–Spa & Thalassotherapy center at Masseria San Domenico | Hitachi VRF project in Fasano, Italy
The place: 5-star Masseria San Domenico offers unforgettable experience in a 14th century historical monument
The historical main building of the Masseria San Domenico dates back to the 14th century, when it was used as a watch tower by the Knights of Malta. It was then transformed into a luxurious resort, with a complete restoration of the old building design using original building materials.
Masseria San Domenico offers boutique-style intimacy bound with first class facilities such as outdoor free-form swimming pool, beach access, two tennis courts, a modern gym and a challenging 18-hole golf course.
The resort is famous for hosting events and the private parties of celebrities from all over the world.
The resort’s management was looking to improve the HVAC solution for their renowned Spa and Thalassotherapy (seawater therapy) center. The facility consists of a treatment room, thalassotherapy room, a gym and connecting spaces. They had previously been cooled by a chiller and heated with a fossil-fuel boiler. That combination was inadequate in three main aspects:
- The temperature could not be controlled individually in each room, resulting in a lack of comfort for guests.
- The equipment was not easy to manage and maintain, due to the two independent cooling and heating systems.
- The carbon footprint could be improved by adopting more advanced decarbonizing technologies available on the market.
The solution: Hitachi heat recovery VRF ensures year-round cooling and heating with flexible controls
Choosing the trusted Hitachi brand, Masseria San Domenico replaced the old HVAC equipment with a state-of-the art heat recovery VRF system from the Set Free Sigma range, with a total cooling/heating capacity of 90kW.
Hitachi heat recovery VRF systems are particularly suited for spa and beauty salons like Masseria San Domenico’s one, where providing a comfortable temperature at all times is essential. With each guest having its own preference, the VRF system is able to control each indoor unit’s temperature individually. Heat recovery allows rooms to be heated or cooled simultaneously and efficiently by re-using the exhaust heat generated in the cooling process. For example, Masseria San Domenico’s gym can now be cooled for exercising guests, while other rooms can be heated.
For outstanding thalassotherapy service, indoor units within the main treatment centre are integrated with other building controls via a MODBUS interface. In this way the temperature and lighting can be automatically controlled based on the specific type of treatment being conducted in each room, elevating guest comfort to a new level.
For the gym room - where large volumes of air renewal are required - two Hydro-Free* modules were installed delivering chilled water to air handling units (AHU)*, to pre-cool the incoming fresh air from the ventilation system, enabling the indoor air to be continually refreshed without raising the temperature.
By complementing the Hitachi VRF system with the CSNET Manager centralized control solution, remote management of the HVAC system is now possible. It can be monitored via Smartphone, with engineers receiving notifications and alerts automatically from CSNET Manager.
The luxurious interior aesthetics of the Spa and Thalassotherapy center were preserved thanks to the concealment of the 27 VRF indoor units, allowing the air conditioning solution to be largely hidden and sympathetically integrated into the interior design.
*Hitachi Hydro-Free modules and chilled water to air handling units are not sold in Australia
Distributor: F.LLI CARPARELLI S.R.L.
Location
Fasano, Italy
Project
Retrofit
Date of installation
2023
Total System Capacity
32 HP / 90 Kw
Outdoor units
2x SetFree Sigma (RAS-18FSXNPE, RAS-14FSXNPE)
Indoor units
17x RPFI floor concealed unit, 7x RPIL Compact Duct solution, 3x RPI ducted units and 2x RWLT hydro free
Controllers
CSNET MANAGER 2 (T10)
Distributor
F.LLI CARPARELLI S.R.L.
