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Avalon Pools it's Resources

Recent increases in utility costs have had a great impact on leisure centres across the country - for many, gas and electricity costs have doubled.

Avalon Leisure operates several facilities for Mendip District Council and asked Excalibur LPA to undertake a energy efficiency survey. The organisation was especially interested in the potential to improve efficiency of the pump/fan systems and boilers at its various venues.

The completed survey showed that opportunities existed to make significant reductions in the energy consumption at Strode Pool in Street, Frome Leisure Centre and Wells Leisure Centre. Mendip District Council agreed to cover the cost of implementation and Excalibur LPA was contracted to undertake the project.

The survey had revealed that all of the swimming pool circulating pumps were using throttling valves to achieve the required flow rates. Excalibur installed inverters on these pumps, allowing the valves to be opened and desired flow rates achieved by reducing motor speed instead.

As the number of people using a pool varies considerably at different times, the introduction of intelligent control to themotors makes it possible to customise flow rates to match pool occupation. Pump speeds are further decreased overnight when the pool isn’t being used.

These modifications reduced the electrical consumption of the swimming pool circulation pumps by a remarkable 50 per cent.

A similar exercise was conducted with the main pool hall supply and extract fans, which also realised a reduction in electrical consumption of 50 per cent.

To provide security of operation, all of the inverters were mounted in bespoke panels which incorporate an override control should it be necessary to operate the pumps independently of the inverters. Additional switching was also provided to allow full speed operation during backwash.

Swimming pool plant rooms are an extremely harsh environment for complex electrical control units. To ensure moisture doesn’t cause corrosion and premature failure, all inverter electronics were tropicalised, allowing extended warranties to be offered to the client.

The other major opportunity to reduce energy consumption for Avalon was found in its boilers, where Excalibur installed its own Stepmaster boiler sequence controls. Conventional controls operate a constant flow temperature, irrespective of the load in the building. The Stepmaster provides a variable control, reducing flow temperature during periods of low demand. Previous experience indicated that this control strategy would reduce gas consumption by 15 per cent.

The installations were overseen by Avalon Technical Manager Malcolm Baker. "Excalibur completed the work professionally and to a high standard," Mr.Baker said. "Initial monitoring shows that, if anything, we are achieving greater energy savings than quoted, with no detrimental effects on operation - we should recover the costs of installation in less than one year."

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Andy Watson | Energy Manager | BAA Heathrow Airport

"Following successful trials Excalibur have undertaken the installation of Liquid Pressure Amplification, inverter control of condenser fans and adiabatic condenser cooling to all of the large packaged chillers at Heathrow Airport, this project was completed successfully despite the difficulties of working airside.

As a result of the improvements in chiller efficiency, Excalibur have successfully completed similar projects at Stansted, Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports. "

2 Sisters Food Group

"Excalibur installed LPA and inverter control to our Bitzer screw pack, the work was completed to a very high standard with minimum effect to production. Monitoring over the first 12 month period showed a reduction in power consumption of 38%. Several evaporators which had been starved of refrigerant now achieve temperatures where previously they struggled.
There have been no reliability issues and we are benefiting from a system which is not only energy efficient but also provides  improved refrigeration performance"

Andrew Miller | General Manager | Euro Foods Ltd

Before installation Excalibur monitored all three refrigeration systems to establish their condition

The work was carefully planned and shut-down periods were kept to a minimum.

Following the modifications, the system now operates more efficiently at much lower head pressure.

Services Facilities Manager | Manchester Airport

"Throughout the LPA project at Manchester Airport Excalibur provided a thorough and professional service ensuring the project was delivered on time with minimal operational disruption. The project delivered savings as quoted, the refrigerant change helped re-life ageing equipment and was seen as a great success, so much so that we are about to embark upon a second phase during 2010"

Tony Bacchetta | Guoman Hotels

Excalibur have completed energy efficiency projects in many of our hotels, one of our major concerns is any disruption to the operation of the hotel and our customers.

The work was completed to a very high standard, and we were always kept informed of progress.

We are achieving the level of energy reduction projected with no adverse affect on the business and would have no hesitation in using Excalibur again.

George Fletcher | Senior Project Manager | Norland Managed Services

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and all others from within Excalibur involved with the development of this project, from my initial involvement through to today's handover meeting. All of which has run extremely well, with any issues uncovered being easily resolved with the proactive nature of you and your site team, which are a credit to Excalibur.

Hopefully, in the not to distant future I will have the opportunity to call upon Excalibur’s assistance and experience again on another LPA Project. Though in between times I would thank you again for your support and guidance.

Richard Shoulders | Operations Project Manager | British Telecom

"Excalibur have been undertaking energy efficiency projects for British Telecom for over 10 years, as a company they have always been professional and diligent. Their proactive approach has also identified several areas where we have been able to improve the integrity of our equipment."

Technical Manager | Avalon Leisure

"Excalibur completed energy efficiency projects at 3 of our Leisure Centres, the installation of boiler and inverter control (to pumps and fans) showed a very impressive reduction in both gas and electricity consumption on all 3 sites.

The opportunities were identified by Excalibur, who then completed the work to a very high standard, and have continued to provide support as required."

Chris Prentice | Project Management | UK NRG LTD

"Excalibur have installed Liquid Pressure Amplification and Inverters to 2 off 1300 kw data centre, process chillers. The cooling system is critical to this business, Excaliburs’ professional approach provided the customer with the confidence to undertake the project. Their condition monitoring also raised several maintenance issues, which we were able to resolve during the contract. Initial monitoring is demonstrating a 46% reduction in electrical consumption."

Darren Crook | Operations Director | J O Sims Ltd

“Not only were the improvements in efficiency immediate and measurable, but previously it could take 48 hours to pull a chamber down to temperature, this can now be achieved in 12 hours, enabling us to respond to customer requirements very much quicker”.

Dave Jeffs | Energy Matters

I have employed Excalibur to improve the energy efficiency of 8 Dunham Bush and Hitachi process chillers on two newspaper print sites, both systems showed a reduction in power consumption in excess of 35%. The installations were undertaken 6 years ago and have operated reliably since their commissioning. I would have no hesitation in working with Excalibur again.