Rinnai UK announced on 19 October 2022 that it is offering a free service that designs heating and hot water systems for individual properties1. The company said the service is intended to match a system to the specific requirements of a site, and that a system designed in this way can reduce purchase costs, running costs and carbon emissions1.
The service forms part of Rinnai's H3 range of products1. The company said it covers a range of energy options, naming heat pumps, BioLPG, solar and hydrogen as able to meet domestic and commercial demand1. It gave examples of how recommendations might differ by property: hybrid heat pump or solar thermal with BioLPG options for off-grid rural locations with high heating and hot water demand, and hybrid designs including hydrogen-ready units for gas blends of up to 20% for inner-city occupants1. It also described a case of an urban retirement community of three Edwardian houses with mixed heating and hot water applications, for which it said it could design and install one whole system1.
Rinnai's operations director, named in the announcement as Mr Goggin, said:
"We have positioned the Rinnai name as a company that offers the highest quality product and best available value with service excellence. It is a position of responsibility and we have maintained a stance of doing the absolute best we can for customers. We believe implicitly in this basic premise - we do the best we can, and we achieve what our customers want and expect. And that includes anticipating the future. We are manufacturers of proven excellence and are using our core competencies of design engineering solutions to suit all possible future needs and fuels."
Householders can request the service by emailing engineer@rinnaiuk.com or phoning 0300 373 0660 and asking for technical1. The announcement does not state how long a design takes, what information a householder must supply, or whether the resulting design is tied to Rinnai products; none of these points has been reported1.
Why it matters for households
System design sits upstream of the equipment choice, and it determines how well a heating system is designed and balanced once installed. A design matched to a property's actual demand can affect running costs and emissions, which is the claim Rinnai makes for the service1. For a household weighing up a replacement boiler or home heating system, the practical value of any design exercise lies in whether it accounts for the building, its occupancy and its fuel options rather than defaulting to the same specification as the previous installation.
The options Rinnai names span established and emerging technologies, including solar thermal water heating and heat pumps, alongside hydrogen-ready units for gas blends of up to 20%1. Off-grid rural properties, which cannot draw on the mains gas network, are the group Rinnai identifies as suited to hybrid heat pump or BioLPG arrangements1. Any installation would still need to meet the applicable building regulations for heating systems, and the announcement does not address compliance, certification or warranty terms1.
What happens next
No timetable, eligibility criteria or closing date is given in the announcement1. The service is described as available now, by email or by phone1.