A brand new floor-standing boiler from ATAG Commercial has been installed at Monmouth School for Girls in Wales. The 180kW XL-F floor standing unit has been supplied with an integrated plate heat exchanger as a backpack solution and replaces two antiquated boilers. The new unit now provides heating and hot water for both the Allandale office building and art block at the Haberdasher-owned school. The project was overseen by Gwent-based heating consultants and engineers Pritchard Services Ltd.
Phil Pritchard, Sales and Technical Director at Pritchard Services Ltd, explained: “We’ve been using ATAG Commercial’s boilers on a wide range of applications for over eight years. Their boilers offer a quality construction, are extremely efficient and highly reliable. For this particular job at Monmouth School for Girls, the new XL-F boiler was perfect for the situation, as everything was housed inside a single unit. We’d usually have to install a frame and a cascade, but the XL-F had a simplified arrangement – from wheels on the unit through to one single flue, as opposed to multiples – not to mention a heat output perfect for the school’s requirements. It literally couldn’t be better!”
The new floor-standing boilers from ATAG Commercial boast dual heat exchanger technology, which Phil was also keen to praise: “Having two heat exchangers inside the unit saves us having to put multiple boilers in cascade, plus, having all the wiring housed in the one cabinet helps installation time. In addition, being able to add a plate heat exchanger ensured there were no issues connecting the new boiler to the school’s existing heating system, in line with the customer’s requirements, while it will also play a valuable role in preventing water contamination.”
As consultants, Pritchard Services Ltd has worked with the school for over four years, offering key advice on the most efficient heating technologies available for its requirements, while adhering to the necessary budgets. For this particular project, the company deemed the ATAG Commercial boiler to be the best suited – and most energy efficient – for the job in hand.
Darren Williams, Estate Manager at Monmouth School for Girls, added: “We have an excellent relationship with Phil and Pritchard Services Ltd. When they recommended this boiler to replace the existing, older units, we were confident it would meet all our heating and hot water requirements, while ensuring emissions and fuel bills were kept to a minimum.”
Robbie Price, installation engineer at Pritchard Services Ltd, was equally impressed with the XL-F, stating: “The floor-standing ATAG Commercial boiler was so simple to install. It’s an excellent idea having the unit on castors, as this made it easy to transport off the vehicle, down the ramp and into the plantroom. It was also well-packaged, while the backpack with plate heat exchanger and boiler design aided installation further – it really is a step forward in boiler design when compared to other models on the market.”
Phil concluded: “The previous boilers offered around 60 to 65% thermal efficiency, whereas the new ATAG Commercial model is phenomenal. It’s much more efficient, with low NOx emissions, so it should result in greater energy savings for the school. We’re definitely keen to use these boilers on more projects in the future – and are already looking at the possibility of using them again next year.”
ATAG Commercial’s new XL-F offers outputs of 70 to 200kW from a single boiler and up to 1.6MW in cascade. All models benefit from an excellent footprint to power ratio for greater flexibility in terms of installation, which also enables them to be fitted in small spaces and plant rooms. There are six XL-F boilers to choose from, available in one Single Heat Exchanger Compact (SEc) and one Single Heat Exchanger (SE) model, as well as two Double Heat Exchanger Compact (DEc) and two Double Heat Exchanger (DE) versions. These Double Heat Exchanger models have the added advantage of built-in backup, with each heat exchanger able to operate independently.
Not only is the XL-F the most compact floor-standing unit available from ATAG Commercial (measuring just 1.8m high including the flow and return manifolds, as well as the horizontal flue), its low water content also makes it the lightest. All models can be installed in cascade in-line or back-to-back (via a dedicated wall hung rack), offering installers and specifiers great flexibility, alongside impressive heat outputs.
