Not that long ago, guests at the Mainstay Suites Winnipeg Hotel might face a rude awakening in their morning shower, when the hot water ran out. Or they could find themselves trying to prepare meals in their kitchenettes with nothing but cold water.
In the meantime, hotel maintenance staff were forced to remove all four of the hotel’s commercial tank-style water heaters to access and replace the two furthest units after only five years of use. That costly project took four days to complete – four days of financially compensating guests for the inconvenience, a direct hit to the hotel’s profitability, in addition to the expense of the replacement itself.
But now, thanks to Rinnai’s Demand Duo® Hybrid units, the hotel is running at full capacity, and both guests and management are happy with the change. “Our customer satisfaction has risen significantly,” said one of the hotel’s front desk personnel. “And it’s saved us from providing free room nights to dissatisfied customers.”
The technology behind Rinnai’s Demand Duo units delivers exactly the kind of performance and savings hotels like Mainstay Suites need. Combining the best of both tank and tankless design, Demand Duo is the smart choice for applications that require both an on-demand and continuous supply of hot water to keep their businesses up and running. For Mainstay Suites, the speed and ease of retrofitting with Demand Duo units only added to the appeal.
For nearly six years, since it opened in 2011, the Mainstay Suites Winnipeg had relied on four leaky, inefficient 80-gallon atmospheric hot water tanks. Squeezed into a small, narrow mechanical room, these large units were not only unable to keep pace with the hotel’s demands, they also were overworked to the point of failure for two of the units by 2014.
Because of the installation configuration, replacing the two failed units required removing all four units, a feat the maintenance staff was facing again in 2017, thanks to additional failures. That’s when they began to look for other, more functional alternatives.
Reliance Superior Heating & Air Conditioning of Winnipeg was called in to tackle the project. On their initial visit to Mainstay Suites, Rinnai’s territory representative and factory personnel went along. Rinnai’s factory engineering group was subsequently brought into the fold, to help with sizing and design for the project. “We liked the Rinnai system from the beginning,” said Jason Miklovich, the hotel’s general manager.
The Rinnai System was initially more money, but ultimately the smarter choice in terms of longevity and monthly energy savings.
When it came to heating water, Mainstay Suites management was concerned with ensuring guests had a reliable supply of hot water for all their demands. As a suite hotel, this meant not just showers and bathroom sinks, but also kitchen sinks and dishwashers. What’s more, after their earlier experience with tank-style units, they wanted a water heating system that was there for the long haul, without the need for frequent replacement.
“Mainstay’s management liked the combination of tankstyle and tankless technology,” said Erik Shurchin with Reliance Superior Heating & Air. “They understood that this meant the units would last longer than their previous units, plus guests would have hot water immediately and continuously, for as long as they needed it.”
Another big factor for Mainstay Suites was the time required to replace the existing units. Days without hot water meant days without paying guests, so time was of the essence.
Rinnai’s Demand Duo Hybrid Water Heaters feature connections similar to most tanks, and concentric venting routes and terminates vertically or horizontally, or sleeves through existing B vent. So, in no time at all, customers can replace a standard tank and be operational again, with a minimum of disruption.
“The commercial tanks were removed on a Monday and Tuesday,” said Shurchin, “and the new Rinnai Demand Duos were installed Wednesday and Thursday of the same week.”
100 guest suites, each including:
Other hot water demands on premises:
Replaced four 80-gallon 550,000 BTU tank units with five Rinnai Demand Duos (each 199,000 BTUs) – less than half of the BTU load of the previous system. Install completed in 2 days, meeting the hotel’s goal for the retrofit.
...higher-than-expected savings on natural gas each month.
For manager Jason Miklovich, choosing Rinnai Demand Duo just made good sense. “We knew we could replace the existing tanks with similar ones for a cheaper price, but we also knew they would keep breaking down,” said Miklovich. “The Rinnai System was initially more money, but ultimately the smarter choice in terms of longevity and monthly energy savings.”
Since the Rinnai units were installed in June 2017, natural gas savings have totaled more than $9,000 in the first eight months, in spite of the colder-than-normal winter. The commercial ENERGY STAR® certified tankless units offer 96% thermal efficiency, yet deliver more stable temperatures and more hot water than the hotel’s previous units. And while electricity and water consumption have remained about the same, there are some months when the hotel sees small savings on those utility costs, as well.
The Mainstay Suites maintenance staff can now also access all five Rinnai units readily – even in the narrow, confined utility room – for any needed maintenance or repairs. Should the heat exchanger in the Demand Duo ever fail, it can be quickly and easily replaced, without any loss of hot water, thanks to redundancy of the units. Best of all, everyone at Mainstay Suites is happy, from the housekeeping staff to the guests. And the hotel is no longer forced to provide rebated or discounted rooms to customers due to a lack of hot water.
“Our guests have zero hot water complaints now,” said Anne Rhoden, head of housekeeping for the hotel. “Since this retrofit, our hotel has enjoyed some of our busiest months ever.”
Related Case Study
Replacing high-efficiency yet outdated traditional tank water heaters with the Rinnai Demand Duo® Commercial Hybrid System helped the Hilton Garden Inn meet the needs of hotel guests while reducing operating costs.
