Pure Elements Water designed and installed a custom system in a very special house in Malibu, California. The house, nestled on the western edge of the Santa Monica Mountains, is built on a 55 acre property and has been publicized internationally because of its unique design.
Utilizing wings from a decommission Boeing 747-100 airplane, the house is touted for its sustainable use of recycled materials, the delivery of wings to the site by truck and helicopter, and its creative use of abandoned infrastructure to result in an work of architectural significance. The home has two buildings linked together on three different levels utilizing two wings and two horizontal stabilizers from the Boeing 747. (See some nice photos and read the whole story behind the design and construction here. News story by ABC can be found here.) The property is served by its own well, including two storage tanks and an elaborate pumping system to provide water for both domestic and landscape irrigation purposes.
Not all installations and designs go perfectly as planned, but Pure Elements Water is focused on customer satisfaction and stands behind our designs/installations. This special home incorporates an industrial boiler system for both domestic hot water and hydronics (a heating system that transfers heat by circulating water through a closed system of pipes). The well water is especially hard, containing high levels of calcium carbonate. The boiler had failed previously and was newly replaced when we installed our system utilizing our proven catalytic technology to help protect from hard water damage and scale buildup. After a period of operation, it became clear that our salt free water conditioning technology was not able to protect the boiler to the extent necessary, primarily because the boiler is so intense it literally “cooks” the calcium out of the water during operation.
We were not provided required water quality specifications when designing the system (which would have resulted in proper custom design from the start). Once recognized that the boiler was having problems, the manufacturer’s representative gave us specific parameters for operation. Meeting these parameters required the addition of a traditional water softener with a special capability to blend in a percentage of hard water to achieve the desired water quality. 100% soft water is too soft, and hard water is obviously devastating to the boiler because of its intense heat during operation. Pure Elements Water helped provide and install the softener on the hot water feed to the boiler system. The special installation allows the onsite personal to regularly monitor the water quality and adjust valves for the desired blending of soft to hard water.
The end result provides quality filtered and conditioned water on the cold side for drinking, bathing and other uses, as well as a filtered and blended soft water on the hot side for protection of the boilers from hard water scale problems. In this case, our HealthyHome Solution Custom Hybrid approach serves the project perfectly, resulting in optimum water quality and satisfaction of the special needs for the 747 Wing House. Contact Pure Elements Water directly for solutions for your special water quality needs (949) 644-1800.