Hotel guests demand a constant supply of hot water instantly; operators want it supplied in a cost effective, energy efficient manner by equipment that is reliable and easy to service and maintain. The de Vere Village Hotel in Warrington found the ideal solution with Rinnai gas fired continuous flow water heaters.
The hotel, with top ranking Village Premier status, needed a safe constant supply of hot water, 24/7 for its 116 bedrooms and their en suite facilities. According to Eddie Kane, Maintenance Manager at the hotel: "The showers are very powerful and use a lot of water so we needed a hot water system that could keep up with demand at the busiest times and that could be guaranteed never to run out of hot water.
"The old system was 20 years old and well past its sell by date. We looked at various likely candidates but none offered exactly what we were looking for until the contractor told us about Rinnai. As well as being able to guarantee delivery of constant hot water, competitive pricing, running costs and energy efficiency were important
His decision was made to go with six Infinity HD55i`s and two 800l storage vessels for back up during peak times. The Rinnai HD55i Internal water heater is a wall hung, gas fired, continuous flow water heater capable of producing hot water at 780 litres per hour at a 50°C rise.
Compact and reliable, the HD55i operates between 1-10 bar pressure, which is suitable for mains and systems with boost pumps. Incoming water temperatures of up to 60°C are accepted, making the HD55i suitable for secondary return systems.
A DIP switch enables pin-point temperature setting and for safety, the over-temperature protection will switch off the heater should the water temperature exceed by 3°C above its set-point so there is no risk of guests or staff scalding themselves.
Another major plus in the choice was the slim profile of the units themselves. "The old Beamount system filled the whole plant room. In fact, we had to knock a hole in the wall to allow us to get into the room to perform any maintenance. The Rinnai units are space saving and it is so easy to service and maintain them."
Choosing Rinnai also meant less upheaval when the refurbishment took place. Initial plans had involved a temporary external oil-fired water heating plant being brought in at considerable cost to provide hot water while the boiler room was ripped out and refurbished. In the end, the Rinnai system was installed in an adjacent closet; when the job was done the supply was simply switched over and the old plant room put to new use.
“With our Rinnai system there is more than enough capacity for our needs. In fact we have over-capacity as I wanted to ensure we never ran out of water”
Eddie Kane
"The plant room is on the second floor and between two bedrooms. The Rinnai system is so quiet in operation (there is no sound insulation between the bedrooms and plant room) we have never had a complaint - you only know the Rinnai unit has ignited if you look in the unit to see the flame," says Kane.
The installation was performed five years ago and Kane is really pleased with the way the Rinnai system has performed during that time. "When we were designing the system, we had excellent back up from the Rinnai technical team and that relationship has continued. The technical guys are really knowledgeable. You can ask them anything and they have the answer to any question. And, they offer 24-hour call out support. It is reassuring to know that they are there at the end of the phone".
"So far we have had five years worry-free service from the Rinnai system. Apart from the yearly service we really don't need to do much. I am impressed with new equipment coming in from Rinnai, which I have my eye on for the future. When I need to upgrade it is just a question of replacing the units like for like onto the existing pipework. Still, that is a long way in the future as the units we have are doing so well," concludes Kane.
