New commercial boiler raises temperature at Bristol College

Alpha Heating Innovation has commissioned its new ARES Tec 900kW at a community college in South Gloucestershire, near Bristol.

The company’s latest commercial boiler is enabling the college to optimise its energy efficiency while improving the comfort levels of the college’s buildings.

Patchway Community College in Almondsbury, Bristol, which has over 750 students, has chosen the largest ARES Tec boiler in the range to service the expansive site, including a large working kitchen. The Alpha 900kW ARES Tec boiler features its own down-firing pre-mix burner, fan, ignition and safety controls to assist in the changing demands of the various buildings across the site.  

Originally, there were two cast iron boilers servicing the heating and hot water needs of the college. These were prone to constant problems with internal sections cracking due to overheating, with new parts costing up to £4000 a time to replace. To counteract this, the ARES Tec has also been fitted with an additional plate exchanger, which separates the system from the boiler water. Now, if there ever was a fault, the plate exchanger can be easily dismantled, cleaned, and rebuilt again, avoiding costly section replacements.

Installer Tim Clarke of Unitary Engineering Services Ltd commented: “We had a few consultations on site in Bristol with the team from Alpha, who worked in unison with both ourselves and the school to provide the best solution for the job. We were happy to specify the ARES Tec 900kW, due to its high efficiency credentials and compact size.  Ultimately, it was the only product that met all of the requirements.”

The ARES Tec’s integrated boiler cascade manager helps to provide a rapid warm up time optimising the ever-changing demands on the boiler, common within larger buildings such as a school or college. Independently, if demand falls low enough, the boiler can run on the minimum output of a single module, minimising energy use. To ensure equal daily rotation and even running times, the boiler cascade manager alternates the ignition of the modules.

In addition, the commercial boiler features a number of other benefits to ensure maximum energy efficiency including heat exchangers that feature serpentine waterways to optimise heat transfer within the system, and a cast pin design that increases surface area to aid in boiler proficiency.  

Justin Jearum, Commercial Product Engineer at Alpha Heating Innovation said: “Each building’s requirements should be understood to enable the specifier to provide the most efficient solution for installations where heating and hot water demands are particularly high. Alpha’s ARES Tec range is at the forefront of high output heating, demonstrating our advancement in technology and controls to provide a unique and beneficial solution to some high demand projects.”