South Africa has a new entrant into the commercial, industrial and residential water-heating market following the launch last month of water-heating solutions provider HydraTherm’s own basket of water-heating products, which aims to significantly reduce consumers’ electricity costs relating to heating.

According to HydraTherm cofounder Michael Alton, water heating accounts for 40% to 60% of consumers’ total electricity bill. He asserts that the company’s expertise in the specification and design of centralised hot- water plants using its proprietary water-heating technology can “provide the water-heating solutions the market is looking for”.

Alton notes that the company’s hot-water solutions products are affordable and long lasting, and suitable for household, hospitality, agriculture and healthcare applications. “Quality and performance are at the forefront of our product philosophy. For this reason, we use only the very latest technology, with all parts and components carefully selected and tested to ensure ultimate efficiency, reliability and durability.”

The HydraTherm range currently includes integrated heat pumps and split heat pumps. The company is also at the final stages of development for gas water heaters and solar collectors, which it will launch later this year.

Alton notes that HydroTherm continually aims to find new ways to deliver efficient solutions to water-heating challenges. “As Eskom continues to cap the total power offered to new developments and the price of electricity increases, it is making more and more economic and practical sense to embrace solar and natural or liquefied petroleum gas for water heating.”

HydraTherm’s integrated heat pump provides significant energy savings, making it a cost-effective solution for households. Meanwhile, its range of split heat pumps is ideally suited to industrial applications, which offer competitive return-on- investment periods.

The company’s split heat pumps use enhanced vapour injection, or EVI, technology, combined with efficient air-to-water heat exchangers, to ensure improved efficiency in a range of ambient temperature conditions and nominal coefficient performance from 4.5 to 1.

For residential projects, HydraTherm suggests replacing conventional geysers with its heat pumps, which could save consumers up to 70% of their hot- water costs.

HydraTherm also offers buyers a full spectrum of services, including initial consultation, personal after-sales service and cloud support.