Plumbing and HVAC systems inside health care facilities tend to be much more complex than your everyday run-of-the-mill commercial building. Hospitals and other medical facilities have unique systems not found elsewhere, including medical gas, dialysis systems, emergency showers and eyewashes as well as clean rooms, such as laboratories and operating rooms. It tends to reason that there are many considerations engineers must think about when it comes to designing plumbing systems in health care applications.
“The most critical consideration in designing plumbing systems in health care facilities is patient and staff safety,” notes James Paschal, P.E., LEED AP, chief technology officer for Aquatherm. “The delivery of clean and safe potable water is paramount, and accounting for all the design elements necessary to do that is crucial. Ensuring clean and safe potable water includes using materials that will not impart contaminants into the water as well as a system design that delivers water at safe temperatures and essentially free of harmful bacteria.”