School restrooms go high-tech with touch-free washbasin
Problem: The Agnews Campus in the Santa Clara Unified School District serves 3,000 students in San Jose, California. The district worked with LPA Design Studios to design the schools with a high-tech aesthetic — even in the restrooms. “Our main goals for the restrooms were to maximize ease of use, clean and modern aesthetics, and maintenance,” says Alice Kim, project interior designer, LPA.
Solution: The design team chose the all-in-one WashBar with Verge washbasins from Bradley Corp. as the standard for all 136 campus restrooms. With touch-free soap, water and hand dryer in one chrome-plated component, the WashBar makes hand washing easier, more accessible and hygienic. A total of 147 WashBars were specified.
Result: With combined and integrated functions, the WashBar met the needs of easy access and usage as well as clean aesthetics,” says Kim. The basin and the WashBar hand dryer are designed to work together to eliminate water dripping onto the user, walls or floor. “The units eliminated facility personnel’s concern of dripping water from sink basin to hand dryer, which could result in slip/fall hazard,” Kim says. 800-272-3539; www.bradleycorp.com
Plumber solves demanding requirements with commercial above-floor lift pump station
Problem: Nathan Farmer of Farmer’s Plumbing in Marlow, Oklahoma, encountered a challenge while working on a 10,000-square-foot day care building. The tenant in a partially leased building had to install six new bathrooms due to the absence of existing plumbing. Four bathrooms were easily added along an exterior wall utilizing rear discharge toilets while adding the two interior bathrooms posed a challenge. Initially, a plumber installed a less powerful drain pump for two facilities, which failed. Recognizing the need for a more robust solution, Farmer sought assistance from Saniflo to address the day care’s problem.
Solution: Farmer chose the Sanicubic 1 VX vortex lift station, a 1.5 hp, heavy-duty system capable of pumping wastewater vertically up to 36 feet or horizontally up to 20 feet. The system is designed to handle larger sanitary products and solids, making it ideal for environments prone to misuse. The wastewater from the two interior bathrooms and a nearby kitchen sink was directed to the pump, which transported it vertically to the attic and then horizontally to the main sewer line.
Result: The installation of the new unit was completed within an hour, aligning perfectly with the existing discharge line to save labor and enhance performance. Since then, the system has worked flawlessly, with no blockages or other issues, proving Farmer’s solution to be effective. The day care has had no plumbing problems since. As Farmer puts it, “No news is good news.” 800-571-8191; www.saniflo.com
