Ronald McDonald House Newcastle, located in the grounds of the John Hunter Hospital, provides a ‘Home away from Home’ to families of seriously ill or injured children. Their goal is to provide an atmosphere for families and their children, where the familiar routines of home life can continue as much as possible.
Ronald McDonald House Newcastle opened its doors in 1991, and since then has grown to accommodate well over 800 families per year! The old electric hot water systems to service these families were on their last legs, so Apricus and Solar Australia partnered to undergo an energy efficient, hot water overhaul at the house. The goal of this task was to dramatically reduce the ongoing costs associated with heating water for the many families in need.
The goal was achieved by installing 176 Apricus Solar Tubes and 1,600ltrs of hot water storage. The 4 x 44 tube 400ltr Apricus systems installed at the premises, now service 12 of the 18 ensuited rooms, with an outlook to complete all rooms in the near future.
Marisa Wilson, Relationship Coordinator at Ronald McDonald House Northern NSW, New Lambton Heights had this to say about the installation:
“For Ronald McDonald House Newcastle, finding a cost effective solution to our hot water needs was essential. We were fortunate to be given Community Building Partnership funding from the NSW Government, and Solar Australia worked with us to ensure that we had the best system to achieve our needs and within the budget. Continuous hot water is a necessity and our old system wasn’t coping with the demand created by up to 18 families daily. Our objective was to ensure that with maximum capacity of families under our roof, we are able to comfortably meet our hot water requirements no matter what time of the day it was. The Apricus solution that was installed ensures maximum heat is absorbed during the day and our large tank capacity can remain heated, delivering hot water when required, day and night.
We are grateful to the NSW Government Community Building Partnership funding and Solar Australia as our new solar hot water system allows us to significantly reduce our energy consumption and costs. Being a charity, this is money that can now be spent in other areas of the charity to help deliver better quality care for the families who we assist each day.
We would personally like to thank the Newcastle team who worked in with our restrictive timetable for access and noise and carried out such a professional install under these imposed conditions. A great job and great outcome for the whole community.”
The Apricus solar hot water system consists of:
- 8 x 22 Tube Manifolds
- 4 x 400ltr Glass Lined, electric boosted, 10 year warranty tanks
Supplied and installed by:
Solar Australia Newcastle