Sunlight provides hot water for centre for the blind
New facilities for the Beacon Centre for the Blind in Wolverhampton have their hot-water requirements supplied by two solar thermal systems supplied by Andrews Water Heaters. The SOLARflo systems are supported by two MAXXflo condensing water heaters. The new centre brings together services for people with sight loss who were previously housed in eight separate buildings on the site.
Some of the buildings were in need of refurbishment, and all were expensive to maintain and run — so the decision was taken to replace them with a new centre. The new facilities comprise a 3-storey office block and a separate support are to the residential block.
The SOLARflo systems were specified by Rediger, a CIBSE-registered low-carbon consultant, which has successfully used this equipment before. The packaged system includes built-in controls for interfacing to a BMS.
The system for the office block comprises six glazed flat-plate solar collectors with a total area of 15.6 m2 on the roof. They are linked to a 900 l twin-coil cylinder and a condensing storage water heater.
The residential support block has seven roof-mounted collectors with a total area of 18.5 m2. They are linked to a 700 l twin-coil cylinder and a condensing storage water heater.
