Replacement of hot water boilers

The 120-year-old company supplied 10 high-quality German-built boilers and provided the principle contractor with vital information on weights, sizes, connections and so on, to enable the project to be planned and executed with precision. Consequently, safety and disruption issues have been eliminated, and the performance and efficiency of the hot water boilers has been optimised, with CFB Boilers also awarded responsibility for boiler maintenance.

Sadly, the case highlights an all too common scenario in the HVAC industry where poor-quality equipment and services can potentially compromise safety and comfort. To prevent this, insurance inspection teams regularly inspect systems, such as boilers and pressure vessels, located within commercial properties, including universities.  If any issues are found by the insurance inspection teams, the situation has to be monitored more frequently or rectified, and insurance cover may not be granted.

“Unfortunately for the university, an inspection found that 10 of their heating and hot water boilers were deteriorating on several points, the main one relating to weld quality,” explains Dave Parish, sales executive at CFB Boilers. “Unbeknown to the University, the original supplier had switched its production of boilers, presumably to save costs. The trade-off, as it turns out, was an unforeseen dip in quality, as evidenced by the inspection reports. What’s more, by the time the latest inspections were completed, the original supplier was no longer trading.”

The boilers were located in five separate boiler rooms at the University, which has a total of 75 boiler rooms on campus. Shortly after the inspections, the university’s mechanical contractor released a tender to several companies for the purpose of specifying a boiler replacement scheme. The companies approached had to be able to provide the boilers within a short timescale, and on a like-for-like basis in terms of duty rating. Three suppliers were put forward to the mechanical contractor, who assessed the quotations and proposals, and CFB Boilers won the tender.

CFB’s hot water boilers, which range in duty from 400 to 800 kW, arrived in two batches of five. Boilers of this type are an ideal solution for local heating and hot water supply at facilities with a diverse application profile, such as universities. 

The contractor then duly set about the installation procedures in various boiler rooms serving areas such as laboratories, the canteen and the library. Some of the locations proved particularly challenging in terms of logistics, as the boilers weigh up to two tonnes each. Several boilers had to be craned up to the upper floors of various campus buildings, and transferred on special trolleys through various student areas in order to reach their final destination. Despite this, head height pressure was not a problem due to the 120°C operating temperatures of CFB’s high quality boilers, which means the systems are pressurised. 

“This project was about safety and reliability, rather than a cost-cutting exercise,” he states. “There are many students and staff at the campus, all of whom require a degree of climate comfort. Absolutely no compromises in safety are acceptable.”

“Saying that, we do expect that the increased efficiency means the University will also experience some reduction in its bills moving forward,” he continued. 

CFB Boilers has been granted the maintenance contract for the hot water boilers, for one year during the defects period, which will see the CFB Boilers’ in-house team of highly trained engineers undertake two services per boiler, per year.

“This case at Essex University really highlights the need for choosing reputable suppliers with a track record in delivering high quality, reliable solutions. We’re delighted that we were able to help on this project, and see to the maintenance of the boilers going forward,” commented Derek Parish, managing director of CFB Boilers.