Money Saving Examples

Location, Repair, and Control of Underground Hot Water Distribution Leaks Saves Customer $200,000+ Per Year

Equity Residential Properties Trust
The Arboretum-Atlanta, GA

Underground domestic hot water leaks in the distribution piping loop was costing the 312 unit, 20 acre apartment complex $200,000 per year in wasted water and gas to heat the leaking water. The underground leaks also caused a shortage of hot water available to tenants, which resulted in new leasing and tenant retention problems. At the point DiHydro Services was contacted, the property had experienced 7 leaks in a 6 month period… 3 were repaired and 3 could not be located. DiHydro was brought in to assist in locating the 3 leaks, treat the distribution pipe to control future leaks, balance the hot water distribution system, and address the tenant complaints related to the supply of hot water. It took 4 months, but DiHydro assisted Equity Residential Properties Trust in locating and sealing the leaks, balancing the hot water distribution system, locating and removing cross connections, stabilizing hot water temperatures to the tenants, and returning the water and gas use to normal without major repiping.

Loss Of $5,000 Per Day in Welding Gases

GM's Locomotive Fabrication facility near LaGrange, IL

After a weeklong holiday shutdown, purchasing noticed that the same volume of welding gas was used during the shutdown as was normally used during a regular two-shift per day workweek. DiHydro was contracted to find leaks in the underground gas supply piping. No leaks were found in the underground pipe. However, inside the plant, DiHydro located and tagged over 1,700 small, easy-to-repair branch line leaks (mostly fitting connections) which cost the facility $2,000,000+ per year.

Sealing a Leak Within a Hospital Saves $374,500

Hotel Dieux Medical Center

An atomic particle accelerator for cancer treatment is cooled by circulating chilled water through copper coils. The accelerator is radioactive, which requires the unit and its cooling coils to be insulated by six feet of lead and concrete.

In October 1995, the particle accelerator developed a pinhole water leak within the cooling coils…the price for replacing the coil was $375,000. The facility engineer had seen literature and read an article about DiHydro's patented pinhole-leak sealer. The engineer called and explained the problem. We explained that there were no guarantees. He said given the choices he would like to try sealing the leak instead of ripping up 6 feet of concrete. DiHydro analyzed samples collected from the accelerator cooling system, and then blended a silica-based sealant to be circulated through the leaking coil. The DiHydro leak sealant was injected into the coil and circulated for 24 hours. The water leak stopped. The accelerator has been running for over two years with no recurring leaks. The cost of the repair was only $500—a savings of $374,500.

Leak Sealing & Pipe Reservicing Saves Taxpayers $394,000

Department of Housing and Urban Development, Hammond, Indiana

HUD owned two 10-story apartment buildings. The buildings' hot water piping systems were in bad shape. A Chicago architect estimated pipe replacement would cost $450,000. DiHydro restored the piping in both buildings for $56,000 ($28,000 per building)—saving $394,000.

Pipe Cleaning Instead Of Replacement Saves $1,678,000

U.S. Army Tank Command, Warren, MI

Dirty dynamometers cost the Tank Command over $100,000 annually in repairs. The Tank Command use brake horsepower dynamometers (dynos) to test tank engines. Water from a cement-lined reservoir is used to cool the break dyno. The pH of the water was so acidic (4.6. s.u.) that it was literally dissolving the cement liner, carrying calcium and lime into the dyno cooling loop, scaling the pipe wall, and attacking the circulation pump. The Tank Command had allocated $1,750,000 to replace 4,000 feet of pipe. The facility manager had seen an article on how DiHydro Services had cleaned the domestic hot water in a 10-story apartment building. He contacted DiHydro to determine if it was possible to save the existing pipe. The project took 8 days and nights at a cost of $72,000. The pipe was restored saving $1,678,000 and months of down time.

Sealing Pipe Leaks Saves $10,000 Per Month

Wingate Management Senior Properties, Southfield, Michigan

Willow Creek Apartment complex consists of fifty-two 20-unit buildings that are 25 years old with all-copper domestic water piping. In 1991, pinhole leaks began to occur in the kitchen and bathroom ceilings. The leaks increased in frequency in 1992 and 1993, averaging three leaks per month. The costs of repairing the leak damage to drywall, replacing carpet, cleaning, and repainting was approximately $63,000 for 1992 and $41,000 for the first four months of 1993. DiHydro began treating the leak damaged piping in May of 1993. No leaks have occurred in the domestic hot water system since DiHydro's program began-saving an average of $10,000 per month.

Solution to High Lead Level in the Drinking Water of a 310 Unit Apartment Complex Allows the Owner to Sell the Complex and Save $783,000 in Re-Piping Costs

The owner of Country Corners, a 310 unit apartment complex outside of Washington, D.C., was in the process of selling the complex (for condo conversions) when the sale was put on hold by the buyers because random water testing results from the apartments indicated high lead levels in the drinking water distribution piping. Before the property could be sold the lead in the drinking water had to be reliably brought well below the EPA’s “take action” level of 15 parts per billion. The buyer wanted the drinking water piping in the complex replaced at a cost of $1,023,000. DiHydro was brought in to confirm the buyers findings and to hopefully find an alternate to pipe replacement. DiHydro analyzed every apartment’s fixtures (system) that actually had high lead levels. Once all 1,860 fixtures were sampled and analyzed, DiHydro developed an alternative solution to re-piping that saved the seller $783,000 and allowed the sale to close on time and within budget.

Restoration of Asbestos Covered Pipe Saves Taxpayers $394,000

State of Michigan, Hawthorne Center

The 27-year-old building in the Northville Psychiatric Center complex was experiencing leaks in a 2,200 ft. section of 1½" galvanized pipe. The 126 lab sinks, showers and tub fixtures connected to this section of pipe were completely blocked with rust. Replacement cost for the 2,200 ft. section of pipe was estimated at $55,000, until it was discovered that the pipe in question was insulated with asbestos. Replacing the pipe meant removing the asbestos as well as disposing of it. Replacement costs increased from $55,000 to $165,000. DiHydro sealed the leaks in the 2,200 ft. section of pipe and restored flow to all 126 fixtures within five days without disturbing the asbestos pipe insulation, for a total cost of $11,100-Saving $153,900.

Proper Management of the Replacement of a Large Piping System Saves $2,925,000

Tanglewood Apartments, Arlington Heights, IL

A 28 year old, 838 unit, 29 building complex with galvanized hot and cold water distribution system piping was dealing with problems of:

When DiHydro was contacted in December of 1999, the new owners, EPT Management Company, were looking at replacing the hot water distribution throughout the 883 unit complex at a cost of $3,350,000. DiHydro was asked if there was an alternative to repiping. DiHydro developed, implemented, and managed a program using its patented pipe cleaning, pressure restoring, leak sealing processes that:

All of this was done over a five month period, without displacing tenants, tearing out walls, and only repiping five apartments. The total cost for the restoration program was approximately $425,000. This included 17 new water heaters, partial repiping of hot water return lines in 11 buildings, 12 return pumps, plus a dozen new shutoff valves. The savings of $2,925,000 was accomplished with little tenant disruption.