The Great Gourmet

November 6 2015
The Great Gourmet is in the food processing business. They wanted to find ways to reduce their energy costs and hot water for their dishwasher was an easy target. The Maryland Health Department requires dishwasher water to be 165 degrees and the rinse water at 185 degrees.

The concept of solar hot water is to supplement the existing hot water by raising the ground water from 50 degrees in winter or 65 degrees in summer to 120 to 140 degrees. The normal water heating system then raises the temperature of the water the rest of the way.

The Great Gourmet saves the energy necessary to raise the water temperature that first 80 degrees.

The payback to the business owner including the state and Federal incentives is 2 to 3 years depending upon the efficiency of the existing water heating system, the cost of the energy source and how much the dishwasher is used.

The collector panels have a 10 year warranty but should last indefinitely. The heat transfer station has pumps that are low volume, 120 volt, high quality Grundfos pumps. The pumps on the solar loop should last 8 to 12 years and on the domestic water side, 5 to 12 years depending upon domestic water quality.

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