Shetland Oil rig goes for risk free hot water
Key Equipment Supplied
- 12 x EF80 EcoForce™ wall-hung Gas-Fired Condensing Water Heaters
- 12 x HSV2000 HSV Thermal Stores
Project Details
- A high-quality accommodation complex for 800 workers.
- The timber-clad amenity building includes a canteen, bar, fitness room and bedrooms complete with en-suite shower.
At Sella Ness, on the Shetland Islands, rig builders for Total Gas’ first onshore plant are benefitting from hot water on demand thanks to Lochinvar. The equipment supplied includes Gas-fired condensing water heaters and the award winning HSV Thermal store, a ground-breaking approach to generating commercial hot water from renewable technologies, and also eliminates the risk of Legionnaires’ disease.
Although only temporary, the accommodation at Sella Ness for the workers building the rig is more like a hotel than a camp – and, in fact, part of the complex will be converted into a hotel once the contract is completed and the workers have left. The high spec accommodation consists of six blocks in total, each housing 120 people, with a seventh for amenities; including a cafe, bar and fitness room. When the rig has been completed, most of the structure will be removed, but one block will remain for long-term use by tourists and other visitors to the islands.
Lochinvar was set the challenge by consulting engineer, Wallace Whittle, of designing a bespoke, one-stop-shop to provide the domestic hot water requirements within a restricted plant room space. The Lochinvar products supplied were 12 x EcoForce™ wall-hung condensing water heaters operating on Calor LPG, 6 x 900 litre buffer vessels and 12 x HSV Thermal stores, which are linked to an array of solar collectors.
The HSV Thermal store is used to collect the energy gained from the Solar array, and in turn, provides pre-heated feed water for the EcoForce™ water heaters. This preheated water provides savings on gas consumption. Both EcoForce™ water heaters and HSV Thermal stores offer space saving benefits, providing installation flexibility where plant room space is restricted. The design of the HSV Thermal store eliminates the risk of Legionellae colonisation, without the need for an expensive and complex pasteurisation regime.
Due to the often adverse weather conditions on the Shetland Isles the plant rooms and complete Solar and Calor LPG-fired water heating installations were pre-fabricated off-site.
Allowing for all of the different requirements of this unusual project required Lochinvar’s design team to adopt a versatile approach. A bespoke solution has been provided, integrating Calor LPG water heaters with a Solar Thermal installation, ensuring Total Gas generate hot water economically and efficiently.
