Navien

Navien, Inc., the number one brand in high efficiency condensing tankless water heaters, combi-boilers and wall-hung boilers in North America, has introduced a new logo and visual identity for the brand. The updated look offers a new take on the orange and blue colors that have been a staple of the Navien brand in North America for over 14 years.

The announcement comes in advance of a series of new product announcements and updates for North American set to roll out in 2021. As the company continues to expand its offering of products, Navien aspires to become a Smarter Living Environment Partner that relentlessly innovates and improves itself to deliver a healthy future and pleasant living environment for customers.

“This brand re-establishment is the beginning of a new era for Navien,” said Scott Lee, CEO of Navien America. “Not only does it present Navien’s continued commitment to quality and innovation in order to provide a pleasant and safe living environment for current and future generations, it also signals an era of growth for the company. We are very excited to present this new look of Navien, and it will be well represented as we introduce new Navien innovations, beginning in 2021.”

With an enrollment of more than 27,000 students, the University of New Mexico is the state’s largest college. It’s known for its strong and historied athletic programs, particularly the Lobos football and basketball teams, which compete in the Mountain West Conference.

Dreamstyle Stadium has been home to the Lobos football team for 60 seasons.  The 39,224 seat football stadium is attached to the L.F. Tow Diehm Athletic Facility. Tow Diehm, who’s known as the “Father of Athletic Training” in New Mexico, served as UNM’s athletics trainer for 31 years.

Inside, the facility includes athletic offices, common areas, locker rooms for both home and visiting teams, and a weight room that underwent an $800,000 renovation in 2014.

A more recent renovation took place in the facility’s primary mechanical room.  Over the past few years, the domestic hot water system began failing. Nonstop pump failures, electrical problems, and a leaking hot water storage tank plagued maintenance crews.

These problems inevitably surfaced at the worst times, like game day. The system provides hot water to all fixtures within the building, including the home and visitor locker room showers.

“We were frequently called in after hours to tend to the old system,” explained Richard Van Damme, HVAC master for the University of New Mexico. “At one point, we had even drained the 1,600 gallon storage tank for replacement, only to fill it again a few days later for game.”

Hot water was being supplied by two large, atmospheric volume water heaters with capacities of 490,000 BTUH each. The maintenance department had been pushing for replacement for a number of years.  The cost of maintenance was rising, outright failure was imminent, the system’s dependability was lacking and efficiency was a concern.

“When we received a work order to replace the failing system, we evaluated a straight, in-kind replacement with standard efficiency water heaters. Installing a similar storage tank would’ve required removing part of the roof. We also looked at tankless style system options. Energy savings was a big consideration, as was redundancy and serviceability,” said Jesse Hart, facilities engineer for UNM’s facilities management department.”

“There are short periods of high demand, with low or no demand otherwise,” he continued. “The showers aren’t even used year-round, so the application lent itself perfectly to a hi-efficiency, low-volume hot water system. Standby heat loss from the big tank was significant.”

UNM looked at various tankless products and contacted their local Navien representative, Jordan Mahboub, at RepNet. Mahboub and Hart worked closely with Navien sales engineers to create a design based on the peak hot water demand at the L.F. Tow Diehm Athletic Facility: 82 gallons per minute at 120F. The university wanted the ability to meet peak demand with one or two units offline.

Once the design was approved, Futures Mechanical was hired for the replacement. The volume water heaters and storage tank were removed and 18 Navien NPE-240S condensing, tankless water heaters were installed.

The NPE-240S is a 199,900 BTUH condensing, wall-hung water heater that features dual stainless steel heat exchangers, a 10-to-1 turndown ratio, and efficiencies up to 97 percent. The unit also provides LEED points, where applicable.

Water heaters were installed in two independent systems, one on either side of the mechanical room to serve each locker room. Navien’s Ready-Link manifold system was used to simplify the installation and save space.

The Ready-Link Manifold System provides everything required for a multi-unit installation, including manifolds for water and gas, racks for floor mounting, valves, connections and flex lines.

Up to 16 NPE-240 units can be common vented, so only four roof penetrations were needed at the athletic facility.

“No intricate programming was needed to cascade this many units in a single system,” said Van Damme. “By using the factory-supplied cascade cable, the logic built into the units does all the thinking. If for some reason the master unit goes down, the next unit in line takes over, so there’s no downtime in the event of a unit failure.”

“Having Jordan Mahboub here during commissioning helped us learn all the advantages of the Navien system,” Van Damme continued. For example, each rack requires a single gas regulator, not every unit.  The manifold system lets us isolate any unit in the group for service without taking the others off-line.”

When the new system was tested, every hot water fixture in the facility was opened for almost two hours. The units cascaded to meet demand, but never fired to 100%. According to Van Damme, full capacity was met and sustained while the systems are operating at 60% input.

“The modulating component was a feature we really wanted,” Hart said. “Each of these units provides a 10-to-1 turndown, so no matter if there’s one sink or 20 showers running, we can accurately match the load. We’re not using energy beyond what’s needed to meet the actual demand. Now that the system has been operational for over a year, we’ve found an annual natural gas savings of 2,282 Therms.”

The entire project took three months over the 2018 summer break. The installation was seamless, and was completed just in time for football season.  There’s now more space to service the water heaters or work on other equipment within the room.

“I think this system is a great asset to the stadium,” Van Damme said. “The money saved on maintenance alone is significant. We’ve been so impressed with these units that we’ve decided to use Navien systems in other locations across campus.”

Irvine, Calif. — Navien, Inc., the leader in condensing technology, will establish its first U.S. manufacturing and assembly operation in James City County, Va. The 300,000-sq.-ft. facility will be used as a distribution center for the first two years and begin the transition process & preparation into manufacturing operation in 2022 with the first stage of manufacturing expected to begin in 2023.

“Navien’s decision to locate its first U.S. manufacturing operation in James City County demonstrates the competitive advantage that Virginia offers to international companies looking to expand into new markets,” said Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam. “This project is an important win for the Greater Williamsburg region and our Commonwealth, as Navien will bring a key facility back into productive use, create 180 high-quality jobs, and utilize the nearby Port of Virginia as its gateway to the world.”

Contingent upon regulatory permits and approvals, Navien’s current plans are to expand the existing facility starting in 2023, which will triple the footprint to nearly 900,000 sq. ft. by 2026.

“The close proximity of this property to the Port of Virginia and the flexibility to expand and allow for Navien’s continued investment over time helped us make this decision,” said Navien CEO Sangkyu Lee. “Establishing an East Coast facility will support Navien’s growth and allow for faster delivery to primary eastern markets while balancing current shipments coming into California. We look forward to working with the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program as we grow this facility and its importance to Navien’s overall leadership position in North America.”

Distribution of Navien products from the new Virginia facility is slated to begin in April 2020.

We get our first in-depth look at the new Navien NFC

We stopped at Navien’s booth at the AHR Expo to look under the hood of the new Navien NFC combi-boiler using Navien’s own firetube heat exchanger.

Take a look at the video to see some details and specs, one thing that surprised me right away was the included accessories. For contractors looking for high amounts of hot water production, a low head loss heat exchanger for easier piping on the hydronic side and additional features like remote connectivity it looks like the NFC is worth checking into. You can find more details and specifications on Navien’s website or here in our new product listings on Hydronics Hub.

All the bells & combi boiler whistles

The new Navien NFC combi boiler models come with a patented in-house designed and manufactured heat exchanger, Low Profile Burner for ease of service, advanced controls offering intuitive user navigation, a built-in DHW module (pump, flat plate heat exchanger, 3-way valve, mixing valve, water adjustment valve and auto water fill valve), common venting capability up to 8 units, cascading capability up to 16 units, and built-in hardware to connect up to 3 zone pumps without a need for additional external controllers.