Built to perform
Domestic hot water services for the new Weighing Room and Media Centre, currently under construction at Aintree Racecourse, will be provided through two Maxxflo Condensing Storage appliances supplied by Andrews Water Heaters.
Phase One of this redevelopment programme, commenced in July 2005, which incorporates the building of a new Weighing Room Facility, Parade Ring, Winners Enclosure and Media Suite. Phase Two of this ambitious project is the building of two new grandstands, due to begin immediately following the 2006 John Smith's Grand National meeting and for which Andrews water heating equipment has been specified.
The improved facilities accommodating the technical aspects of the racecourse include the jockey's changing area with the"weighing-in” chair and the dressing room where they don their colours. A Maxxflo unit supplies hot water for the adjoining seven male showers and two female showers and hand-wash basins in the toilets.
The media suite is primarily for press attending and reporting on races and for occasional functions. Catering needs are served by a small kitchenette with hot and cold running water to the sink, rather than a full size kitchen and there are toilets with hand-wash basins as well as disabled toilet facilities. The hot water for the entire media suite is supplied via a Maxxflo unit.
The plant room housing the two Maxxflo water heaters is located in the weighing-in area and was designed to take up the minimum amount of space. The Maxxflo units met the specification from the client that it should fit within the allocated space - having a footprint of only 900mm x 602mm and no side clearances required for servicing, as all components are accessible from the front of the appliance.
Other criteria applied to the M&E design for the services was that the cylinders should be stainless steel for longevity and that energy efficiency should be maximised. Utilising direct fired water heaters close to the point of use is, in any case, more efficient than using a traditional boiler/calorifier system, particularly with regard to peak use and seasonal efficiencies, standing losses and long pipe runs. Maxxflo achieves additional energy savings by virtue of its high recovery rates, its modulating and condensing operation and intelligent controls with external interface capability.
The models selected for this project provide outputs up to 90 kW, have a 300 litre tank capacity and a recovery rate of 1784 litres/h #T44ºC. However, Maxxflo has stainless steel tank options of 200 and 300 litres capacity, each with four output sizes from 30 to 120kW. The externally mounted high efficiency stainless steel heat exchangers, numbering up to four depending on output, digital electronic controlled pre-mix modulating gas burners and stainless steel tank design, allow the heater to generate hot water in the condensing mode up to 80% of the tank volume, producing a nett efficiency of
109%.
The M&E Consultant for Phase One of this project is Paul Moys of Liverpool and the installation contractor is Lorne Stewart of Leigh in Lancashire.
