Energy Savings Solutions of Malta, headed by Franco Bileci (pictured), is the sole supplier of Rinnai heating and continuous flow hot water heating products on the island. The company is approaching its 20th anniversary, during which time it has supplied and installed products and systems to thousands of homes, hotels, holiday homes, healthcare and nursing homes.
Franco said: “Commercial and domestic hot water in Malta is delivered by three main sources – LPG powered continuous flow units; solar water heaters (Malta has 300 days of strong sunshine per year); and electric immersion heaters. More recently, heat pump water heaters are also becoming popular, supported by government grants.”
Franco said: “To us it is extremely interesting that Rinnai UK is now offering a huge range of appliances in system configurations with a choice and combination of fuels – natural gas, LPG, BioLPG, hydrogen-blend, and electric in heat pumps, solar heating, all able to be bespoke designed by a specialist design team into a unique-to-site solution which is practical, economic and technically proficient.
One commercial installation is in a nursing home catering for several hundred patients and staff. Here, three 1600i N Series, along with calorifiers, were installed.
“This site has a plant room,” explained Franco, “which is convenient for the installation as it has the room for a dedicated space. In other sites, especially hotels, they do not want to give up space that can be earning them money through letting more bedrooms for guests. At hotels the installation and bottled gas storage tends to almost always be on the rooftop. It is very awkward for the delivery men but carrying gas bottles, two at a time, it helps them get very fit! “One hotel customer – has 35 rooms, open all year and with an occupancy rate approaching 90% - has two Rinnai 1600e units. They only really use one unit, the other is back-up as they simply don’t want the problems of not providing hot water to guests. “But,” Franco added, “we are also looking at designing and installing a Hybrid system, using one of the Rinnai Low GWP heat pumps at a hotel undergoing a major refit. The owner is keen to minimise energy costs on heating hot water but not at the expense of quality and all the other benefits a Rinnai system offers – durability, dependability, cost efficiency.
“Rinnai offers constant and consistent flow rates, plus temperature accurate delivery on demand. A stored system would struggle to cope with the peak demands. The Rinnai product range is valued and perceived on the island as being a product of excellence delivering a premium performance to each and every site.” www.rinnai-uk.co.uk