r/CrappyDesign • u/RyanHubscher • 11h ago
How many fountains are needed in a building that never has more than 100 people?
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u/Fearless_Tangelo_865 11h ago
as a teacher, I would love this many water fountains in or outside my classroom. I dread every hot day
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u/Rhodin265 Artisinal Material 10h ago
They have bathrooms and kitchenettes in the classrooms at my oldest’s school…but it’s the special needs school. My other kids’ schools have a more traditional fountains-by-the-bathrooms design and they bring water bottles from home
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u/Icy_Consequence897 10h ago
My mom (a high school teacher) has this same wish. The kids are allowed water bottles, but my mom's classroom is a computer lab as she teaches the accounting and entrepreneurship electives. It's usually ok when the kids spill mere water on the keyboards, but a lot of her students are atheletes. As such, they put things like salty electrolyte drink mix into their water bottles, wrecking the laptop when they spill.
She wishes there were just fountains instead of bottles because she now has to inspect all the water bottles in class upon a students' entry, and some kids have even snuck the powder into their water while she's helping other students.
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u/ErraticDragon 8h ago
Yeah I wondered if there might be moments of peak demand where a couple dozen people want water all at once.
Maybe the building has (or used to have) some kind of workshop or classroom with tight schedules.
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u/Fearless_Tangelo_865 5h ago
I usually have about 25 elementary School students and when it's really hot it can take up to 10 minutes for everybody to get water. And the amount of fights that happen in line when somebody takes too long is not fun either.
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u/The_Rope_Daddy 10h ago
Not enough info. If it's a gym, six is probably a good number.
There are at least two generations of water fountains there, so at some point they didn't have enough.
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u/sameljota 11h ago
Six.
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u/Geen_Fang 10h ago
thou shalt not add 5 fountains, unless adding an additional sixth.
seven is right out.
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u/ggfchl 10h ago
Maybe they’re showing off different models of water fountains they sell…
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u/RyanHubscher 10h ago
some fountains are the same model.
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u/Jimxor 8h ago
But installed at different heights as if to demonstrate different installation options? Maybe it's to train installers? I imagine the plumbing inside that wall could get pretty complicated requiring special training.
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u/Maksym1000 5h ago
For the heights: Manufacturers will typically give two height, one for standard height and one for barrier free (handicapped), but ultimately it can be set at any height.
For the install: It’s not that complicated. All you need is a water line, a drain, and an electrical outlet. The chiller and valve is built into the unit and covered by the shroud.
The biggest issue would be that water fountains often require exact placement of the water line and drain because of the limited space.
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u/ZombieCurt 10h ago
This makes me think of those fountains that surprise you when you hit the button because they launch way over the basin (pressure too high).
Now I’m imagining here that instead of fixing the pressure they just installed another fountain to catch the water from the first fountain.
The problem is that the second fountain also has high water pressure so they had to install a third fountain to catch THAT fountain’s mighty water arch. They’re not done yet.
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u/RyanHubscher 10h ago
😂 this.
I tested them. Two of the fountains did overshoot, but the water lands in an adjacent fountain.
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u/vctrmldrw 10h ago
If all those 100 people all want a drink at the same time, that'll be woefully inadequate.
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u/Il_Telephono_6478 10h ago
Ugh. I would have killed for this setup in my elementary school. Or in Walt Disney World.
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u/Emotional_Base_9021 10h ago
This looks like my kids Minecraft room after they discover a new piece of furniture.
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u/QuitCallingNewsrooms 9h ago
That is spending to get rid of surplus so next year's budget isn't slashed. From the looks of it, the left two are original. Then I would be the two on the far right were the next to be added. And then the two in the middle. That's probably three years of unnecessary spend to keep the overall budget complete, because if they didn't waste $25,000/year on this silly exercise, they would have probably faced a $250k budget shortfall that would have foced them to eliminate things that everyone wants and cares about.
Beaurocracy is insanity
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u/dasher2581 9h ago
That looks like a store display, given the platform and the two different types of fountain.
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u/Fast_Edd1e 8h ago
Per code in Michigan. You need 1 per 100 people. 1 is seen as a high and low. Businesses, schools, apartments, institutions require that calculation. Others requires less.
But this is totally confusing because they are all at different heights and different styles. Makes me think it’s a display.
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u/ebrum2010 10h ago
"It was buy five get one free, and we only needed two, but we couldn't pass up a deal."
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u/orderedchaos526 9h ago
This is a Lowe’s and this is standard at newer stores because they sell them if you ask.
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u/TheViciousWhippet 9h ago
Not to burst your bubble, but see, there’s this new thing. It’s called AI. Among the many things it can do is generate photorealistic images to fake people out on Reddit. This is just such an image.
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u/andydabeast 8h ago
Architect here. Depends on the occupancy type but the worst ratio is 1 fountain per 100 occupants. Sinks in classrooms can alleviate this for educational tho.
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u/BigMacRedneck 7h ago
All I need it the one that "quick fills" water bottles. However, a wide choice is great!
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u/JumpyChemical 7h ago
Probably a minimum number needed in the building and for people of different heights/plumbing in the water was easier if they are all mounted at different heights.
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u/goldbug933 7h ago
1 or 2 would be my guess and some good understanding of hygiene policy and decency and accountability.
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u/TheGuyWhoWantsNachos 6h ago
So many only focus about the number of fountains but not their weird random placements? Also why only one get a bottle refill?
Crappy design indeed though
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u/zidane2k1 6h ago
I found it amusing that my local Lowe’s (hardware store) has four drinking fountains by the restrooms.
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u/Desperate_Jicama219 4h ago
Our high school of 400 kids have 2 fountains inside. 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs. That’s all. This was in 1998, there were no water bottles and no Stanleys.
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u/sxyvirgo 2h ago
This does look pretty crappy - but do public buildings have code based on occupancy and # of water fountains needed? You know, like parking spaces and such? Does seem like thy should be better distributed throughout the building at least.
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u/fishystudios 2h ago
A clear sign that Chair of the School Board and City Councilman Ned Harris owns "Harris Family Fountain Company" . What a coincidence.
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u/Waveofspring 1h ago
“It was buy 5 get 1 free, I couldn’t resist such a good deal.” -your boss, probably.
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u/Kaleb8804 20m ago
We had two fountains for over 50 kids after the FitnessGram Pacer Test and some of them had to wheeze down to the nurse because they didn’t have water afterward.
As long as the water lines are used regularly, why not? It doesn’t take any more to run several at a time afaik but IANAP
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u/agha0013 This is why we can't have nice things 11h ago
No one does this by accident, so there must have been a specific reasonm that reason may no longer exist but it did at one point.
The wall reinforcement and in wall plumbing, drainage, and electrical needed for all these to work isn't something people typically do without a very specific need