Commercial Heat Pump
Hot Water Solution
This cutting-edge technology that combines energy efficient heat pumps with a low-pressure fiberglass heat accumulator tank has a proven track record of generating savings in the region of 60-70% when compared to your conventional high-pressure boiler system (i.e. gas, electric and in cases even solar)
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BACKGROUND
We are proud to have partnered with EMS Holdings, a South African based company that have designed a unique solution to providing hot water at fraction of the cost when compared to the conventional boiler systems currently available.
IES introduced this solution to the Mauritian market back in 2017 and has had tremendous success since. We have had great interest from the hospitality industry (hotels & hospitals) as well as the industrial and residential market. EMS manufactures each heat accumulator tank based on the hot water demand of our clients, this ranges from a capacity of as little as to 200 Liters all the way up to 25,000 Liters. Hence our systems are suitable for both the residential and commercial/industrial markets.
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TECHNOLOGY
Each heat accumulator tank is configured using two (or more) heat pumps that operate in a closed loop system. Water from the low-pressure fiberglass heat accumulator tank is circulated and heated in a step-up fashion using the energy efficient heat pumps. This hot water generated in the tank never actually leaves the tank, instead it is used as a heat exchanger for the cold water from the municipality that passes through the stainless-steel coil inside the tank, absorbing the heat instantaneously, and eventually leaving the tank and joining the ring main ready for distribution.
Our technology is therefore not necessarily about the heat pumps themselves, but rather the manner in which the heat pumps (and other available heat sources as described in next section) are incorporated into the low-pressure fiberglass tank in a closed loop system that does not allow for mixing of water vs the conventional high-pressure boiler that continuously replaces hot water leaving the vessel with fresh cold water, thus requiring constant heating.
Why do we use heat pumps? Heat pumps have a coefficient of performance (COP) of +/-5 in this tropical environment, meaning they are essentially 5 x times more efficient in converting energy into heat compared to any other conventional electrical boiler. They extract readily available heat from the atmosphere and transfer it into the tank at a fraction of the energy. We therefore consider heat pumps the most reliable and cost-efficient way of heating our tank (battery).
Why a minimum of two (2 ) heat pumps? This ensures that if ever there is a mechanical fault with one of the heat pumps, the second heat pump can limp the production of hot water for a period of several days (even weeks) until such time that the necessary intervention / repairs are done. It therefore acts as a fail safe to ensure that our clients are never without any hot water.
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ALTERNATIVE HEAT SOURCES
All our systems are configured with appropriately sized heat pumps to ensure sufficient heating capacity to meet the hot water demand of our client. That said, our technology caters for the facilitation of additional heat sources that may be readily available to supplement the heat pumps and thus further promote energy savings. The two (2) most common forms of supplementary heating are:
1. Solar hot water collectors; a secondary closed loop can be run through the solar hot water collectors using a recirculation pump paired with probes and a smart controller. As long as the returning water from the solar collectors is above the desired set point of the tank, the smart controller will treat the solar collectors as the primary heat source and use this heat generated from the sun to heat the tank instead of the heat pumps. Only when their is insufficient heating from the solar (cloudy conditions or peak demand) will the heat pumps kick-in to facilitate.
2. Chiller Heat Recovery; another alternative heat source that can be maximized is the discarded heat by a clients chiller. To capture this, a heat exchanger plate can be installed, from which the incoming cold water can be run through and preheated from ambient temperature to a few degrees warmer, thus reducing the delta that the feed water needs to be heated by the system. Again reducing the run time of the heat pumps and thus further promoting energy savings.
Lastly, although not an 'alternative heat source', our clients can eventually look at installing the required Solar PV Panels to their facility to cater for the energy needs of the heat pumps and thus eventually be totally off-grid and energy independent.
BENEFITS
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Approximately +/-60-70% savings on operational costs when compared to a gas or electric boiler system. Such savings generally result in typical payback of approximately 2-3 years.
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Although powered by super efficient heat pumps, the system is designed to cater for various other heat sources i.e. solar or heat recovery. The addition of these additional heat sources will further increase savings achieved by this system as it will decrease the running time of the heat pumps.
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The tank is a low-pressure system. This means there is no risk of explosion (either through pressure or gas), allowing for the system to be situated outdoors without the need of a boiler room.
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No risk of legionella as there is never any stagnant water in the system. Water flows in and out of the system instantly.
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The entire system is made of UV resistant fiberglass (tank shell), plastic (PPR piping and joints) and stainless steel (coils), resulting in no risk of corrosion. This promotes a much longer life-span and requires minimum maintenance.
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The tank is installed on-site and connected to the existing ring main as a plug and play system, resulting in no down-time whatsoever for the facility.
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Considering that the tank arrives disassembled, this allows for easy access (through doors) resulting in no need to break walls or any other existing structures.
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The tank is not affected by lime scale build up due to the ribbed design of its coils.
SMART MONITROING PLATFORM
All of our hot water systems come with the option of including a smart monitoring system, which will give you immediate access to live readings of data such as;
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Energy consumption of the heat pumps (Kw)
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Hot water consumption (m3)
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Temperature of water leaving (°C)
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Temperature of water returning (°C)
Based on this data, the operations team can decide to implement parameters within which the system ought to operate , so that if ever readings fall outside these parameters, and alarm will be triggered and notifications sent to necessary personnel. This can save on wasted resources (water and or energy) as well as ensure that corrective action can be done with as little delay as possible.
After Sales / Maintenance
As a company, we aim to differentiate ourselves, not only in terms of the products and technologies we offer, but also in the way we are focused and structured to ensure that we continue to support our clients in their day-to-day operations post-commissioning of our technology.
We offer a comprehensive post-commissioning Service Level Agreement / Maintenance Agreement that comprises of both predetermined preventative checks, as well as rates for call-outs and corrective works. At the end of each regular maintenance visit, a report is submitted along with any recommendations from our expert team.
We at all times make sure to carry the required stock of spares for all our equipment, to ensure that corrective works can be done without any delays.
Get in Touch
Call us on 260 1501 or fill in the below request and we will get by to you by email.