Dee Vaidya’s business was facing increasing demands of energy for food preparation & heating following a successful store refurbishment by Secker & Sons in 2009. With the cost of fuel rising significantly, Dee was receptive to the concept of energy saving technology.
The radical new system, designed by our in house technical team harnesses waste heat energy created by the store’s refrigeration plant to heat the entire store and replaces the old gas system & associated running costs. If this wasn’t enough, EcoTherm also generates all of the store’s considerable hot water needs, thereby eliminating the need to heat water by a conventional boiler. In fact, it produces more than 120ltrs of hot water per hour.
Unlike other systems on the market, the hot water produced is food safe, so can be used for food and drink preparation as well as washing and cleaning; perfect considering the store has a busy food-to-go counter.
Dee told the Convenience Store: “Prior to the installation, hot air from my chillers was just being wasted, pumped out into the street by expensive to operate and noisy fans. While all this waste heat was being expelled, I was racking up large bills as my old electric and gas boilers struggled to heat the store and provide all my hot water needs.”
The store now has no heating bills and Secker’s predict that Dee will see a return on his investment in less than three years, after which time he will save a minimum of £8,000 a year as the cost of energy continues to rise.
“In addition to the vast savings on my energy bills, I’ll also have a green advantage over my competitors, and peace of mind that I’ll be protected from further fuel price hikes and government climate-related taxes,” he says.
The store can now boast a reduction in its carbon footprint of 43 tonnes a year, 19 tonnes of which can be attributed to the 750,000 litres of hot water that are now freely available.
“Installing something like this doesn’t come cheap, but I believe that if you’re serious about your business then sometimes you have to bite the bullet if you want to secure its future.”
