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Rinnai Solo – a specifier’s and installer’s flexible friend

Infinity Solo condensing low NOX water heater is the first Rinnai product for the UK that combines the advanced technology of wall mounted continuous flow water heaters with a stainless-steel storage cylinder in one compact footprint.

When the product was first introduced Solo was adopted as a single installation product for light commercial operations such as small hotels and schools. However, Rinnai is now seeing greater penetration as installers are beginning to use them in multiples on larger projects – one installer has utilised three units for a major school academy installation.

It seems the market is identifying other areas for the Solo, beyond the target market of new build and refurbishment housing projects, where it is proving its worth in larger three/four-bed dwellings where one can expect to find a family bathroom, ensuite and a downstairs cloakroom/shower.

The Rinnai Solo is a versatile product – it is renewables ready so the business/building owner or householder can very easily extend the system to make fuel savings by adding solar thermal later. The 24kW-59.5kW Infinity Solo range is renewables compatible and supplied pre-fitted with a coil, meaning that the primary energy source can be renewable gains such as solar thermal, and the complementary Rinnai water heater will only apply the precise amount of gas to boost the difference in temperature.

Because the Solo cylinder is stainless steel it greatly reduces the weight compared to glass lined models, which makes transportation and installation much easier. As well as the difference in weight, the cylinders available also boast extremely low heat loss figures (as low as 1.41kW/h day), which means the customer pays less to maintain the heat within the tank and the system when fitted to a renewable heat source maximises renewable gains.

Rinnai’s new Solo range incorporates 35kW and 54kW appliances, ensuring that even sites with a smaller gas meter can utilise its advanced technologies. The larger Infinity Solo model will also act as a high-efficiency alternative to other forms of gas fired storage appliances.

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com.
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Rinnai builds business with O’Neil’s

Rinnai, manufacturer of the Energysaver energy efficient range of gas fired wall heaters, recently pulled out all the stops in collaboration with Ayr-based installer O’Neil Gas Services to keep the congregation warm at St Mary’s Church in Saltcoats, Ayrshire.

O’Neil Gas Services with mission statement: ‘Big enough to cope. Small enough to care’ – is a family-run company founded by John O’Neil and now presided over by his son Brian O’Neil. It has 22 employees, 15 of them fully qualified Gas Safe registered engineers. The company offers domestic and commercial services covering the whole of Ayrshire, East Kilbride and South Glasgow and has four separate divisions – installation, service and repair, care and retail. O’Neil’s also operates a fireplace and bathroom showroom, designing and planning bathrooms from start to finish.

The O’Neil client list is impressive and includes NHS Scotland, North Ayrshire Council, Cunninghame Housing Association, SRUC Auchincruive Estate, Klin Holdings as well as various hotels, surgeries, churches and commercial businesses all over Ayrshire. More recently the company won the Irvine Housing gas maintenance contract for five years.

The company has built a reputation for quality, reliability and value ensuring that its 14,000 domestic and commercial customers return time and again for their gas and plumbing needs. They have retained thousands of customers, year after year, confirming the quality of their customer service.

O’Neil’s install Rinnai heaters for its commercial customers in a range of applications. “We choose Rinnai heaters because they are reliable, and easy to work on, as well as being efficient. O’Neil’s use only the best as call backs can be expensive and so installing the Rinnai heating range within commercial installations is an obvious choice, and makes for happy customers,” says
O’Neil’s installation manager Ross McWhirter. “We have used Rinnai heaters in many churches – for example St Mary’s – because of their efficiency and ease of installation.

“We have installed Rinnai continuous flow water heaters in Adeli Foods for the same reasons. We choose Rinnai products in such installations simply because no other product could provide the result we and more importantly our customers expect and want. This along with the excellent customer service provided by Rinnai, mean that their heaters and water heaters are always our choice.”

McWhirter first made the decision to go with Rinnai’s 1004T gas fired wall space heater for the St Mary’s Church, Saltcoats project and it is a decision he is pleased he made. “We used six Rinnai 1004T units siting them in the best location for effectiveness and for the convenience of the customer. The biggest part of the job was lifting the floors and running gas and electricity supplies to the units.

“Everyone I have spoken too at the Church since we completed the installation has said that it has never been as warm as it is now. The Church should also see a big difference in gas usage as the Rinnai units are more economical to run than the previous system.

“This was the first time we have used the Rinnai heaters and I was very impressed with the outcome of the job. They are very quiet while running and get the Church up to temperature very quickly,” says Ross.

O’Neil’s has the stamp of approval from Gas Safe to provide all gas services and has recently been awarded the prestigious ISO 9001, a certified management system for organisations proving its ability to provide services that meets customer’s needs. In addition, O’Neil’s has CHAS accreditation for its Health and Safety policies and PAS 2030.

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

Now available from Rinnai, the leading continuous flow gas fired water heater manufacturer, is the Infinity Solo Re-Circulator water heater.

The Rinnai Infinity Solo condensing and low NOX condensing water heater is the first Rinnai product for the UK to combine the advanced technology of its wall mounted continuous flow water heaters with a stainless steel storage cylinder all in one compact footprint.

The design parameters of the Rinnai Infinity Solo, enables designers, installers and engineers to benefit from unique Rinnai technology in applications whereby it was not previously possible. For instance the solo range will incorporate both 35kW and 54kW appliances, ensuring sites with a smaller gas meter can utilise such technologies. The larger Infinity Solo model will also act as a high-efficiency alternative to gas fired storage appliances that exist in today’s market.

Rinnai

Because the cylinder is stainless steel it greatly reduces the weight compared to glass lined models, which makes transportation and installation a lot easier. As well as the difference in weight, the cylinders available also have extremely low heat loss figures (as low as 1.41kW/h day), which means the customer pays less to maintain the heat within the tank.
One other benefit of the Solo utilising a stainless steel cylinder, is that the life expectancy of the material is far greater than that of a glass-lined equivalent as glass suffers from thermal shock causing it to crack after a period of time.

The 24kW-59.5kW Infinity Solo range is renewables compatible and supplied pre-fitted with a coil, meaning that the primary energy source will always be from renewable gains and the complementary Rinnai water heater will only apply the precise amount of gas to boost the difference in temperature. Rinnai manufactures the energy efficient Infinity range of gas fired continuous flow water heaters and space heaters. The Infinity brand carries the widest range of condensing water heaters on the market today with the most impressive efficiencies in operation, leading the field in technological innovation.

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com.
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Rinnai goes wild for Countryfile with Prestek

Rinnai, manufacturer of the energy efficient range of Infinity continuous flow water heaters, recently stepped in to ensure a recent BBC Countryfile event in the grounds of historic Blenheim Palace had a plentiful supply of hot water for its catering outlets.

Managing director for Prestek Services in Derbyshire, John Webster, no stranger to providing water for Blenheim Palace outdoor events, was called in to supply the means to provide hot water to the various catering operations dotted around the grounds.

Originally a kitchen and bathroom fitter, John has built a business providing water for events since first supplying a festival in 2001 and feels he has found his niche. “By its nature the events market is a small community so most of my work comes though word of mouth from relationships that have sometimes been 20 years building.” He believes the backbone to that trust is in providing reliable systems that work.

“I have used Rinnai hot water heating units for some time,” he says, “and believe they are the only ones suitable for this kind of work. They are a tried and tested solution. I first came across Rinnai units at an equestrian event around 10 years ago where they were being used for the mobile shower units. The customers loved them. Having seen the units in action I decided to purchase Rinnai for my own business.”

He explains that he has a fleet of hot water units that he can roll out whenever needed. “I have six Rinnai units running on LPG gas which are configured on to a T-stand, linked to the cold water supply and then linked to a sink in the wash-up area. It is an ideal arrangement for a temporary potwash area.”

At Blenheim Palace he was able to site individual wash up areas around the show area by linking them to a temporary system of pipework several kilometres long. “We simply had to build the network, link pipework and gas cylinders to the boilers, add a sink, and the caterers all had instant hot water.”

“All went well with no complaints from the caterers who had as much hot water as they desired. Which, let’s face it, is exactly what was required.”

The Rinnai units will never run out of temperature safe hot water all the time they are connected to a water supply. The burner lights automatically when the hot water tap is opened, and extinguishes when the tap is closed. Ignition is electronic so there is no pilot light. When the hot water tap is off, no gas is used.

As far as John is concerned for his kind of work he needs a product that is reliable, quick to set up and gets going with no worries. “Which is why we use Rinnai. You could say, they do what it says on the tin.”

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com.
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Rinnai continuous flow for domestic/light commercial sites

Rinnai’s Infinity range of A-rated continuous flow gas fired water heaters include domestic/light commercial units that are design engineered to guarantee the highest efficiencies, lowest running costs and least maintenance.

Continuous flow – sometimes called ‘Tankless’ – water heating units are ideal for domestic properties, cafes, pub, restaurants, offices, shops, hairdressers, small commercial units, caravan parks and leisure facilities.

Continuous flow water heaters are proven to be more cost efficient than traditional systems.

Small businesses and domestic properties require high volumes of water at intermittent times of the day – delivered at accurate temperatures for optimum user comfort and safety.

Sudden changes in water temperature, causing cold showers or scalding hot baths are a thing of the past with Rinnai’s Infinity 16i water heaters. Unlike other systems available, the water temperature set is the one that is delivered. So, if a user is showering at, say 42°C, and someone turns on a tap elsewhere in the property, the temperature will not vary.

With the Rinnai Infinity units running out of hot water is a thing of the past, as the water is drawn straight from the mains, as and when needed. As the units are IPx4 rated they can be mounted in zone 2 within bathrooms.

The Rinnai Infinity 16i measures 675 x 370 x 103mm and weighs in at 18kg. The room sealed unit has a temperature range of 35°C to 60°C with direct electronic ignition. Gas consumption ranges between 4.7kW-34.9kW for Natural Gas and 4.9kW-36.8kW when using propane. Hot water delivery flow is an impressive 16ltr max flow. Nominal operation pressure is 1-7 bar and it uses a 230V AC 50Hz 1ph power supply with an electrical consumption of 68W.

The Infinity 11i is 29mm deeper, weighing 2kg less at 16kg and consumes 6.10kW-21.60kW of Natural Gas (it is not compatible with propane gas) and has an 11 litres per minute maximum flow.
Meanwhile the Rinnai Infinity 17e unit has the added advantage in that it is externally mounted. This feature gives greater flexibility at the design stage and can offer an alternative solution where flue runs are problematic or internal space is not available.

The 17e has full frost protection. A range of external ancillary items including pipe cover box and security cage are available where necessary.

Capable of flow rates of up to 510 litres per hour at a 50°C rise, the 17e is suitable for multiple applications and can be specified for use with Natural Gas or propane.

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com.
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Rinnai were official event sponsor of FIFA Club World Cup 2016

Rinnai, designer and manufacturer of the A-rated energy efficient Infinity range of continuous flow gas fired water heaters, last year announced its official event sponsorship of the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup tournament.

The event, which was FIFA’s largest annual event and took place in Yokohama, Suita City and Osaka, Japan December 2016 attracted global millions of TV viewers.

Rinnai’s official event sponsorship provided them with rights locally within Japan and saw its logo reproduced on banners around the perimeter of the pitch at the FIFA Club World Cup 2016 matches as well as on signage around the participating stadia. The Rinnai logo was also imprinted on all official marketing material for the tournament and on the FIFA website.

FIFA Club World Cup brings together champion clubs from each of the six continental confederations. The match to decide the world’s top club team is considered the pinnacle event of global competition in football (soccer), where the level of performance exceeds even that of national team players. Six clubs – each a continental champion – and the national league champion from the host country play off in this tournament.

The tournament was a fitting platform for Rinnai’s patronage. Rinnai is a global leader in gas appliance manufacturing, in the UK it is the acknowledged as a leader in the development of commercial and domestic hot water heaters and delivery.

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com.
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Rinnai training courses for 2017

Rinnai UK’s 2017 training programme has been designed to cater for the growing number of engineers and specifiers looking to utilise the energy saving benefits of gas fired continuous flow water heaters.

Since the introduction of ErP last year, Rinnai has seen a massive increase in interest for its complete and comprehensive range of highly efficient A-rated continuous flow water heaters, and a commensurate surge in demand for training on the units. The company supplies models from the small domestic multi-point units to bespoke industrial hot water solutions.

The Rinnai training department has trained 66% more engineers than in the year preceding implementation. These have included bespoke courses designed to fit in with the modern time demands for professionals and the company has also seen a large increase in CPD modules all over the UK.

Rinnai’s series of tailor-made, flexible courses allow engineers the opportunity to obtain hands-on experience of the practical and energy saving benefits of continuous flow gas fired water heater technology.

The most popular course modules are ‘Understanding ACOP L8 and hot water system design’ and ‘System design incorporating continuous flow and renewables’.

Engineers courses have already been booked through until the first week of February at Rinnai’s dedicated Runcorn training facility and at various venues in the South of the country. Additional courses have been added that will take place on 9 and 23 February and 9 and 23 March at Runcorn, with more courses in the process of being added.

According to Rinnai training specialist Ian Jenkins: “The sizing course is extremely popular, certainly with the specifiers, and the L8 module is also proving to be in demand. We trained 22 British Gas engineers in August alone last year – this is the third time we have trained groups of their engineers.”

The hands-on training events are aimed primarily at engineers and facilities managers, covering both traditional and new technologies for commercial water heating, highlighting the considerable energy and monetary savings that can be achieved by the installation of a continuous flow hot water system.

Courses can be arranged to suit individual requirements either at Rinnai’s dedicated training facility at their Runcorn, Cheshire HQ or if preferred, Rinnai will take training to a customer’s workplace or other convenient venue.

The engineer training course line-up for 2017 includes nine modules: Rinnai product overview; Continuous flow and the future of water heating; Intermediate water heater; Continuous flow – Excellence in design; Service and fault diagnostics (Water heaters); Service and fault diagnostics (Energy saver warm air units); Understanding ACOP L8 and hot water system design; Maximising renewable gain in hot water design; and, Continuous flow as an innovative method of satisfying energy and regulatory demands.

CPD Roadshow courses are also available, designed by Jenkins for M&E consultants and specifiers, design and build engineers, facilities managers and gas contractors. These courses have already attracted praise from CIBSE. For example, it says of the CONTINUOUS FLOW WATER HEATING SYSTEM SIZING AND DESIGN course: “The course delivers what it outlines and is well constructed.”

For more information contact Ian Jenkins on +44 (0)1928 531 870 or email training@rinnaiuk.com.
For more details on RINNAI products visit www.rinnaiuk.com.
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Rinnai continuous flow hot water units replace old stored units at Malvern Hills caravan site

Rinnai, the UK’s leading manufacturer of continuous flow water heating systems, has transformed the hot water delivery arrangements at a busy Caravan Club site in the Malvern Hills.

Malvern Hills Caravan Club site offers its visitors not only the beautiful Malvern Hills to explore but also the Elgar Trail taking in composer’s birthplace at Broadheath to his final abode in Worcester. Malvern adds to its charms with a Festival and Fringe in May as well as laying claim to having the finest parish church in England, all within easy reach of the caravan park. And it is, of course, renowned for its spring water.

The site is especially busy from Easter all the way through to October so there is a continuous need for hot water. Providing plentiful hot water for visitors staying in caravans on up to 210 pitches, with demand for showers before breakfast and dinner is no easy task and it recently became clear that the site’s old, traditional system simply couldn’t cope.

Contractor Booth and Bomford of Evesham advised on the task of supplying the needs of a toilet/shower block with a new state-of-the- art hot water system. It was important that the new system should be able to produce hot water any time of the day or night and never run cold, even at the busiest times.

The decision was taken to install four Rinnai HDC1500i gas fired continuous flow heaters to provide a never-ending supply of temperature-safe hot water for even the busiest of times.

Graham Cox, for Booth and Bomford, explains: “The job involved the removal of the two storage type water heaters and installation of four new Rinnai water heaters. We also needed to re-configure the hot, cold, LPG gas and return pipework to suit the requirements of the new heaters and insulate all new pipework, put in new vertical flues through the roof and a new water conditioning unit to protect the water heaters, followed by test and commission.”

According to Cox, the popular Caravan Club site now benefits from energy and cost savings due to the fact that the new heaters are more efficient providing instantaneous hot water as required rather than having large amounts of stored hot water that is continually re-heated and is not required during out of peak times.

The Caravan Club obviously agrees as Booth and Bomford have won the contract to get to work on another two sites – Moorhampton in Hereford with two Rinnai HDC1500i heaters and Moreton-in-the-Marsh where four HDC1500i heaters are going in.

Booth and Bomford is an established M&E contractor providing plumbing, heating and electrical services working on both commercial and domestic contracts and maintenance services.

Clients include the Caravan Club, care homes, County & District Councils, colleges, schools, building companies and architects, private commercial and residential clients.

Rinnai offers the most energy efficient and cost effective range of LPG-compatible A-rated energy labelled appliances.

For off-grid installation the Rinnai Infinity range offers world beating efficiencies and the most advanced technologies on the market today for anywhere an energy efficient LPG instantaneous water heater is needed.

Chris Goggin, Associate Director, Rinnai UK comments: “Installers and end users can rest assured that A-rated Infinity HDC units, including the HDC1500, offer high-end performance with unrivalled reliability – with this type of application we have seen an energy reduction as high as 30%.”

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com.
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Continuous flow up to 7% more cost effective

AECOM, a major global player in the building engineering services consultancy arena, has concluded a report showing that continuous flow water heating systems have a clear advantage in terms of initial capital costs as well as life cycle costs over 20 years, when compared with stored hot water systems*.

The ‘Life cycle study of continuous flow water heating systems’ shows that continuous flow water heating systems can be up to 7% more economical than equivalent ‘traditional’ stored hot water systems.

AECOM was commissioned to carry out a life cycle study on continuous flow water heating systems, and to provide a comparison with conventional storage systems. Two case studies were provided that are based on projects using continuous flow water heating systems.

AECOM then determined an equivalent storage based system for each case study and compared operational and capital costs.

For the life cycle comparison, the analysis period was 20 years, based on the expected service life. The net present value (NPV) calculation is based on a discount rate of 3.5% (The GREEN BOOK – HM Treasury), an inflation rate of 2% for servicing costs and projected retail fuel costs from DECC1.

In both case studies the continuous flow system showed a clear advantage in terms of initial capital costs, as well as life cycle costs over 20 years, with the continuous flow system consistently lower in energy use than the two storage systems.

Case study 1

This was a system for a typical, small, pre-fabricated fast food restaurant. It is assumed the system only serves the hot water demand.

The life cycle analysis includes the initial capital costs, projected annual fuel costs, and estimated annual servicing costs which are assumed to increase by 2% each year. The annual fuel cost assumes the same daily fuel consumption over the whole year.

The servicing cost is based on £130/year per boiler, and £160/year for a boiler and cylinder. The resulting net present values of the three showed that the continuous flow system is 6 – 7% lower than the two storage systems based on that 20-year analysis period.

Case study 2

This was a system for a shower block in a holiday camp, with six showers and four basin taps.

For the continuous flow option, the analysis is based on a configuration of 4 continuous flow water heaters that each have a nominal output of 48 kW, which, for this particular application, because there is a very short run of pipe work between the water heaters and the fixtures, it is possible for the water heaters to generate water at 40°C. The risk of legionella is overcome by regular flushing of the system.

For the energy required to deal with the instantaneous hot water demand the analysis assumes that the bulk of the hot water demand would be due to the showers. Each shower would typically have a flow rate of around 9 litres per minute, which if mixed to 40ºC would equate to an instantaneous load of around 19 kW each, so even if there was only one shower running, the load on a single continuous flow water heater would equate to an efficiency of 95% based on the performance curve. As the hot water demand increases, the modular nature of this particular configuration would allow the 95% efficiency to be maintained for the bulk of the demand.

The difference in daily fuel costs between the three systems is around 7%. The usage profile for this case study is particularly suited to continuous flow systems (i.e. high but infrequent demand over the day), which is why there is an advantage in fuel consumption over the storage systems.

Systems employed in the study

*Indirect fired storage systems
This consists of separate heat source and storage cylinders, where for this study the heat source will be gas fired boilers running on 80ºC flow and 60ºC return with gross efficiency of 89%. As the hot water is stored at 60ºC in insulated cylinders there will be standing heat losses. The standby electricity is assumed to be 15W per boiler, and 60W when operating to cover fan and controls.

Direct fired storage systems
This is where the hot water storage cylinder has an integral gas burner to directly heat the water, and the key difference with indirect fired storage systems is that they are designed to operate in condensing mode and generally achieve gross efficiency up to 96%. A disadvantage of direct fired storage systems is that the standing losses are around 3 times higher than indirect storage cylinders.

Continuous flow systems
This is essentially a gas boiler that is designed to instantaneously heat mains water for supply directly to water fixtures without any storage. The key advantages with this type of hot water heating, is firstly saving in space needed for hot water cylinders and the associated standing heat losses. The challenge is that instantaneous hot water demand can vary hugely for most systems and therefore the continuous flow heating system needs to have a wide modulation range as well as maintaining efficiency over that range.

For more information on the RINNAI product range of high efficiency condensing continuous flow hot water heating units and systems visit www.rinnaiuk.com.
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Rinnai takes major sports sponsorship with rugby super league team Widnes Vikings

Rinnai, the UK’s leading manufacturing supplier of hot water heating systems, is sponsoring one of the biggest names and contenders in rugby league – Widnes Vikings.

The Rinnai sponsorship with the club, which has achieved its highest ever Super League position this year, will ensure the Rinnai logo and brand name is displayed on the back of all Widnes players’ shorts. This will be the first time both parties have taken this unconventional but innovative style of sports sponsorship.

Tony Gittings, Managing Director Rinnai UK, says: “We are absolutely delighted to take a very active sponsorship with Widnes Vikings, one of the biggest names in Rugby League. We share a common belief and approach in values of excellence, innovation and responsibility to the wider community.

“Rinnai is a worldwide brand name in its field and has taken some major global sponsorships – including the Queensland Reds, The World Club World Cup event held January this year in Tokyo, the World Ice Skating Championships and the US Nascar competition held in Daytona, Las Vegas and other major American venues.

“Widnes Vikings are also local to our own UK headquarters so it is all an excellent fit. We look forward to working with the team and staff.”

Widnes Vikings CEO James Rule says: “2016 has been another landmark year for us as we achieved our highest ever league position in Super League history whilst leading pioneering community engagement initiatives such as the newly launched Game Changer programme.

“Our business and the success we produce on and off the field is driven by the quality of our people and it has been evident working with Rinnai that we are welcoming into the Widnes Vikings “One Club” family a committed partner staffed by quality people who buy into our vision and who want to play an integral role in moving forward with excellence”.

The sponsorship package will see the Rinnai name featured in several ’live’ televised games on Sky Sports and in TV shows such as BBC’s ‘The Super League Show’.

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