Hamworthy Heating Boiling Point Autumn - Winter 2019

Bourne View is Colten Care’s new flagship nursing home based in Poole. As part of an independent family-run company with 21 care homes, the 3-storey new build with ‘Canopy Café’, designed in Art Deco style, offers a relaxed atmosphere and a whole range of facilities such as an in-house salon, spa, and laundry room while providing all-around care for its residents. Bourne View not only stands out from a design and care point of view, Colten Care also makes an active effort to be sustainable. It has become the first major provider in the UK’s private care home sector to begin a group-wide reduction of single-use plastic - an environment that is a heavy user of this. Furthermore, sourcing local suppliers – from food to hand- crafted furniture – ensure premium quality and support the community. Principal designer and contractor Colten Developments employed local consultants Mabey Francis as M&E designers and contract administrators. Watertite Heating were appointed as mechanical contractors who procured all mechanical items including the plant. Mabey Francis specified Hamworthy Varmax boilers, Dorchester DR-FC Evo direct fired condensing water heaters and pressurisation equipment. Andy Cope, director for Mabey Francis, commented, “Reliability is by far the most important factor for heating and hot water in a working care home which depends on these essential services. It was imperative that the installation complies in all respects with Legionella guidance to ensure a safe environment for the home’s future residents. Secondly, a high efficiency heating and hot water plant minimises energy use, reduces carbon emissions, and costs.” The two chosen Varmax 180 condensing boilers with a gross efficiency of 96% have a stainless steel heat exchanger with 5-year warranty at their core and deliver a combined output of up to 382kW. Thanks to a combined turndown of 10:1, they can modulate down and deliver outputs from as little as 38.2kW, improving efficiencies. Andy continued, “We decided to specify Hamworthy boilers, because we have been designing the M&E services for all of Colten’s new build care homes over the last 25 years which have all been completed with Hamworthy boilers. We specified the Varmax based on resilience and life expectancy. Other than this, we find the pull-out step on this model and the integral light fitting to be very practical for commissioning and servicing the boiler.” Commenting on the installation, which was completed by Watertite Heating, Mike Dennett, projects director for the company, said, C ase Study ART DECO MEETS MODERN HEATING & HOT WATER “The heating design comprises of a gas fired, pumped low pressure hot water system fed from the two Varmax floor standing condensing boilers in the plant room, complete with purpose made flue system.” A Trend building management system provides weather compensation and boiler sequencing. While the former means the flow temperature in the system is adjusted according to outside temperature to avoid energy wastage, the latter ensures the Varmax boilers run under sequence control, meaning both boilers can operate at more efficient low fire together rather than one at high fire. This evens out use across the installation, improving the lifetime of the equipment. Hot water supply and Legionella One of the main concerns in care homes and healthcare facilities are Legionella bacteria. These are present in natural water sources but also man-made water systems, albeit usually in low numbers. Water temperature is a significant factor in controlling the risk, with optimum conditions for bacterial growth occurring between 20°C and 45°C. While Legionella can cause diseases in everyone, the elderly belong to the high risk group. Poole, Dorset 10 AUTUMN / WINTER 19