Success – from micro to macro Windhager

SUCCESS - FROM SUCCESS - FROM MICRO TO MACRO MICRO TO MACRO

Windhager is a leading European manufacturer of optimal, fuel-efficient domestic heating systems. Philip Yorke spoke to Christoph Schneiderbauer, the company’s managing director about its latest micro pellet boilers and its triple-cascade systems, designed to appeal to new commercial markets.

Windhager was founded in Austria in 1921 and began as a locksmith’s shop before emerging to become one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of domestic boilers. From the company’s headquarters in Salzburg it supplies stateof-the-art boilers and accessories of every kind throughout Europe. Windhager is unique in that it prefers to focus on providing its customers with tailor-made heating solutions, and its innovative, eco-friendly biomass boilers are acknowledged as setting the gold-standard for highly efficient, sustainable, low-emission heating systems.

Windhager offers a wide range of fuelefficient boilers, which range from its revolutionary pellet fuel heating units, to solid fuel, gas and solar heating systems. In addition, the company develops and manufactures innovative pellet storage and transport systems, and offers self-developed advanced sensor and control technology as well as a wide range of hot water tanks.

Today Windhager is a privately owned company that currently employs over 500 people and in 2011 recorded sales of more than €70 million. Windhager expects to increase this figure to around €80 million by 2013.

Spearheading the green revolution

Windhager has always placed a high priority on the development of innovative solutions to improve boiler efficiency and ensure sustaina-

ble, eco-friendly operation. For many years the company has been steadily growing the market for its pellet boilers. The fuel for these highly efficient eco-friendly boilers are pellets derived from 100 per cent natural wood residues, such as wood shavings and sawdust. This means that the company is able to offer a fully sustainable, CO2 neutral, biomass fuel product.

Recently Windhager surpassed all its previous innovative achievements when it launched its pellet-fuel micro-burner range. This has been specially developed for use in modern low-energy and passive buildings which require only a low heat output source. Windhager has designed an innovative, micro-burner with the highest efficiency, and lowest output offered to date. This model is an extension to its very successful ‘VarioWIN’ boiler series and enables the company to supply optimal, pellet heating solutions from 1.7kW up to 12kW.

Schneiderbauer said, “With the increase in the building of low energy housing across Europe, we saw an opportunity to develop a range of biomass boilers that would offer optimal benefits in terms of eco-efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Our biomass pellet-fed boilers are more than 50 per cent cheaper to run compared to more traditional fuels such as oil or gas. So at one end of the spectrum we can offer the most efficient, low energy system on the market that starts at just 1.7kW whilst, at the top end we can provide the most efficient and cost-effective biomass boilers rated up to 60kW which can be combined to a triple cascade with a heating output of 180kW. This is our next step into the commercial market.

“Our latest high-output boilers open up new opportunities for us as they are ideally suited for commercial applications such as hotels, schools and commercial/public buildings. We see potential across the board for our biomass boilers both on the domestic side and on the commercial side. The market is definitely shrinking for systems that rely on expensive fossil fuels and our significant investment in R&D in new biomass boiler technology will remain a long-term commitment.”

Schneiderbauer added, “We are at the top end of the market in terms of quality, reliability and efficiency and Austria remains our biggest market. However, our European sales remain strong and we have just successfully entered the Chilean market. In the USA and the UK we are also seeing positive growth. In fact in the UK our partners have recently invested over €1 million in the construction of a new training and showroom facility near Bristol for our dealers, distributors and customers.” The new headquarters boast the UK’s largest dedicated biomass training centre.

Windhager’s latest achievement can be put down to a number of key factors. First of all, the boiler’s combustion chamber has been optimised for low power ratings and furthermore, the company has worked closely with the leading consultant engineers from BIOS BIOENERGIESYSTEME GmbH, which specialise in advanced CFD simulation. BIOS is active in research, development, planning and optimisation of processes and plants designed to generate heat and power from biomass. In addition, the latest sensor and control technology installed by Windhager ensures that the unit only produces low emissions whilst operating at the lowest output ranges. Its compact design, integrated hydraulics and new components for materials handling technology, means that Windhager is able to offer a unique range of heating solutions for buildings with low heating energy requirements.

Comfortable wood-fired and low energy consumption gas boilers

As a specialist in biomass Windhager also offers comfortable wood-fired boilers such as the LogWIN. This has the largest filling chamber in its class made from high-grade

steel (176/226 litres for 1/3m and 1/2m split logs), which is rust resistant, can be easily refilled and ensures extremely long burning times. The LogWIN can also be equipped with a fully automatic ignition, which can take place as required – either immediately after a heating requirement is signalled or after an adjustable lock-out time.

Whilst Windhager sees the biomass revolution as spearheading the green revolution in domestic and office heating, it has not neglected its other important markets. Windhager offers the most reliable and energy efficient examples available today.

Another of Windhager’s cutting-edge solutions is its MultiWINplus gas boiler. Designed for wall mounting, the unit can be very easily combined with other heat sources. With five different power levels for heat requirements from 2.9 to 65 kW, MultiWINplus offers solutions for all requirements. By connecting modern condensing technology and offering modular operation MultiWINplus guarantees outstanding performance in fuel consumption and emissions. The modulating premix burner allows stepless power adjustment according to the actual heat demand.

Extremely economical, the MultiWINplus also scores highly in terms of power consumption. A standard integrated energy-saving pump with energy efficiency class ‘A’ can reduce electricity costs in comparison to older pumps by up to 80 per cent. n

GRUNDFOS

A PARTNERSHIP WITH POTENTIAL

We strive for professional dialogue and long-term relationship with our customers. We believe that trustful cooperation and extensive knowledge sharing are positively the best ways to secure our common success. By exploiting the specialist know-how and our expertise, and linking our experts with yours, our solutions will meet and exceed market demands and expectations to cutting-edge innovation, cost savings and more. As your partner we become involved in your project at an early stage with technical as well as commercial advice, and we will work the project specifications in close cooperation with you.