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Stuart Shaw, Engineering Supervisor at Pilkington, worked closely with installer Les Hewitt and Justin Jearum, Commercial Product Engineer for Alpha. The team considered the inefficiency of the old boilers and agreed on the specification of a model that could offer rapid warm-up time and quick response to changing demands – the ARES Tec range.
Two of the boilers were installed, with the first – a 350kW – used for part of the flat glass manufacturing process. Pilkington produces and sells glass for glazing and other products and the ARES Tec was used to allow for the recirculation of water to wash the final products. The second was the ARES Tec 250kW and this was used for the facility’s central heating and hot water water for staff welfare facilities, such as showers and basins.
The ARES Tec incorporates self-contained modules to provide a greater transfer of heat. Each has its own down-firing pre-mix burner, fan, ignition and safety controls to assist in the changing demands of buildings with a number of different occupants.
This is achieved in part due to the integrated E8 Boiler Cascade Manager. Spreading the load evenly between heat modules and optimising to the fluctuating demands on the boiler, the boiler can provide a rapid warm up time in response to multiple requests. Independently if demand falls low enough, the boiler can run on the minimum output of a single module. As a result energy use is minimised, giving the ARES Tec its excellent reputation for energy efficiency.
For this project, both boilers were installed using the optional safety kit, fully modulating pump and low loss headers providing hydraulic separation with a minimum amount of boiler room pipe work modification. The kit ensures that the boiler pressures are kept within specific tolerances, with the use of adjustable high and low pressure switches, an additional overheat stat adding to the high level of safety. The kit also includes a flow switch – should there be a lack of circulation such as pump failure and / or blockage, this will be activated.
Les Hewitt of DMS Northern Ltd commented, “Being familiar with the Alpha brand and understanding the needs of the customer, I knew the ARES Tec boilers would provide the power required for the job. The benefit for the customer of course, is that their energy efficiency also keeps energy bills at a minimum.”
Stuart Shaw of Pilkington added, “The aftercare service offered by Alpha has been fantastic, including two visits from Justin following the installation. He carried out boiler familiarisation with our shift engineer teams, which included power point and practical training. We’re really pleased with the new boilers and it’s useful to have our guys trained to maintain them to make sure they perform at their best.