Electric water heating offers a variety of solutions for light commercial premises. Here, Richard Newman, senior product manager at Heatrae Sadia, talks about the range of efficient water heaters on offer that are designed to meet the needs of light commercial applications.
Whilst large hot water storage cylinders may be perfect for larger commercial and public sector properties, many smaller outfits don’t need such a high level of hot water provision.
Establishments such as beauty salons, food counters and dentists rely on a supply of hot water for hygiene purposes, but will typically need no more than a few sinks or basins (sometimes just one) to meet their requirements.
For premises where just a few people need to wash their hands, and only one single sink or basin is required, point of use water heaters are ideal. These are a great fit for small business washrooms, and also for healthcare applications such as dental and doctors’ surgeries, where they would usually be installed in individual consulting rooms.
Single vented point of use storage water heaters are typically available as over-sink or under-sink units and are normally sited next to the point they serve – as the name suggests. They can be fed directly from the cold water supply, eliminating the need for hot water from a central supply and expensive pipe runs.
They heat water with an electric heating element and the water is temperature controlled. As hot water is drawn off, the unit automatically refills. Point of use products have an open outlet to allow any excess pressure in the unit to be vented, but during the warm up process it is normal for expanded water to drip from the spout.
Heatrae Sadia has one of the largest ranges of point of use products available, and our Streamline and Express models are market leaders for appearance, performance and ease of installation.
In applications which require multiple basins, a small unvented system is more appropriate, and can offer similar performance to that of a larger system.
Fed directly from the cold water mains, unvented systems provide powerful hot water without a loss of performance if several taps are turned on simultaneously. It should be remembered that although some light commercial applications only need a small amount of hot water, they might still want powerful delivery.
Small unvented systems offer other benefits too. For example, they can be more cost-effective to install than single sink open outlet water heaters, and can include thermostatic mixing valves (TMVs) to reduce the risk of scalding accidents.
Suitable for multi-basin supply, our Hotflo range is ideal for light commercial applications, while Multipoint is designed for applications with a higher demand for hot water, or can serve a larger number of lower usage outlets.
There are many different options when it comes to specifiying for light commercial premises, and specifiers who are clued up will be the first port of call for advice and suitable products.
For further information visit www.heatraesadia.com or call 01603 420 220.
