Posts

Pete Seddon of Rinnai lists the most important points of ensuring that continuous flow hot water heating units are well serviced and maintained to ensure the longest possible and most economical working life.

There are two very distinct perspectives on the service and maintenance of continuous flow hot water heating units and systems – that of the end user and the one of the installer/contractors. Firstly, we will look at the installer’s viewpoint.

  • Make sure of the exact make and model of the appliance before you attend the call. Varying appliances require different service routines. With Rinnai appliances we recommend that a service kit for every appliance is taken and utilised for every service visit. This will also help you to plan the correct amount of time for the job in hand.
  • Obtain service and install manuals wherever possible. This goes in hand with the above. This will allow you to see the routine that is required. You should be able to acquire this information from the manufacturer and at the same time you can also speak to a member of the technical department to get a better understanding of the servicing routine.
  • Compliance. If you have never been to the site before it is always worth checking over the installation to ensure the installation complies with regulations and manufacturer’s instructions. Sadly, there are still some sites where the installation and the appliances that do not follow regulations or a manufacturer’s explicit instructions. This could have impact on the performance of the appliances as well as the longevity of the system/appliance. If you think something is not quite right, we advise that you should inform the customer and make them fully aware.
  • Water Treatment. There are a lot of areas in the UK that require water treatment for hard water. If you know the area requires Lime Scale protection check that the site has it fitted. There are still a lot of sites that do not have any protection fitted but are in hard water areas. Lime Scale is a problem that can, if not treated properly, have huge consequences with appliances, systems and health. If you are unsure of the area you can check the Local Water Authority or call the manufacturers Technical Department for advice. At Rinnai UK our website does have a Water Hardness check and we can check the Water Authority for you as well – all we need is the area and postcode. Ultimately if there is no protection fitted, but there should be, then advise the customer of this and make them aware of the potential but probable problems that will ensue.
  • Detail your work. It is always worth noting down what work has been carried out. If gas pressures must be checked then note them down. If parts must be changed, note what parts have been changed. By just putting “Serviced the Appliance” down on the report may not constitute a proper service has been carried out in the eyes of the manufacturer and could impact on the customers warranty.
  • Technical Advice. If, after all the above, there is still something you are unsure about or you want to double check, call the Technical Department of the manufacturer. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Rinnai UK actively encourages questions and discussion, this way you can get peace and good practise. At the end of the day we are here to help you as much as possible. And there is no such thing as a stupid question when it comes to safety and a gas fired appliance.

For the end user or owner:

  • Always understand what type of equipment you have, the manufacturer of that equipment and the service requirements and frequencies. Different appliances will have different service requirements at various intervals. It is always beneficial to find this information out because it can impact on the warranty.
  • Where possible use engineers who are familiar with the appliances. It is always worth contacting the manufacturer direct. With Rinnai UK we have a list of engineers who have undertaken training and are familiar with the Rinnai products. Majority of, if not all, other manufacturers will either have the same or have their own engineers. By utilising engineers who know the appliances you will have confidence that the servicing will be carried out correctly.
  • Always plan. It is always beneficial to find out when your appliances are due and to book them in a few weeks in advance. If you leave it too late you may not be able to get an engineer when you want them. This way to can plan it around your requirements. For example, if your business was dependant on the appliance you would be best planning this in when it was the quietest period or on days when it is not so dependant.
  • Paperwork. Ensure you keep hold of all your records of servicing. You should get a service report from the company who serviced the appliance, if you don’t make sure you request one. This is your proof that the servicing has been carried out. Without this paperwork if your appliance ever developed a fault during its warranty period you might be refused the warranty without this proof of service.

For more information visit www.rinnaiuk.com

Rinnai re-imagines home hot water & heating systems

Rinnai, global leaders in continuous flow hot water heating products and systems, is introducing the Zen and Zen Plus home hot water & heating system which marries established and proven manufacture durability with new technologies to offer great energy efficiencies, user control and, importantly, unparalleled level of comfort.

Rinnai UK will be launching this innovation plus several other cutting-edge appliances during 2019.

The Rinnai Zen and Zen Plus system will increase comfort and reduce energy usage whilst also providing a highly economically solution for today’s changing marketplace.

‘Our core expertise is the mass production of long-term reliable combustion products with advanced technologies – we are a global leader and make over 2 million water heating units every year for domestic, residential and commercial applications. We have been researching and monitoring the UK domestic heating market for several years until we had a proven system. That time is now, and we are offering hot water heating units together with a superior performance combi boiler in 24, 29- and 35-kW outputs,’ says Chris Goggin, head of Rinnai UK operations.

‘We are not launching into the mass UK boiler market – that is, in our view, a saturated and oversubscribed market which is in the throes of a major upheaval in its structure due to the advent of online direct sales platforms. We are offering something very different. And we are aiming to serve a market sector previously overlooked and almost ignored – the provision of luxury levels of hot water at affordable sums to the middle and top end of the marketplace.

‘Another major difference with the Rinnai Zen & Zen Plus is that the route to market is with installers. We are committed to working with installers as our route to market. The installer is still the major player and, in our view, always will be.

Some of the features of Zen & Zen Plus are: IOT controller as standard; Fast heating mode; DHW pre-heat function – saving wasted water; Energy monitor function allows user to monitor energy usage; flue runs up to 30 meters, Rinnai boiler App for android and IOS; constant temperature-accurate hot water delivery at continuous flow rates.

There is also smart Wifi controller and App benefits; The Rinnai app seamlessly connects to the controller in the property; the user can control the boiler remotely adjusting temperature, setting weekly and daily programmes, receiving alarm functions, monitor energy usage and set limits. The Wifi and boiler controller also uses GPS from the user’s mobile to bring on the heat when you are getting close to home to ensure the house is warm when you arrive.

Rinnai Zen & Zen Plus are available for use with both natural gas and LPG.

For more information visit www.rinnaiuk.com

Now available is the Rinnai HDC 1200i continuous flow hot water unit with the capacity to deliver in excess of 1500 litres of temperature accurate hot water per hour, with an overall gross efficiency of more than 95%. These levels of performance, with unbeatable efficiency levels, mean the Rinnai 1200i is more than capable of meeting and exceeding the hot water demands of all applications.

This precision engineered unit can also be combined as multiple units into one single, easy to handle module incorporating cascade frames and common flue. Both the HDC 1200 internal and external models turn in a market leading energy performance of 107% net efficiency and offer superlative ranges of modulation. The systems internal analytical system can modulate the burner from 54kw to 2.4kw. The Rinnai HDC 1200i is engineered for minimal energy wastage and maximum energy performance.

It is worth remembering that Part L of the Building Regulations 2013 has set minimum thermal efficiency levels of 90% for natural and 92% for LPG, consequently outlawing non-condensing gas fired water heaters for use in new build projects.

Rinnai is the only manufacturer that can supply a complete range of internal and external ultra-high efficiency condensing continuous flow water heaters, aligned not only to comply but surpass changes on the regulatory horizon.

Rinnai units and systems are now the number one choice for any size of site or large building or business with a heavy demand for constant hot water or where high peaks of demand occur at certain times. Any number of modules can be manifolded, so the water handling capacity is truly infinite and there is no risk of the ‘cascade’ of hot water ever running out.

The manifolded 1200i units can be delivered direct to site in one complete, easy to manage package and at a very competitive price. For the end user this guarantees considerable cost savings over other forms of hot water generation. The relatively compact footprint of all Rinnai units and systems means it can optimise plant room space and safeguard accessibility for maintenance and servicing.

There is huge potential for on-demand style water heaters such as the Rinnai HDC 1200i units to play their part in new build and in refurbishments projects alike, where in the latter there are still many old systems that need replacing. By replacing this older technology with new condensing appliances will help support the UK drive towards greener industry.

The Rinnai Infinity HDC 1200i water heater uses heat exchanger technology to allow the largest capacity flow rates, thereby guaranteeing all the hot water needed, when it is needed. As well as increasing capacity, the Rinnai Infinity water heater has lower greenhouse emissions because of the new reduced NOx burner technology and as there is no storage, this scores well with BREEAM.

Available in both internal and external versions, HDC 1200i gives end users 107% net efficiency as the condensing process delivers up to 95% thermal efficiency, translating into significant energy savings when compared to standard tankless water heaters.

With a continuous flow water heating unit, it will deliver limitless amounts of useable hot water, whatever the site – school, hospital, hotel, office blocks, leisure club etc with no fluctuations in water delivery temperature.

The only time the site uses energy to heat water is when there is a demand, in other words, it is only burning gas when a tap or shower is being run.

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com

Tony Gittings of Rinnai looks at the changes that have now become a permanent and developing part of the domestic heating and hot water marketplace – selling direct to the consumer, bypassing the traditional supply route.

There is a 15 second iPhone video clip on Twitter at the moment of a big lad, full of muscles, destroying a door inside a building. It takes him two punches, one kick and both his hands to wrench the door right off its hinges. Accompanying this is some very stark copy which talks about how he’d had a job booked in to install a boiler, but he had lost out on price to one of the big, direct-to-consumer online brand names. His fury carries over from the film to the text with some very explicit language.

The change in the domestic heating and hot water marketplace is that online buying is now taking over the supply chain. The boiler manufacturers, some of them, want to sell more and more direct to the consumer. It is as simple as that. The traditional route to market of: manufacturer -merchant/distributor – installer-end user/consumer is getting to be less and less and may well soon be gone. The new route to market may well have some casualties – the merchants/ distributors and installers. It may well hit installers hardest in terms of prices being driven down.

Boiler producers have traditionally made their margin at the factory gate. – The merchant/distributor may never of made the size of margins, on boilers, anywhere near as much as the manufacturers. Traditionally the merchants/distributors relied on the branded boilers to bring the installer into their sales arena and buy all the materials for an installation and make up the margins on fittings, piping and ancillaries.

The fact that life is online now, and that almost all household expenditure goes through the web, is now cast in stone, for time being anyway. The change in consumer spending can be summed up by the following reports>

The BBC News website and the Retail Gazette recently extensive articles and reports on the dramatic demise of shopping centres and malls. Dead or dying High Streets, zombie retailing – the clichés were wonderfully employed.

Retail Gazette quoted some very heavyweight financiers – APAM Asset Management. They reckoned that there were as many as 200 – yes, two hundred – shopping centres that were financially on the edge of business existence.

Asset management firm APAM estimates that hundreds of shopping centres worth around £7 billion are in danger of breaching debt covenants. This number has reportedly increased by 75 per cent since last year, as falling market values and increasing numbers of CVAs butcher the sector.

Retail Gazette reported that APAM’s executive director Simon Cooke said this was in part due to lack of reinvestment by private equity owners, with the average shopping centre in the UK having changed hands or been refinanced three-and-a-half years ago. The BBC News report quoted Retail Gazette and also added in its own experts.

Mr Nelson Blackley, from the National Retail Research Knowledge Exchange Centre, said the growth of online retail in the UK – on sites such as Amazon – had been faster than in almost any other retail market in the world. The demise of “major anchor stores” like BHS and Toys R Us and the rise of online shopping has caused a “downward spiral”, said Mr Nelson Blackley.

“If the major anchor store moves out, that has a halo effect on other stores in that centre. It’s a downward spiral and you can’t fill shopping centres with nail bars and vape shops.” Mr Blackley, who is based at Nottingham Trent University’s Nottingham Business School, pointed to research in the Financial Times that suggested about £2.5bn worth of shopping centres and retail parks are up for sale in towns and cities across the UK.

Some of this marketing is unofficial and not in the public domain,” he said.

“It’s a trend that’s moving very quickly. You don’t necessarily want to be in the business of owning shopping centres at the moment.” No kidding Mr Blackley…….

A prominent and nationally operating installer friend of mine put it this way in nicely earthy language, “I am not that old, but I remember Woolworths going out of business in the late 90s and look recently at BHS and the House of Fraser going down the plughole – massive names in retailing. As an installer I am so alive to the change in my customers buying habits. You don’t a PhD in ‘The Blindingly Obvious’ to realise the game has changed. I think it is a matter of concentrating on the ‘new’ and not wasting time on the old ways. They are gone.”

We made our own decisions several years ago. Then, about 30% of our total sales were through the distribution route to market. That is now around 15% and that is with distributors which are geographically and strategically placed to deliver – direct to the installer.

It is not difficult to envisage that with just a few years that the big brand names will be aiming everything they’ve got direct to the end-user/consumer. But it may well be at the expense of the installer, who may well have to work on an iron-clad fixed price basis which may not be the true value of the job.

We have chosen our route many years ago and have continued during all those years to fully and total commit to the installer as our partner – we have stayed connected. Others may try to ‘re-connect.’

But it is the installer that is our future and we see nothing on the horizon likely to change that – after all, all gas fired products must, by law, be installed by a fully qualified Gas Safe person. And that means that the individual must have a high level of expertise and ‘Yes’, we deal with specification and consultants, but that is inevitable on commercial sites which require design and engineering services. engineering savvy…. which is what installers have….

And one final thought – maybe there are even more changes on their way, this time in the manufacturing arena?

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

Rinnai has just completed the installation of two HDC1500i continuous flow hot water heating units at a busy laundrette serving businesses and the public in Stafford. Rinnai were chosen on the recommendation of another laundrette owner, in Lancashire, who praised the efficiency and major cost savings because of switching to cascaded continuous flow hot water units as they guarantee almost unlimited supplies of hot water at peak demand whilst savings on fuel costs.

Word of mouth is the best possible marketing and a site survey was duly arranged and completed to confirm the best solution in controlling operational costs and efficiencies. The existing system was a heated stored water system – this meant that the site was paying to heat water it was not instantly using.

It was clear from the site survey that Rinnai units configured to maximise both space and energy efficiency – and critically – the system’s reliability – would yield seriously large cost savings to the owner.

Given that the Rinnai units were being wall mounted and externally flued, this gave extra storage space to the premises as there was no need for a dedicated plant room.

Comments Ray Gallimore, proprietor of the Weston Road Launderette, “The old storage system had become completely impractical, inefficient and needlessly expensive to run.

“For example, the washers tend to be used sporadically. During a busy weekend there could be a demand for eight to ten people battling to use the machines at once, during the week there might be one or two. That meant we had to store a decent volume of hot water ‘just in case’ in the form of a storage water heater. Needless to say, keeping the stored volume at optimum temperature 24/7 was often wasted energy, a really bad, expensive idea all round.”

Clearly the site needed to change the system to one that could cater for these fluctuations without running up huge energy bills and the solution wasn’t hard to find.

“I was made aware of Infinity water heaters installed in similar applications to mine and in general their experiences with their products and their personnel, such as the local Rinnai sales consultant, were consistently positive and professional.”

“The beauty of working with Rinnai is the service they offer. We presented the project to Rinnai’s Technical Sales team who came up with the design, configured the sizes of unit required and delivered the system complete and to a very tight timescale – this was key as the existing water heater had developed a leak and I was extremely mindful that the business had to remain operational to satisfy local demand. We are very happy with Rinnai and will be spreading the word,” adds Ray Gallimore.

Now two HDC1500i internal mounted water heaters with secondary circulation provide hot water for 12 commercial machines, plus a sink and a wash hand basin.

“The Rinnai system has resulted in an energy reduction and gas saving due to higher efficiencies and because we are no longer maintaining large amounts of stored hot water. It’s not rocket science to work that out!”

“In terms of gas usage running costs compared to the old wasteful storage system, our bills have virtually been halved since the Rinnai system went live five months ago which is absolutely tremendous,” says Gallimore.

Rinnai’s heavy-duty condensing range uses two heat exchangers to capture residual heat from flue gases to pre-heat incoming water, with the HDC1500i turning in 105% net efficiencies*. These figures add up to considerable on-going energy savings when compared with traditional gas fired stored water systems.

With a Rinnai condensing unit, temperature is regulated to within +/-1ºC via ‘smart’ internal controls without any variation of temperature at the outlet even when water is drawn off elsewhere. All models have full electronic ignition, no pilot light and operate on demand only, so there is no gas consumption when the unit is idle.

The units are easily configured in a manifold arrangement, ensuring there will never be a shortfall of instant hot water whatever the demand.

Rinnai, the UK’s leading manufacturer of the ErP A-rated Infinity range of continuous flow condensing gas-fired water heaters, supplies the best energy efficient range of low-NoX water heating units currently on the market.

Advanced condensing heat exchangers combined with innovative burner technology ensures that every cubic metre of gas is used to the maximum on HDC 1500i.

Legionella proliferation is answered by Rinnai: the company has developed additional ‘SMART’ controls for secondary return DHW systems in the form of an advanced temperature control system which allows for safe running of water at 42°C core temperature during the day and 60°C at a time when the building is closed. By the time the building reopens, core temperature is 42°C for safe use.

Another Rinnai innovation addresses an age-old industry problem with hot water delivery – lime scale build-up. The company’s integrated scale control system is an innovative solution and comes in the form of an LC (lime check) code on the display of the controller.

Almost all water-fed appliances, including plate heat exchangers, boilers and water heaters will accumulate scale deposits when used within hard water areas over time. Lime scale consists of calcium carbonate (calcite) with lesser amounts of other calcium salts such as the sulphate. Sometimes lime scale deposits contain corrosion debris and this scale build-up can affect the water heaters by reducing their efficiency and overall performance. Ultimately, ongoing use with hard water may shorten the lifespan of conventional water heating appliances and systems. To safeguard against this Rinnai units continually self-monitor for lime scale deposits around the heat exchanger. If a lime scale build up has being identified, a message is sent to the built-in interface panel on the front of the appliance. The message is displayed as ‘LC’, which alerts the end user that it is time to call a Rinnai service agent to perform a lime scale flush to clear the potentially harmful deposits. This avoids and eliminates the adverse effects associated with lime scale build up, including lower energy efficiencies and rapid product de-generation.

Rinnai’s HDC range offers condensing technology with up to 107% gross efficiency, ultra-low-Nox of less than 20 ppm, a widely expansive modulation range of 54kW-4kW and high flow rates of 37/ltr/min. Add to these benefits are the peace of mind of an extended warranty, a top A-rating exceeding the demands of eco-labelling legislation, the flexibility of external wall mounting and delivery to site with all relevant accessories and the knowledge that the HDC range is future-proofed against future regulatory and legislative changes.

* Tested and certificated by Technigas to EN 26.

For more information visit www.rinnaiuk.com

Rinnai, the UK leader in continuous flow hot water heating units and systems, is now offering FREE training courses to any installer or contractor who wants to extend their business and offer service and maintenance to their customers.

The FREE courses will include comprehensive training on Best Practise of system design, sizing, installation, service, maintenance, regulations and legislation both current and pending.

There is an end user expectation of being offered Service & Maintenance plans largely as a result of the domestic boiler market and other consumer appliances. Rinnai has seen enquiries and demand increase in recent years.

“We believe we make the best products in the continuous flow arena and we strive to offer the very best in customer service excellence. We are committed to the installer and contractor as the route to the end user. Offering training absolutely FREE of any charge is also part of that commitment, says Phil Nolan (Training officer) for Rinnai.

“We will be offering selected Service Plans to include Call Outs, Planned Maintenance & Safety checks in order to give specific customers a total solution. We will be, as always, working with our installer and contractor customers to enhance and add value to their business offering.“ adds Tony Gittings, MD.

Rinnai produces over 12 million gas appliances every year and the products are distributed globally to all parts of the world. All units are ISO 9001 and ISO 1400I certified (International standard for environmental management systems).

Supported by many optional extras including extensive warranties and fully qualified technical after sales service teams, Rinnai is the first choice for continuous flow hot water. Rinnai hot water systems fulfil all possible requirements on new or existing projects, providing the optimum solution by using individual or multiple appliances in a cascade system.

“Rinnai employ innovative manufacturing and testing techniques to deliver unparalleled levels of safety, comfort and efficiency for the end user.” says Tony Gittings.

For more information visit www.rinnaiuk.com

Clifton Park Hospital in York, advised by A J Gastech – has chosen Rinnai to upgrade its hot water heating system to meet the increasing demand whilst staying economically and environmentally efficient.

Clifton Park Hospital opened in 2006 has first-class medical facilities including 24 beds, two theatres, a day case unit, a large outpatient department with X-ray facilities and on-site physiotherapy, including a small gym area. In 2018, the hospital opened a new outpatient department with 11 consulting rooms, two treatment rooms and x-ray facilities.

Clifton Park prides itself on offering exceptional care and service to all its patients and currently has a 5 star rating on NHS Choices, 4 star rating on Google and 4.7 rating on Facebook reviews. In the most recent survey – NHS Family & Friend’s Test, 100% of inpatients and 98% of outpatients recommend the hospital.

The new water heating system features 3 Rinnai HDC 1200i plus a 500 litre cylinder. A Rinnai HD50i looked after the hot water demand for 10 years, without missing a beat, but due to expansion at the hospital a new bespoke system was required.

The decision was taken to upgrade to more energy efficient condensing hot water heaters and incorporate the 500 litre storage vessel to give the hospital a means of dealing with peak hour demands.

The heating engineer contractors, A J Gastech, were given just a 14 hour window in which to remove the existing system and replace it with the new one. This was achieved with a bit of time to spare, such is the expertise and professionalism of A J Gastech.

A J Gastec Ltd provide plumbing and mechanical contracting and maintenance for private customers, construction organisations in domestic, commercial and industrial sectors. The company offers services from installation to maintenance contracts with the variety of works involving sites throughout the UK for both public and private sector works.

Says Adam Stante for A J Gastech, “We are based in Bradford, the heart of Yorkshire, and we have a dedicated team of specialists that work throughout the UK, delivering high spec projects on time and on budget. Our standards are of the highest quality, cost effectiveness and to our client’s approval.”

The Rinnai HDC 1200i continuous model is for use on all high demand sites as it is easily capable of delivering 2000 litres per hour. It guarantees unparalleled levels of efficiency and hot water delivery for the end user whilst streamlining installations and guaranteeing future regulatory compliance.

This is a precision engineered water heating unit can also be combined as multiple units into one single, easy to handle module. Both HDC1200 internal and external models turn in a market leading energy performance of 107% net efficiency and offer superlative ranges of modulation as the system’s internal analytical system can modulate the burner range from 54kw to 2.4kw. The Rinnai HDC 1200i is engineered for minimal energy wastage and maximum energy performance.

It is worth remembering that Part L of the Building Regulations 2013 set minimum thermal efficiency levels of 90% for natural and 92% for LPG, consequently outlawing non-condensing gas fired water heaters for use in new build projects.

Rinnai units and systems are now the number one choice for large buildings and businesses with a heavy demand for constant hot water or where high peaks of demand occur at certain times. Any number of modules can be manifolded, so the water handling capacity is truly infinite and there is no risk of the ‘cascade’ of hot water ever running out.

The manifolded 1200i units can be delivered direct to site in one complete, easy to manage package and at a very competitive price. For the end user this guarantees considerable cost savings over other forms of hot water generation. The relatively compact footprint of all Rinnai units and systems means it can optimise plant room space and safeguard accessibility for maintenance and servicing.

There is huge potential for on-demand style water heaters such as the Rinnai HDC 1200i units to play their part in new build and in refurbishments where there are still many old systems that need replacing as well as old-style gravity fed water systems that use stored hot water.

The Rinnai Infinity HDC 1200i has lower greenhouse emissions because of the new reduced NOx burner technology.

As Clifton Park Hospital has a secondary flow and return system, complete range modulation is experienced ensuring that the system is running at optimum performance at all times.

For more information visit www.rinnaiuk.com

Rinnai, the UK’s leading manufacturer of the ErP A-rated Infinity range of continuous flow condensing gas fired water heaters, delivers the most energy efficient range of low-NOx hot water heating units currently available to the UK end user.

The company’s low-NOx Infinity HDC 1600e external wall mounted unit (together with the interior HDC 1600i version) utilises Rinnai’s patented pre-mix burner technology with a 14-1 turn down ratio – the largest on the market – of 58.4kw-4.05kw and is extremely quiet in operation.

Integral controls on the units enable the water heater to achieve high efficiencies whether locally or integrated into a building management system. In reducing Legionella proliferation, Rinnai has developed additional ‘SMART’ controls for secondary return DHW systems in the form of an advanced temperature control system which allows for safe running of water at 42°C core temperature during the day and 60°C when a building is closed. By the time the building reopens, core temperature is 42°C for safe use.

Another Rinnai innovation addresses an age-old industry problem with hot water delivery – lime scale build-up. The company’s integrated scale control system is an innovative solution and comes in the form of an LC (lime check) code on the display of the controller.

The system helps to ensure the performance and efficiency of Rinnai’s 1600, and, all of its continuous flow water heaters installed in hard water areas. Almost all water-fed appliances, including plate heat exchangers, boilers and water heaters will, over time accumulate scale deposits in hard water areas.

Ultimately, ongoing use with hard water may shorten the lifespan of conventional water heating appliances and systems. To safeguard against this Rinnai units continually self-monitor for lime scale deposits around the heat exchanger. If a lime scale build-up is identified, a message is sent to the built-in interface panel on the front of the appliance. The message is displayed as ‘LC’, which alerts the end user to contact a Rinnai service agent to perform a lime scale flush to clear the potentially harmful deposits. This avoids and eliminates the adverse effects associated with lime scale build up, including lower energy efficiencies and potential product de-generation.

The industry uptake on Rinnai’s series of low-NOx high efficiency products is that continuous flow heater systems are proven to be more energy efficient than conventional storage systems and are increasingly the experts’ preferred method of hot water provision. Rinnai units easily cater for any size projects that need high volumes of water at intermittent times of day.

The Rinnai Infinity 1600e/i offers condensing technology with up to 107% gross efficiency, ultra-low-NOx of less than 20 ppm, a widely expansive modulation range of 54kW-4kW and high flow rates of 37/ltr/min. Add to these benefits are the peace of mind of an extended warranty, a top A-rating exceeding the demands of eco-labelling legislation, the flexibility of external wall mounting and delivery to site with all relevant accessories and the knowledge that the HDC1600 is future-proofed against future regulatory and legislative changes.

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com

Rinnai continuous flow water heaters have been installed on site at the Ty Coryton site of Orbis Education & Care, an organisation dedicated to providing specialist care for children, young people and adults.

Orbis offers specialist schools, community homes, respite care and community-based work-skills services. This application of the Rinnai continuous flow hot water heating products and systems was at an accommodation/care home facility containing 27 rooms with an extra-ordinary demand of hot water, primarily due to the frequency, timing and longevity of the use of showers, baths and basins.

As such Rinnai provided five HDC 1500i continuous flow water heaters, powered by Natural Gas, which at peak can provide in excess of 5,000 l/hr. The installed system included concentric flues and a secondary return complete with expansion vessels and valves to ensure G3 compliance.

The system has now been operational for almost 9 months and the feedback has stated that the system is ‘exceptional’.

Tŷ Coryton is set in extensive parkland on the outskirts of Cardiff just off junction 32 of the M4. It is just a few miles from Cardiff City centre in the friendly village of Whitchurch with its cafes, restaurants, parks and travel connections.

Tŷ Coryton offers a broad range of on and off-site activities, encouraging the students to contribute to and enjoy a sense of community. Whilst the school offers an engaging and flexible curriculum tailored to the learning needs of the individual, the residential building is divided into separate communal flats, each with separate bedrooms, and with kitchen and lounge areas.

Each resident is encouraged to take an active role in personalising their own bedrooms as well as their collective communal spaces. With education, care and in-house therapy teams linking closely together, Tŷ Coryton offers a 24-hour waking curriculum of learning, life skills and leisure.

The highly qualified and experienced team supports children and young people with autism and complex needs to develop key life skills in line with their individual Behavioural Support Plan.

Orbis is an award-winning organisation providing a blend of education and care with therapies available including: speech and language; occupational therapy; clinical psychology; positive behavioural support; music therapy; psychiatry; dietetics and complementary therapies.

Rinnai’s Infinity 1500i, which has been installed at Ty Coryton offers greater benefits when compared to an older style water heating system.There is a focus on energy conservation at Orbis and the 1500i delivers with its 105% net efficiency and market leading range of modulation (58kW – 2.4kW). This increase in energy efficiency also translates into economic savings, helping Orbis manage the energy costs, especially in water and electricity, two essential components needed for a water heating system to operate.

The peak need for useable hot water at Ty Coryton means that it needs a system that can meet and provide continuous hot water, effortlessly, whilst controlling overall costs.

The Rinnai Infinity HDC1500 range is smaller, more compact in its design, and can be fitted either internally, or externally. If the Infinity 1500e is fitted externally, it comes with appropriate weather proofing which provides the required protection to ensure consistent, long life working efficiency.

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