Care building · Domestic hot water
Domestic hot water in care building: what the SRI measures
Domestic hot water covers the boiler or storage tank: is water heated on a fixed schedule or based on use, can the system use cheap electricity or solar heat, and is the circulation pump controlled smartly.
In short
- 1This page shows how a care building manages domestic hot water intelligently.
- 2Domestic hot water counts at full weight in the Smart Readiness Indicator for this building type, because consumption is continuous and substantial.
- 3The smart-ready services in this domain show how boilers, solar heat and fault alerts work together to balance comfort and energy use.
Weight of this domain for this building type
Which services count
| Service | Lowest level | Highest level | Advice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control of DHW storage charging (with direct electric heating or integrated electric heat pump) DHW-1a · A · 3 levels | Automatic control on / off | Automatic on/off control, scheduled charging enable and demand-based supply temperature control or multi-sensor storage management | highest level |
| Control of DHW storage charging DHW-1b · A · 3 levels | None | Automatic charging control based on local availability of renewables or information from electricity grid (DR, DSM) | highest level |
| Control of DHW storage charging (with solar collector and supplementary heat generation) DHW-1d · 4 levels | Manual selected control of solar energy or heat generation | Automatic control of solar storage charge (Prio. 1) and supplementary storage charge, demand-oriented supply and return temperature control and multi-sensor storage management | – |
| Sequencing in case of different DHW generators DHW-2b · 5 levels | Priorities only based on running time | Control according to dynamic priority list (based on current AND predicted load, energy efficiency, carbon emissions, capacity of generators AND external signals from grid) | – |
| Report information regarding domestic hot water performance DHW-3 · A · 5 levels | None | Performance evaluation including forecasting and/or benchmarking; also including predictive management and fault detection | highest level |
Worked example
If everything in this domain is at level 0, the domain contributes nothing. At the highest level for all services, the indicative total score for this building type rises by about 8 percentage points (from 31 to 39 percent, with all other domains at level 1).
Why does domestic hot water carry such weight in a care building?
In a nursing home or care facility, hot water is not a one-off event but a constant flow. Residents shower at different times, care requires hot water continuously, and there is no moment when demand stops.
For this reason, the domestic hot water (DHW) domain in the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) receives maximum weight for this building type: 3 out of 3 points. How a building manages this consumption therefore weighs heavily in the final score.
Which smart-ready services belong to this domain?
The first group of services concerns the charging of the hot water storage tank, the reservoir in which water is heated before it is needed. With direct electric heating or an integrated heat pump (service DHW-1a), the functionality level determines whether charging only switches on and off, or also takes account of time-based release and current heat demand.
Service DHW-1b checks whether charging can respond to local renewable energy or to electricity grid signals, such as demand response. For buildings with a solar collector, service DHW-1d describes how solar energy takes priority over supplementary heat generation, up to a level with multisensor storage management.
If a care building has multiple hot water generators, service DHW-2b determines the order in which they are deployed. The highest level takes account of predicted load, efficiency, CO2 emissions and electricity grid signals all at once.
What does reporting on domestic hot water deliver?
Service DHW-3 concerns the information the system returns: temperatures, energy consumption and faults. At the lowest level, this reporting is absent entirely.
At the highest level, the system combines historical data with forecasting and benchmarking, and signals faults before residents experience them. In a care building, this last aspect is not incidental: a fault in the hot water supply directly affects the comfort and health of vulnerable residents.
What this means for you
- Owner
- For the owner of a care building, it is worthwhile to check the existing control of the hot water storage tank against the functionality levels of this domain, because the weight of this domain in the score is at maximum. Investment in demand-driven charging control or fault detection therefore delivers relatively high gains in the Smart Readiness Indicator, alongside a more direct effect on energy costs.
- Tenant
- Residents and care staff notice mainly whether hot water is always available on time, without waiting or temperature fluctuations. A system with fault detection prevents a defect being discovered only after the hot water has already failed.
- Advisor
- When assessing this domain, it is important to check whether the services present actually align with method A or method B of the Smart Readiness Indicator, since not every service counts in both methodologies. Also consider the combination of services: a high level in DHW-2b has little effect if DHW-3 remains at the lowest level.
Next step
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