up significantly less space than a tank. A small 100,000 BTU heater like this one can easily supply several washing machines.
An alternative route is to go all electric. Install a common electric meter as above, but use an electric on-demand water heater and electric dryers. Depending on your local utility costs this may end up being a lot more expensive than gas, though.