Commercial Calorifier Replacement at Liverpool’s Radisson Blu

Commercial Calorifier Replacement at Liverpool’s Radisson Blu

This commercial calorifier replacement saw Atmostherm remove a corroded, leaking calorifier at the Radisson Blu hotel in Liverpool and install two new high-efficiency units – all while keeping hot water flowing to guests throughout.

The Project: Radisson Blu, Liverpool

The Radisson Blu on Old Hall Street is a prominent hotel in Liverpool’s business district, where a reliable hot water supply is essential to the guest experience. Its main calorifier – the vessel that stores and delivers the building’s hot water – had badly corroded and begun leaking, and needed replacing as a matter of urgency.

A leaking calorifier is not a problem a busy hotel can afford to leave. Beyond the immediate risk of losing hot water entirely, a failing unit can cause water damage to the plant room and surrounding areas, and a sudden total failure would leave hundreds of guests without hot water with no notice. Acting quickly was essential.

With over 40 years’ experience in the HVAC industry, Atmostherm was brought in to carry out the commercial calorifier replacement quickly and cleanly, in a live hotel environment where any loss of hot water would directly affect guests.

The Challenge: Replacing a Calorifier Without Losing Hot Water

The critical challenge on this project was maintaining hot and cold water services to the hotel throughout the installation. A working hotel cannot simply switch off its hot water for the duration of the works, so the replacement had to be carefully phased to keep the existing supply running until the new system was ready to take over.

Atmostherm’s engineers approached it methodically:

• A new concrete plinth was created to receive the replacement units, prepared in advance so the changeover could happen smoothly.
• Existing pipework was modified with isolation valves, allowing the first new cylinder to be installed and brought online while hot water was still being drawn from the damaged calorifier.
• Only once the first new unit was live and supplying the hotel was the corroded calorifier safely drained, removed and replaced with the second new unit.

This phased method meant guests experienced no interruption to their hot water at any stage of the commercial calorifier replacement – a result that takes careful planning and close coordination with the hotel to achieve.

The Solution: Twin Cetotherm Aquatank Calorifiers

Atmostherm removed the old single 1,500-litre calorifier and replaced it with two new Cetotherm Aquatank 1,000-litre calorifiers.

Installing two units in place of one delivers a key operational benefit that the hotel did not have before: either unit can be isolated for servicing while the other continues supplying hot water. Previously, the hotel’s entire hot water supply depended on a single vessel – a single point of failure. With two calorifiers, routine maintenance, and even future repairs, need never interrupt the hot water supply again.

The new calorifiers also bring:

• High efficiency and high recovery rates, ensuring the hotel’s fluctuating hot water demand – heaviest at peak times like mornings – is met reliably and economically.
• Future-proofing for low carbon technology, with additional connections built in so low carbon equipment, such as heat pumps, can be integrated later as the hotel works toward its sustainability goals.

Our Technical Director, Andrew Payne, said:

“Atmostherm are extremely proud of the high quality workmanship shown by our engineers. They worked closely with the hotel management team to prevent any disruption to the guests.”

The result is a resilient, efficient hot water system, delivered without disruption to a live hotel – and ready to accept low carbon upgrades in the years ahead. It’s a clear example of the phased, low-disruption approach that makes Atmostherm well suited to hot water and heating projects in hotels, care homes and other buildings that simply cannot afford downtime.

Atmostherm provides commercial hot water systems and heating solutions to clients across Liverpool and the North West of the UK.