PEACHTREE CITY, GA. (June 11, 2014) — Sugarie Bake Shop, a popular, new gourmet bakery in Pleasanton, Calif., is enjoying an endless supply of hot water, lower-than-average energy costs and maximum use of floor space with the help of a Rinnai Ultra Series Condensing Tankless Water Heater.

Knowing the tendency of the average bakery to consume large amounts of energy, husband-and-wife owners Russ Trapani and Natalie Wong emphasized the need for energy-efficient appliances and lighting when opening Sugarie Bake Shop last year. For guidance, they consulted Fisher-Nickel, Inc., in San Ramon, Calif., a company that evaluates contemporary food-service technology to promote energy efficiency in commercial kitchens. One of the options Fisher-Nickel recommended for helping achieve the bakery’s goal was condensing tankless water heating technology.

“With Sugarie Bake Shop, the goal was to try and make the business more energy efficient right out of the gate, and condensing tankless water heaters played an integral role in that strategy,” said David Zabrowski, general manager of Fisher-Nickel. “Condensing tankless water heaters are an excellent option for food service businesses—like Sugarie Bake Shop—that strive for high energy efficiency and don’t have the extra space to accommodate a traditional tank-style water heater.”

Zabrowski discussed the advantages of tankless water heaters over a traditional tank-style water heater in a food service business. And, he provided the bakery owners with some high-efficiency product options to research. Immediately impressed by the concept of tankless technology, Trapani and Wong purchased a Rinnai RU98i Condensing Tankless Water Heater—a perfect fit for their 17-foot by 43-foot business space.

“It just made sense to us. If we had a standard 60-gallon tank water heater, we would either have to give up valuable floor space or reinforce a portion of the ceiling for installation above the bakery. Neither of those options appealed to us because floor space is already limited, and the modifications required to install the tank above the ceiling would have cost thousands of dollars. Even then, we would have had this big tank water heater that’s boiling water all of the time, even when it’s not needed, and that wastes energy,” Trapani said.

Delivering an Energy Factor (EF) of .95 and maximum output of 199,000 Btu, the Rinnai RU98i Condensing Tankless Water Heater offers a large variety of benefits for commercial applications. Its unique design incorporates two innovative heat exchangers to achieve optimum heating value from every cubic foot of natural gas or propane. Considerably smaller than tank-style water heaters, Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters can be mounted on walls, and multiple units can be banked together for redundancy, a higher turndown ratio and greater hot-water capacity.

Sugarie Bake Shop opened in late 2013 and has already made a big splash around the San Francisco East Bay Area with its macarons, as well as its baguettes and pastries. The business is also reaping the benefits of having maximum floor space and the low energy consumption of the tankless water heater and other energy-efficient design choices, such as LED lighting and high-efficiency rack ovens. 

“The beauty of the Rinnai Tankless Water Heater is when we need it, it works,” Trapani said. “When we don’t, it consumes very little energy. We were very pleased with our first energy bill, which was significantly lower than an average bakery’s energy bills. I think the Rinnai Tankless Water Heater is playing an integral role in achieving this level of energy efficiency.”