Lochinvar solar solution helps preserve Barnardo’s vision
A key part of the environmental strategy for the new headquarters building of children’s charity Barnardo’s is domestic hot water provided by a combination of evacuated-tube solar collectors and Lochinvar EcoShield gas-fired condensing water heaters. A particular design requirement was that any rooftop solar array should not be visible from street level.
Lochinvar devised a solution based on supplying and installing four direct-flow evacuated-tube collectors. Because of the concerns of the Village Homes heritage site at Barkingside in Essex, the collectors were laid flat rather than angled. The site was first developed in 1876 by Dr Thomas Barnardo as his first shelter for homeless girls from London.
The design of these products enables the tubes inside the collectors to be angled, so there is only a very small performance penalty if the collectors are laid flat. The solar energy supplies a Lochinvar HSV thermal store, which in turn provides pre-heated feed water to two EcoShield water heaters.
