Situated on the eastern base of Slieve Gullion, the 1830’s built castle has undergone a full refurbishment and has had the addition of a brand new hotel, with the aim of the new retreat venue to be used for weddings. With a luxury spa and approximately 50 bedrooms of domestic hot water was an issue that had to be considered carefully.

As no existing heating plant was in place for the hotel a brand new heating system was designed by Cuilinn Group Engineering. The heating load was not a major issue as the building was built to high modern standards with state of the art insulation. However the domestic hot water (DHW) installation in this project needed to be assessed carefully so that we ensured a high standard of delivery to the luxury hotel. But with any system as large as this the system had to be efficient to keep costs as low as possible.

The main heat generator for the hotel was selected to be 2 x 311kW Vitocrossal 200 CM2C boilers which were linked together providing highly efficient delivery of heat to the hotel and the DHW plant. 5 x 500L Vitocell 300-B cylinders were used for the DHW to provide 2500L of stored water with a re-heat time of just 21 minutes which provides an everlasting supply of hot water to the luxury spa and hotel bedrooms. Their installation was done with a smart “reverse return” meaning all cylinders heat and drain perfectly evenly meaning 5 x cylinders operate exactly like a single cylinder. The 300-B’s “A-rated” design ensures standing losses are kept to a minimal at just 285Watts across all cylinders.

JMG Mechanical Services were highly competent with the installation and were under tight pressure to complete the project. Some of the ideas of the installation and the way the plant was installed were different than the traditional approach, however, Precision Heating was able to assure the contractor that everything was being done to specification and the end result would work perfectly.

Multiple site visits to provide technical assistance and advice were made by Precision Heating along the process of the installation to ensure it went as easily as possible and as a result of the smooth installation, the heating system of the building was completed on time. Now that Killeavy Castle is running as a wedding venue they have reported back that the heating and DHW are working perfectly. JMG mechanical services are happy with the installation and glad of the technical assistance provided by Precision Heating.