Queens award-winning Andrews Water Heater in new care home

Ashley Gardens Care Centre in Maidstone, recently completed by Healthcare Development Services Ltd., has been designed with maximum energy efficiency in mind, in line with new EU regulations. Designers N & C Designs of Kidlington, Oxford have specified a range of heating products manufactured by companies in the Baxi Commercial Heating Group, including an

Andrews MAXXflo water heater which has recently won the Queen's Award for Innovation for its energy saving capabilities. Also installed is an Andrews' SOLARflo solar heating package and, providing central heating, a Potterton Eurocondense boiler.

The care centre comprises an 89 bed care home which includes a self contained 10 bed unit for younger physically disabled. The building must be provided with levels of heating appropriate to the more sedentary lifestyle of the elderly and disabled residents. Demand for hot water is also considerable for bathing,showering and hygiene maintenance.

The Andrews MAXXflo CWH 120/300 model selected is the largest in the range and features robust stainless steel construction which ensures a long service life. It has a storage capacity of 300 litres, an output of 26 to 122 kW and a recovery rate of 2040 litres per hour through a temperature rise of 50oC.

These high efficiency water heaters incorporate a fully modulating burner to provide maximum performance flexibility and economic running costs and condensing technology allows them to operate at 109% efficiency. Heat input and flow are carefully regulated to produce a closely controlled water temperature and a high temperature anti-Legionella program is incorporated.

The MAXXflo range of condensing storage water heaters consists of nine models with three tank capacities of 100, 200 or 300 litres and a choice of four outputs from 30kW to 120kW. The small footprint ensures ease of siting in plantrooms with restricted space and multiple flue options allow greater flexibility in locating the unit. The space-efficient water heater is room-sealed and installed in the 3rd floor plantroom with a vertical flue terminating through the roof.

Also installed here is the Andrews SOLARflo 900 litre tank which stores water heated by solar panels mounted on the flat roof of one of the care home wings adjacent to the boiler room. The SOLARflo package comprises glazed flat plate aluminium tray solar collectors, together with a non-corrosive stainless steel water chamber. Each high efficiency solar collector has a 2.55m2 gross collector area which provides 90.1% transmission efficiency, 95% absorption efficiency and a low emission loss of 5%.

The duplex water tank has stainless steel solar and primary heating coils, with destratification and anti-legionella functionality as standard. The complete package includes solar controls, pump station, expansion vessels, first fill of heat transfer fluid and collector mounting accessories. This solar package, which will reduce reliance on gas-fired water heating and help to minimise the care home's carbon footprint, along with the Potterton Eurocondense central heating boiler which has an extremely low NOX rating for reduced carbon emissions.

Further commitment to green principles is demonstrated by the use of pipework, which is highly environmentally friendly and the only such product to be approved by Greenpeace. Magnet technology is used for water softening rather than the conventional method which results in waste products that can impact on the environment.

The heating and water heating products were supplied by the Maidstone branch of BSS and installed by mechanical services contractors Metcalfe Plumbing and Heating of Kettering.