Rinnai UK’s technical knowhow on tap

Rinnai UK, the leading supplier of ‘A’ rated continuous flow Infinity gas fired water heaters, has a dedicated technical service team to ensure customers get service performance that matches the excellence of product performance, with a view of adding value that by far surpasses the transaction stage creating long-term value for our customer base.

Rinnai Technical Services offers all customers help and advice throughout the complete lifecycle of a product – from inception to disposal. The team can and will respond to any queries on specification, installation and operation of Rinnai unit.

Pete Seddon, Technical Team Leader says, “Architects and consultants are really into conservation, energy efficiencies and gas consumption and nowadays they are looking at the complete building whereas before it was all about product choice, space and siting of a unit. We offer assistance and advice – as unbiased as possible – to help them decide.”

Operating from Rinnai UK’s Cheshire headquarters the principle members of the team includes Ian Jenkins, Technical & Compliance Officer; Pete Seddon, Technical & Product Development officer and Danny Kay, Design Support Officer. The tech depart will happily check over designs and schematics and advise on changes.

“Some people need talking through the advantages of changing from a traditional storage system to a wall mounted instantaneous water heater system and we can help them make the decision and then the transition,” says Pete.

“We can also advise on whether they should be using 3, 4 or 5 units or drop a couple off and replace with a storage vessel for a renewables set up instead i.e. 2 x Rinnai 2 x solar storage tanks and/or heat pumps/solar.”

Pete continues: “Caravan and leisure parks especially need lots of hot water concentrated in peak times for showering and if there isn’t enough they can suffer from bad visitor reviews online which can affect bookings. Owners tend to get really involved in the choice of system used – they really get it,” he says. “Again, hot water demands for restaurants are very different from those for domestic use and larger commercial buildings so we can advise on the right system there.”

“The end user will often undertake their own research before installation and they want to hear our advice before they commit themselves. Consumers are smart and want to do their own checking before parting with their money and, of course, they are mining the internet for information too.”

“Rinnai is in its twelfth year in the UK and more and more engineers are having positive experience with the brand. If your first encounter with a infinity is when called to service a unit, we are on hand to take away the fear of taking on unfamiliar technology. Rinnai units are technically advanced but really easy to understand so we can alleviate any fears they may have about undertaking the job.

Installers can also call on the Rinnai technical department for training, which is provided free. “We have recently increased the training portfolio adding different packages and these sessions open engineers’ eyes to the possibilities of Rinnai technology. They are becoming ever more popular and this week alone we trained in excess of 40 people in the UK and Ireland – and all free.

“However, we recognise that for an engineer driving up to Cheshire from Cornwall, for example, that would mean 2 days off work with a stopover so we have been offering remote training at venues closer to home. For this we would need a minimum of four people. If we can’t get an appropriate room nearby then we can always bring along the Rinnai dedicated training trailer.

Pete explains how Rinnai’s recent massive investment in R&D in the products themselves (all ‘A’ rated under stringent ERP energy labelling legislation), increasing the numbers of specialist personnel and improving the Rinnai website is a boon to customers.

“The technical department works as a cohesive group with the customer service team and the sales consultants. We all have our specialisms but we wouldn’t be successful if we didn’t work together. The set up we have at Rinnai UK at the Cheshire headquarters seamlessly links everything together.

“When somebody phones customer services with a technical question it is passed on to us to answer quickly with the caller speaking to a person and definitely not somebody reading from a script,” Pete concludes.

For more details on RINNAI products visit www.rinnaiuk.com.