Lochinvar has supplied a solar thermal solution to meet the high demand for hot water in Liverpool John Moores University’s new city centre Redmond Building.
Consisting of a range of social and learning spaces, the 11,500sq m building has toilet and changing facilities, including showers, on each of its six floors with a hot water requirement throughout the day.
A solar hot water system integrated with a gas-fired condensing water heater was specified, with the Lochinvar equipment selection including 12 x LSP20+ Solar collectors, one HSV Thermal Store and an EcoShield gas-fired condensing water heater.
Building services contractor SPIE Matthew Hall oversaw the installation: “We suggested a renewable hot water heating system to the university as the hot water load was expected to be high and we needed to present an energy efficient, low NOx solution,” the company said.
Integrated solution
The Lochinvar solution included LSP20+ solar flat plate collectors and an HSV Thermal Store, which is able to combine multiple heat sources for the generation of pre-heated water for DHW supply. DHW storage within the HSV is minimal and under normal operating conditions its basic design will not allow the build-up of legionella bacteria. Unlike other renewable preheat systems, HSV does not require a pasteurisation regime, which can be a highly energy intensive process.
The solar gain is transferred to the HSV Thermal Store which, in turn, provides feed water to the EcoShield gas-fired condensing water heater. Working on the principle of low hot water storage but fast recovery, this unit is particularly suitable to meet the diverse uses of the Redmond Building, reacting rapidly to the hot water demand.
The EcoShield range comprises five models with hot water recovery rates up to 2,436 litres per hour at a temperature rise of 50°C. With efficiencies up to 98% (Gross CV) and low NOx emissions (less than 63mg/kWh), the EcoShield water heaters also help to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions.