Rinnai – Japanese quality and performance
Rinnai, the Japanese manufacturer of the award winning Infinity range of continuous flow gas fired water heaters, is encouraging installers and end users to purchase units only from reputable manufacturers with a proven pedigree in the UK. The company is adamantly defensive of product quality on behalf of the market place for end-users, contractors and consultants.
Rinnai has a reputation for innovation through design and quality focussed engineering, all built with the highest quality components and standards of exacting manufacture that guarantees a long and efficient working life.
According to Rinnai’s Yuji Omoto: ‘Installers should choose a unit from a proven manufacturer that has the confidence to offer warranties for a product that is built to last – and never buy on a price-only basis.
“Rinnai water heaters are engineered with innovative, electronic and mechanical components that have a statistically insignificant failure rate. It should be noted that Rinnai manufacturer all their own components ignoring global sourcing and keeping quality in house. It is because of this superior engineering that Rinnai units can modulate down to 2.4kw whilst boasting 107% efficiency making them the most efficient water heaters on the market today.”
The guarantee of energy efficiencies and long term reliability gives peace of mind to the domestic and commercial users, to whom water heating is an integral part of the building envelope, while additionally in commercial settings there are ever increasing regulatory constraints such as eco-labelling and building regulations.
Yuji Omoto says “In recent years it may seem that attention has been focused on renewables, but it has become apparent this technology, on its own, really isn’t delivering ¬ – at least, not in its current form.
“Now, widespread consultation has decreed that a vast array of technologies and existing energy supplies is key to achieving reduction targets. An energy efficient continuous flow gas fired hot water system, whether teamed with renewables technology (solar thermal or a heat pump) or used on own, actually has a lot to offer as we move towards the Government’s carbon neutral goals. Rinnai Infinity units have been developed to exceed all current demands and lead the field in this respect.
“The downside to this recognition is that inferior water heaters are beginning to appear on the market and they appear to have varying standards of quality in their manufacture. This is where the end user needs to take on board that a quality-built system which uses only the best components available and is precision engineered, is technically advanced and fit for purpose should be the defining criteria at time of purchase and any thought of buying on price alone should be challenged. After all, you get what you pay for…..”
Rinnai’s motto ‘Quality is our Destiny’ epitomises its healthy corporate obsession with quality. The basis for manufacturing and all aspects of the process at Rinnai is to think and act from a scientific perspective and the result is a market-oriented production system that combines policy management, quality control, and continuous improvement.
The process starts at Rinnai’s Japanese factories where stringent quality control protocols have been put in place that apply to the selection of the raw material from the smallest components through manufacture and assembly to delivery and after sales.
Rinnai applies Monozukuri technology and work methodology to its environmentally-friendly manufacturing activities. ‘Monozukuri’ applied to manufacturing and production means the ‘art, science and craft of making things’ and can be compared with the English word ‘craftmanship’. With this philosophy entrenched throughout the company Rinnai strives to add quality to its products from the design stage, mainly through simulations and applies verification methods to identify points for improvement and to prevent potential problems from ever happening.
Quality, innovative infinity heavy duty condensing water heaters* designed to be fit for purpose use two heat exchangers to capture residual heat from flue gases to pre-heat incoming water, and can deliver up to 107% net efficiency. Installers should also beware of appliances that even though they may claim HE technology in their publicity this is exemplified by burners that only modulate down to 6-7 KW. Burners on superior units using pre-mix technology can self-modulate down to an unbeatable 2.4 kW.
The design of the water heater, components and the engineering itself must be of the best quality available. It pays to research key specification and country of origin.
A technologically advanced PCB system ensures intelligent functionality, including temperature accurate hot water delivery, gas modulation guaranteeing efficient gas usage, numerous safety features for user comfort and control as well as error messaging and BMS interfacing. On a quality unit, the circuit board itself will be cased in silicone as a fail safe in the unlikely event of a leak the ‘brains’ of the unit are protected.
If installers and end users stick to the ‘quality is best’ rule they should be safeguarded in their choice. “The Rinnai system is obviously working as we have so few defects occur in product output. The company produced 6 million continuous flow water heaters in 2014 – a massive achievement,” concludes Yuji Omoto.
For more details on RINNAI products visit www.rinnaiuk.com
