HeatingSave Hits a Hole-in-One for Energy Savings at Rugby Golf Club

The Rugby Golf Club was inaugurated in 1891. Its course has seen many changes over the years and is thought by many professionals and amateurs alike that although not long, 5614 yards, par 68, its many natural features make it a thinking man’s course. One of its feature is the now redundant railway viaduct built circa 1885.

The Golf Club has more than 500 members, as well as 4 permanent employees and a few seasonal/temporary ones. Apart from the actual course, its facilities include a clubhouse that can accommodate up to 80 people sitting, as well as a Function Room, with wonderful views over the golf club, which will comfortably seat 24 people for a sit-down function or a business meeting.

The buildings are heated using a gas-fired boiler and radiators. An immersion heating solution is also used for hot water provision.

Mr. Steve Watts, the Rugby Golf Club Secretary, recalls that, by 2014, the club had started looking for a way to improve their central heating system, as it was becoming unfit for purpose.

“The Club buildings are fairly old and the central heating system we had in place was also out of date. As such, in 2014, we decided to conduct a thorough review of our central heating requirements.”

Around the same time, a HeatingSave representative paid us a visit and conducted a demo of the system. After careful consideration and comparison with the features provided by several competitors, we have decided to go for HeatingSave because it was the most appropriate solution for our specific requirements and needs” Steve told the HeatingSave reporter.

Steve further explained the Club’s decision to install a HeatingSave BMS: “Even if our BMS system is not overly complex, we preferred to choose a company with a wealth of experience installing wide-scale systems.

Of course, we were also interested in the efficiency savings HeatingSave promised to deliver.”

“Last, but certainly not least, the price was right. We have managed to access European funding for energy savings within a programme dedicated to clubs such as ourselves, and that covered some of the costs.” Steve added.

HeatingSave’s products are accredited and authorised by the UK Government on its Energy Savings Technology List. They are also approved by the Energy Saving Trust and The Carbon Trust and are eligible for a number of energy efficiency/environmental impact tax relief schemes, as well as the Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) tax scheme for businesses.

The system was installed and commissioned in the second half of 2014, and Steve praised the HeatingSave engineers on their work “The HeatingSave engineers were very good. They have put the system together very well. Even when after a few weeks, when our old boiler stopped working and we had to replace it altogether, the engineers were called in and swiftly reconnected the control board to the new boiler.”

Steve believes that the system is “very easy to control” and that HeatingSave is currently being used at its full potential. “It’s has been running very well after being set up and tweaked to match our requirements and the specifics of our central heating system. We are very happy with it!” he added.

Has the HeatingSave Building Management System (BMS) helped the Rugby Golf Club save money on their gas and electricity bills? Says Steve “Yes, it certainly has. We have managed to save 36%, on average, on our yearly energy bills compared to what we were paying 4 years ago, before the system was installed. Some of that is due to us negotiating better prices with the energy suppliers, but the bulk of the savings are achieved by the HeatingSave BMS.”

Since the Rugby Golf Club also uses an immersion hot water heating system, it’s also quite important to point out that, with HeatingSave, immersions demand is matched by the “heat profile algorithm” to use the least amount of energy – this time saving money on the electricity bill. Complete control over the hot water temperature also allows users to include an automatic hot water “boost” to combat legionella. All this reduces the amount of electricity needed to heat the hot water – saving money at the same time.

When asked what he likes most about the system, Steve’s answer was “What I like most about it is the fact that once it has been set up, it will simply work within the required parameters, without us having to keep it under constant observation.

It also self-learns and adapts to our heating system as time goes by, which will only lead to more energy savings on the future.”

The HeatingSave BMS has a mathematical algorithm (a series of quadratic equations) which have been designed to calculate and “learn” the heat loss profile of any heating zone. So long as the plumbing allows the control of the flow of heat into the zone, HeatingSave can calculate the heat loss profile of the zone. Armed with this information, the HeatingSave controller works out the latest time to switch on the heating for the given conditions, so as to reach the temperature you have set for a given time.

Steve contacted the HeatingSave help desk on several occasions, especially after the system was initially installed, and praises the level of service delivered by the operators: “The help desks analysts were always very responsive, very helpful and committed to sorting out our problems as quickly and effectively as possible.”

Would the Rugby Golf Club recommend the HeatingSave Building Management System to other similar clubs and leisure facilities? “Yes, we certainly would” was Steve’s enthusiastic reply.

Asked to sum up HeatingSave in a few words, Steve concluded, “The HeatingSave system meets our specific requirements and helped us achieve significant energy savings. We are also very happy with the quality of the after-sales and technical support provided by the helpdesks analysts.”

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Customer Information

Rugby Golf Club Ltd

Clifton Road

Rugby

CV21 3RD

Tel: 01788 542306

info@rugbygolfclub.co.uk