The owners of the Best Western Plus New Englander Hotel located in Woburn, Mass., a suburb located about 10 miles north of Boston, decided to replace a gas-fired boiler and tank serving its 99-room hotel equipped with two commercial washing machines after the existing 500-gallon tank began leaking. They contacted Heneghan and Sons Plumbing and Heating in Pepperell, Mass., to quote a replacement solution to provide the hotel’s hot water needs.
Installation Summary
Colin Heneghan quoted a system of 10-intelligent cascaded Bosch Greentherm C1050ES gas-fired condensing tankless hot water heaters, delivering up to 107 gallons of hot water per minute. The Bosch units were priced less than a competitive unit, and offers a warranty.
PV Sullivan from Quincy, Mass., supplied materials with the help from outside salesman Terry Wheatley.
Heneghan Plumbing was able to keep the existing hot water system running while installing the new system, and Colin added that “the changeover was easier than we ever expected. We found the Bosch units easy to install, program and troubleshoot. Support from Bosch Sales Representative Dan McDermott and Craig Porter from Bosch technical support, assisted with the process.”
Intelligent Cascading
Intelligent Cascading allows up to twenty four appliances to be connected in parallel to achieve flow rates up to 257 gallons per minute for Bosch Greentherm 1050ES. One of the appliances serves as the primary control and attempts to meet the hot water demand.
If the hot water demand is beyond the capacity of the primary appliance, a signal is sent to one or more of the secondary appliances to ignite. The primary control appliance is rotated throughout the cascade setup to distribute the load of each unit.
With an Energy Factor of .95, the 10-unit cascade installed in the Best Western Hotel delivers efficiency, hot water delivery of up to 107 gallons per minute. This satisfies demand from guest rooms, meeting space, laundry, and kitchen areas throughout the hotel.
Summary and Conclusion
The hotel owner reported fuel savings of approximately $1,500 to $2,000 per month in the first six months of operation. Compared with a competitive tankless installation at a similar hotel with same number of rooms, this Bosch installation saved about $500 more per month.