Case Study 4xFTG800: High River Colony Poultry Barn

The High River Colony is a Hutterite community located about a one hour driving south of Calgary, Alberta, that raises quality poultry products for Alberta consumers. Their production is fully integrated and very respectful of welfare, safety, and quality principles.

In 2017, the Colony decided to build a brand new 30,000 sq. ft. building to accommodate a chicken barn that would significantly increase their production to allow them to properly serve their growing customer base. For the heating system, they decided to trust Frontier Supply Calgary that helped with the design and supplied all the required equipment.

High River Colony needed a heating system that could supply approximately 3,000 MBH of heating year-round for the chicken barn and supply a Domestic Hot Water (DHW) demand of approximately 10 GPM of 140° F water.

Raising chickens in Alberta is not easy, and the heating system is crucial to maintain a steady and reliable source of heat for the entire year. Failures and shutdowns are not an option in this kind of business. Even a few minutes of cold air can kill all the chickens, and with it, the source of revenue for many months to come.

That is why the Colony was looking for a very reliable boiler and a manufacturer that they could trust in case of any need during operations. Together with Frontier, they decided to trust NTI’s FTG Series for its well-known reliability and for the quality and accessible support provided by the company. The Colony already knew NTI and its staff from a number of previous projects using various NTI products, and they had the proof of the care and attention the company puts on serving customer needs, directly in the field when required.

The chosen system was composed of 4 FTG 800s installed side by side in cascade configuration for a total installed nominal power of 3,200 MBH. It included an indirect water heater for typical DHW usage and a high-capacity, brazed-plate heat exchanger to supply the pressure washers for sanitisation of the chicken barn. The four boilers have been singularly vented outside the building, while air intake is drawn from the room.

The installation was done in April 2018 by the High River Colony plumbers, Ed and Michael, with the assistance of Cold Frog Mechanical Service. Once completed, the four FTGs looked perfectly aligned, proud to start their job to heat up the whole building!

The startup and commissioning of the units was done a few months later when all the ancillary systems were in place. NTI personnel directly supervised this activity, a common practice when it comes to high-power, critical installations. Frontier was also present to confirm the installation design.

With simple and quick lead-lag programming, all four of the FTG boilers were connected together into one modular system in less than one hour. A very smooth and quick job made possible by the great work of the entire team, which provided high-quality design, installation, and commissioning.

In term of performance, the system looked exactly like what the Colony was looking for. With a maximum Thermal Efficiency of 95 percent and

total Turn Down Ratio (TDR) of 40:1, an operating range of 80 MBH to 3,200 MBH was achieved. This will lead to excellent energy efficiency and substantial savings on the Colony gas bill. The modular design allows for easy service of individual boilers without taking the entire system off-line, a feature that is critical to keep the system always up and running and to smoothly plan and execute ordinary maintenance.

The Colony recently tested the installation and was able to raise the temperature of the entire building from 40° F to 72° F in less than 1 hour. An exceptional performance for this kind of installation.

“The Chicken Barn was not the first project we designed and supplied for the High River Colony,” says Bob Greenwood at Frontier Supply. “We have supported NTI for many years, especially for their quality and attention to the customers. The introduction of the FTG gave us the opportunity to improve our footprint in the commercial segment and to also extend the reach of the business we do with Canadian companies—something that we are always proud of. In the case of NTI, our trust is very well-placed as customers love their products.”

NTI is proud to contribute to the business of its customers, especially when this means supporting local communities with a strong sense of ethics like the High River Colony. We would like to thank Frontier Supply for the tremendous quality of service and all the people that have contributed to the successful completion of the project.

For more information or to get started on your next project, contact your local NTI representative or visit ntiboilers.com.