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Duchy of Cornwall housing development
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Heatrae Sadia’s market leading Megaflo HE unvented water heating cylinders are providing powerful energy efficient hot water for hundreds of homes at Poundbury, the new mixed use development on Duchy of Cornwall land in Dorchester, Dorset.
Bringing together a community of shops, businesses and housing, Poundbury is a pioneering and well known example of sustainable urban development. Quality of design and workmanship across Poundbury is carefully controlled by the Duchy of Cornwall and follows principles originally laid down by Prince Charles. All new residential properties, whether in the private or social housing categories, are built to exemplary standards and are required to incorporate energy-conservation features
Poole based Morrish Builders is one of three housebuilders developing at Poundbury. The company has been installing Heatrae Sadia’s Megaflo HE unvented cylinders in a large proportion of properties across the development, ranging from one and two bedroom apartments to five bedroom family homes.
A spokesperson for Heatrae Sadia, said: “Unvented systems are now regarded as the preferred water heating solution for new build homes – MODUS (The Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Unvented Systems) has reported increased sales of around 15 per cent every year since 2000 and Megaflo HE is currently our most popular product.
“An unvented hot water storage cylinder is fed directly from the cold water mains, and provides fast filling baths and powerful showers without a loss of performance if more than one tap is used simultaneously. Unvented systems are ideal for modern homeowners who use several bathrooms at the same time and who want frequent showers and constant, but cost effective, hot water on demand.”
Morrish Homes’ marketing manager David Tharby said: “As one of three house builders at Poundbury we have a responsibility to ensure any appliances we install not only match our customers’ expectations but are also energy efficient, in keeping with the principles laid down by the Duchy of Cornwall.
“Megaflo HE incorporates several energy saving features, such as a high performance ‘coil in coil’ heat exchanger, which is placed low in the cylinder to give the maximum amount of stored hot water and fast recovery. It also has foam injected insulation to ensure very low standing heat losses from the cylinder.
“Hot water delivery is something that is important to every homeowner. It can be very disappointing to purchase a new home only to find the hot water supply doesn’t meet expectations. This is even more of an issue in larger family properties, where there is likely to be greater demand for hot water and several taps may need to be used at the same time.” Martin Northeast of Becks Heating & Plumbing of Bournemouth specifies and installs the heating and hot water systems for all Morrish Homes’ properties at Poundbury. He said: “Showers, baths and washing machines all place huge demands on a home’s hot water system, and in our opinion Megaflo HE is the best way to deliver the steady and uninterrupted supply that householders expect.
“Megaflo HE is also our preferred choice from an installation point of view. All connections are colour coded and accessible from the front of the cylinder, so it’s quite simple to achieve a tidy installation.”
Long term reliability is another important issue for Martin. He explained: “I need to know that all the appliances we install are going to be reliable, to ensure homeowners are completely satisfied with their hot water systems and any service calls are reduced. The materials Heatrae Sadia uses are extremely strong and durable, and the 25-year transferable guarantee on the Megaflo HE gives even more peace of mind, as does the level of technical and service support offered.”
Materials are an important concern to Heatrae Sadia. Being manufactured from Duplex stainless steel, Megaflo HE has high resistance to stress corrosion cracking, fatigue and erosion, and has no requirement for a protective coating or sacrificial anode. Other characteristics of Duplex stainless steel include high tensile and yield strengths and low thermal expansion. Heatrae Sadia further reinforces the quality of Megaflo HE by ensuring each cylinder undergoes comprehensive post-weld treatments, helping retain a high corrosion resistance in the welded areas.
In addition to these benefits, Megaflo HE is unique in the marketplace as it features an internal air gap and floating baffle system to accommodate expanded water. This means the cylinder is compact and self contained and the need for an external expansion vessel is eliminated.
The cylinder is designed to be straightforward to install, but Heatrae Sadia also offers a SystemFit option, designed to significantly reduce on-site installation time. Megaflo HE SystemFit models are pre-plumbed and pre-wired to offer simplified installation and consistent electrical and plumbing layout, thus eliminating on-site defects and costly call backs. With demand for unvented hot water systems continuing to grow, Heatrae Sadia has responded by expanding its range by launching solar thermal versions of its Megaflo HE – the unvented Megatech and vented Megalife Solar, designed to be used in conjunction with the solar collector panels and evacuated tube systems available for the UK market.
