Ruby’s Inn is a major resort and tourist destination located in Bryce Canyon City, Utah. With 19 buildings, 700 hotel rooms, three restaurants, an RV park, a campground, three swimming pools and a laundry facility that does 19 tons of laundry per day, the hot water system was under quite a lot of strain. Often, six tour buses will check in at one time, so there is frequently a large demand for hot water for showers all at once.
Ruby’s Inn was operating on an older infrastructure with no redundancy system in place for its boilers. When a boiler went down, the resort could go for up to two hours without hot water. This negative experience for Ruby’s Inn guests resulted in $60,000 a year in guest discounts and refunds due to complaints because it was operating at only 50% to 60% efficiency.
Rinnai’s Commercial Water Heating team assessed the problem and engineered a new, customized system for the resort. With the help of Blue Star Gas, a local propane sales and service provider, 175 new tankless water heaters, 35 tankless rack systems and four Demand Duo Hybrid Commercial Water Heating Systems were installed. This unique hybrid system combined the best of both tank and tankless technologies, all of which were fueled by propane, to help Ruby’s Inn save thousands on energy costs, and most importantly, ensure their customers always had hot water when they needed it.
With the new Rinnai system in place, Ruby’s Inn is projected to save $6,000 per month on propane alone due to the system’s energy efficiency. Since the installation of the Rinnai hot water system, Ruby’s Inn has experienced no lack of hot water and no customer complaints. This has freed up time and money that can be spent elsewhere. This project was the single largest commercial project Rinnai has completed to date and shows how Rinnai products can work together to create a custom solution.
