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W ater heating technology has been static in the hospitality industry for over 100 years. Current water heaters come in two basic designs — tank-type heaters and a boiler with a side-arm tank. Neither design heats water when needed (on demand), nor is it effective at serving the market in terms of efficiency, reliability, cost and space. With over 47,000 hotels in the United States alone, a better solution is needed. So what is needed in order to make sure an optimized solution is reached? TANKLESS SIZING FOR HOTELS Intellihot uses a data- and facts-based sizing methodology, one that is backed by field measurements and validated by existing sizing guidelines by ASPE and ASHRAE. Sizing depends on hotel/motel loca- tion, room type and peak occupancy. Showers are the primary demand for hot water in these types of buildings. Laundry demand should be factored in but, in typical applications, the laundry demand times are different from the domestic hot water peak demand. All of these factors are taken into account when designing an adequate, yet cost- effective, solution without the unnec- essary oversizing. INTELLIHOT'S MODULAR LOAD-MATCHED SYSTEM Intellihot has developed a modular and "master-less" system to enhance performance, save valuable boiler room floor space and reduce gas usage. Intel- lihot uses a revolutionary, patented method called "masterless cascading" to accomplish modularity and redun- dancy. This system removes the need for a master controller, which elimi- nates the single-point failures that can arise when the master controller fails. In addition, units share information on run hours, firing cycles, flow, etc. — then use an algorithm to distinguish the usage profile and automatically rotate units to normalize wear and tear. For example, an iQ1001 (1,001,000 Btu/hr) model unit has four individual heat exchanger modules internally connected; up to four of these units can be cascaded together. Whether utiliz- ing single units or a cascaded group, the units modulate together to reduce energy consumption. In a four iQ1001 cascaded setup, there are a total of 16 heat exchangers present with a total turndown ratio of 132:1. This means that with a minimum firing rate of 30,000 Btu/hr, the heaters will only produce the necessary output and nothing is wasted. Also, each heat exchanger has its own controls and components, so if one should go offline for any reason, it will automatically hydraulically isolate itself, and the remaining heat exchangers will con- tinue to seamlessly produce hot water. This level of efficiency and reliability is held in high regard in the hospitality industry. HILTON SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT BAYFRONT HOTEL, CALIFORNIA In March 2015, the 400-room Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront hotel was desperately seeking redundancy in its water heating system. The property was running with a single 10 million Btu/hr, 80 percent efficiency steam boiler. Replacing it would require installing two steam boilers to provide sufficient redundancy. With 98 percent occupancy, this option proved to be costly and unnecessary. California Hydronics worked with the hotel to install eight iQ1001s for the guest rooms totaling 8 million Btu/hr at 94 percent efficiency with a turn-down ratio of 264:1. Four iQ751s were used for the restaurants, public spaces and meeting facilities. The total capacity is 11 million Btu/hr with zero storage and functions at peak efficiency, from as low as 30,000 Btu/hr up to the maximum output. Intellihot's technology saved the hotel 75 percent on its gas bills. The Hilton's General Manager John Kellites states, "We are very happy with our Intellihot hot water system. Over the past six months the hotel has had 65 percent gas savings, plus unin- terrupted hot water." BEST WESTERN INN, KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE Similarly, this Best Western was look- ing for the same savings yet was con- cerned about meeting peak demand. This hotel had been using 80 percent atmospheric vented boilers along with three 100 gallon storage tanks. The whole system was leaking and needed to be replaced with something more efficient and with less storage. A single Intellihot iQ751 paired with 100 gallons of storage offers plenty of capacity during full occupancy, while the built-in 3x redundancy provides 751,000 Btu/hr to the 100 guest rooms for increased reliability. Tyler Jordan, the hotel's general manager, said, "Replacing both boilers with a single iQ751 gave us the confi- dence needed during high occupancy. We eliminated over 2/3 of our existing hot water storage tanks and saw an av- erage of 35 percent reduction in therms per occupied room vs. last year." CHECK OR CIRCLE #166 Intellihot helps hospitality industry go green with tankless water heating Breaking the Static From Top: This single 10 million Btu/hr, 80 percent effi ciency steam boiler once served a 400-room hotel. > Intellihot Inc. is a clean-tech company helping the hospitality industry go green with its tankless water heating technology. > Intellihot uses a patented method called "masterless cascading" to accomplish modularity and redundancy. This system removes the need for a master controller, which eliminates the single-point failures that can arise when the master controller fails. case study /water heaters HVACPproducts.com HVAC & Plumbing Product News \ Summer 2017 32