When the City of London decided to upgrade the showers in West Ham Park Sports Pavilion, they selected an Andrews' Neoflo fired storage water heater to provide modern, efficient showers. This range of high efficiency units is the latest introduction by Andrews Water Heaters, part of the Baxi Commercial Division.
The Sports Pavilion, which opened in 1974 to coincide with the Park's centenary, provides changing and showering facilities for the many teams and individuals who use the park's wealth of sports facilities. West Ham Park boasts two football pitches, an all-weather pitch, 12 tennis courts, two cricket squares, three nets, outdoor fitness equipment, and a seasonal grass running track. In addition, a rounders pitch and five-a-side pitches can be marked out on request.Usage of the changing facilities and showers is therefore considerable and the existing water heating system was no longer considered to be up to the task.
The existing heat source for the showers was a cast iron boiler serving two 300 litre calorifiers and the system had no means of control other than the storage temperature being controlled by the boiler thermostat. In addition it was necessary to operate the system manually - the boiler had to be switched on prior to a function taking place, then switched off again afterwards. Consequently, in order to upgrade the water heating system, City of London Surveyors Department consulted with Maracom Commercial Heating Engineers who suggested the new NEOflo water heater after discussion with Andrews.
The NEOflo SC25/400 water heater is installed in a dedicated plant room behind the showers and fitted with a conventional flue system which discharges vertically through the flat roof. A spokesman for Maracom commented: "It was very easy to commission the water heater and set up the controls and the unit has a simple user interface. The client particularly liked the NEOflo Legionella programme which is designed to raise the water temperature automatically over a set number of hours.
Another advantage of this new water heater is it's ability to operate on reduced mains water pressure which, in effect, 'future-proofs' the installation against Thames Water's planned reduction in water pressure across London." Apparently the new showering system has been greeted with universal approval and, according to a member of the City of London Surveyors Department; feedback from the football teams suggests that these are 'the best showers they have ever had'.
The first 400 litre capacity NEOflo unit to be installed since the introduction of the range, this model has a nominal output of 25kW and a recovery rate of 430 litres per hour through a temperature rise of 50oC. Employing a single upward firing premix burner, NEOflo offers high fuel efficiencies and ultra low NOx of around 25ppm, satisfying the demands of increasingly stringent building regulations.NEOflo water heaters feature highly durable stainless steel storage cylinders with capacities of 200, 300 and 400 litres available, all with a recovery rate of 430 litres per hour. The low internal pressure loss across the stainless steel heat exchanger and internal water way enables NEOflo water heaters to operate in those areas of the country where low water pressure is prominent, with an exceptionally low minimum water pressure of 0.2 bar. Units are available as room sealed appliances or for use with a conventional flue.
The digital display on the control panel indicates both operational and fault status with a recorded lockout function. Service engineers are able to interrogate the heater via a laptop to view both fan and ignition speeds, hysteresis and recorded lockout history to aid fault finding. Whilst, in this installation, control is provided by the unit's integral panel, where appropriate, NEOflo site Building Energy Management System for control and supervision.
