A five-star spa is deeply dependent on water quality
Bad Wörishofen has always been synonymous with natural, healing spa water. In the famous spa town, water is as valuable as pure gold. Unfortunately, the town's water is very hard and calcareous. The high lime content is a challenge for the many spa hotels - including the five-star Steigenberger Hotel "Der Sonnenhof", which has been one of the city's finest hotels for almost 90 years.
At "Der Sonnenhof", water is a very important ingredient when it comes to making hotel guests feel comfortable. That's why the hotel takes extreme care to ensure the best possible water quality. The hotel's Technical Director Maik-Thomas Goetzke, who is also a qualified electrician, is familiar with all building installations - and keeps a close eye on the drinking water supply: "We like to say that water is the elixir - it is the elixir of life itself. Here in our spa town, it even has a healing effect. Unfortunately, it also contains a lot of calcium," says Maik-Thomas Goetzke.
Major problems with drinking water
The drinking water in Bad Wörishofen is extremely hard with an average hardness of 20.5° dH, and Maik-Thomas Goetzke has spent a long time finding a sustainable lime protection solution for the hotel's drinking water installations. "We have put a lot of effort into maintaining the quality of our drinking water ourselves. However, we continued to have problems with pressure fluctuations in the drinking water pipes, among other things. Above all, our heat exchangers quickly calcified, so we had to descale them at least once a year," says the Technical Director.
Finally found a suitable solution
Maik-Thomas Goetzke had previously heard of an American system that he liked, but the downside was that this system was not DVGW certified. However, Goetzke didn't give up and after a long search found what he was looking for on the internet: "I came across the BIOCAT systems from WaterCryst. To find out more and get to know both the systems and the company, I visited their stand at the ISH trade fair," says Goetzke. From there, everything went very quickly and planning was very targeted.
The "Sonnenhof" project was an exciting challenge with a unique SPA and wellness area with saltwater and freshwater pools, whirlpools, waterfalls, sauna facilities, and steam baths.
One incident showed how well the facility works
"It was one particular incident that proved to us how well the BIOCAT system works," Goetzke recalls. A defect in the existing heating system caused the BIOCAT system to remain in thermal sanitization mode. The drinking water ran, as it does during disinfection, directly through the by-pass and no longer through the granulate.
"We hadn't yet integrated the plant into the control system, so we didn't get any error messages on the computer. But it was quickly realised when the cleaning staff alerted us that something was wrong with the water. They suddenly needed more detergent, so something had to be wrong," says Goetzke, who quickly rectified the problem with a proper installation of the heating system.
The system works flawlessly and has been worth the effort
Goetzke continues: "This incident showed us that the BIOCAT system doesn't just work on paper, but contributes significantly to making limescale stains easier to remove. And all this without chemicals and without changing the natural composition of the water. We continue to have the heat exchangers checked every year. Not for the sake of cleaning, but because we want to see if limescale can still be found despite the installation. Since 2013, however, we have not noticed any calcification, which shows that it has been worth the effort. That BIOCAT limescale protection works as it should," concludes Sonnenhof's Technical Director.