FEATURE BOILERS, PUMPS & VALVES Taking care of heat and hot water Cost, efficiency and sustainability benefits can all be


realised by CHP in sites like care homes with high constant demand for hot water and power, says Mark Gibbons, Baxi Heating’s CHP national sales manager


captures it to produce useful thermal energy. This can be re-used for high grade heating and to pre-heat cold water for domestic hot water production. In this way, it is able to meet a building’s heat demand more efficiently, reducing total primary energy consumption typically by around 30% compared with conventional methods. “We’ve installed many Remeha CHP systems


over the years and find that this technology brings the greatest benefits in terms of reduced energy requirements in sites with year-round heat demand,” said Liam Stott, project manager at GasTech. The modular CHP unit selected, which


C


are UK has selected a Remeha (part of Baxi Heating) Combined Heat and Power


(CHP) system as the most efficient and economical solution to meet the heating and hot water requirements at its BREEAM- accredited Chester care home. Luxury and quality care are the watchwords


at Deewater Grange, which opened in February 2020 to provide an extensive range of care services for up to 58 older residents. The hotel-style surroundings include a café, hair salon and cinema, while each of the bedrooms boasts its own en-suite wet room. As with all care homes, the property has high,


constant, demand for heating and hot water. So, early in the design process, it was essential to select the most appropriate equipment that would comply with Part L of Building Regulations, satisfy the heat provision, and achieve excellent energy performance for lower running costs.


CHP BRINGS GREATEST BENEFITS M&E contractors GasTech were appointed to carry out the design and build. They recommended installing a Remeha R-Gen SenerTec Dachs Gen 2 5.5 CHP to meet these requirements. Three Remeha Quinta Ace 115 wall hung condensing boilers were selected to work alongside the CHP to meet peak heat demand. CHP produces useful heat and electricity at


the point of use in a single, highly efficient, process. Rather than rejecting ‘waste’ heat to atmosphere like traditional power stations, CHP


10 SPRING 2021 | ENERGY MANAGEMENT


provides a thermal output of up to 14.7kW and an electrical output of 5.5kWe, is engineered to match demand accurately. The unit, which supplies heat into the main low pressure hot water return, is controlled according to the heat demand, while the internal microprocessor controller tracks the electrical output to match the thermal output. Once the plant had been craned into the


basement plant room, the installation went smoothly, as Stott confirmed. “The CHP was easy to position and we


installed the boilers using the manufacturer cascade kit with a low loss header,” he said. “This approach hugely simplified installation and saved us a lot of time.” Commissioning


and set up of the CHP was carried out by the Remeha CHP technical team.


ENERGY AND CARBON REDUCTIONS So how is the CHP system performing now? “The CHP is


ticking over nicely, operating non- stop, 24 hours a day,” said Jordan Carrington, maintenance manager at Deewater Grange.


/ ENERGYMANAGEMENT “During the colder winter months, the


heating has been constantly on and hot water demand has also been high,” he continued. “But the CHP has been supplying all the heat and doing all the work, which will reduce our carbon footprint and energy costs.” CHP’s ability to generate on-site electricity at


lower gas prices further boosts energy efficiency at the care home – with gas prices currently at around a quarter the price of electricity.


REMOTE MONITORING BENEFITS Like all technologies, CHP requires regular maintenance to ensure optimum performance. To support this, a remote CHP monitoring service has been set up at Deewater Grange. This enables any faults to be corrected and reset remotely, reducing downtime, inconvenience and unnecessary costs. “Having remote access is extremely useful


for me at weekends so that I can monitor temperatures or reset the unit remotely if necessary,” confirmed Carrington. “But equally it means that the Remeha CHP


team can dial in and offer advice or correct any faults, often without the need to visit site. They are extremely knowledgeable about CHP technology and provide excellent support. It’s reassuring to know that there’s always someone at the end of the phone to help answer any of my queries! “We’re really impressed with our CHP system


and the service we’ve received.” The Remeha R-Gen CHP range spans 5.5kWe


to 50kWe. Remeha www.remeha.co.uk/products/chp


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