Domestic Hot Water (DHW) is the water used for hand washing, dish washing, showers and other similar purposes. cove.tool uses the yearly consumption as the demand input for simulation.

The default values are calibrated to match the respective building type's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) prototype model. These models are in turn calibrated actual measured building use and standard values from ASHRAE Handbook: HVAC Applications.

Users can customize this input if specific information about the DHW demand is know for the project. Calculating DHW demand is best done by a professional plumbing engineer who will utilize methods documented by ASPE. This fact sheet from the US DOE provides a simplified estimation of hourly demand estimation, which then must be applied to a yearly schedule for the project.
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