Nontraditional Piping Option Tapped for Domestic Water at Olympic Village Housing Project

While the bulk of the Millennium Water South East False Creek Olympic Village housing project  parcels used the traditional option, copper piping, for domestic water, a couple of them took a different route.  Parcels 3 and 6 were piped with Aquatherm Greenpipe®, which is made from polypropylene-random (PP-R), and is designed specifically for potable water applications. Each parcel included 150 high-end residential units ranging  between 750-2,500 square feet.

Jeda Mechanical, which served as the mechanical contractor on those parcels, suggested the PP-R product about two years ago in the design stage. Jeda’s owner/manager, Jim Myers, explained that he had been introduced to Aquatherm by the local EMCO office and was immediately interested in it.

“It has so many good characteristics. It will last the lifetime of a building. It is much lighter than other metals, and isn’t going to get stolen like copper. Its flow rates are far better, and it has a natural insulation value,” he said.