Case Studies

Insuring Comfort: Heating Revolution at Grinnell Insurance

The Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company is an insurance company that operates in 12 states throughout the Midwest, reinsuring nearly 300 mutual insurance companies with a 53% market share. It provides reinsurance to the farming, residential, and business communities, and it also insures cars, homes, and recreational vehicles. It was founded in 1909 with roots that can be traced back to the mid-1800s. The company is still based in Grinnell, IA in a 180,000 sq. ft. facility with over 700 employees.

The company has been in the same building since 1961. The heating plant consisted of 10 old, hot water boilers firing # 2 oil. Grinnell Mutual contacted the local rep in the fall of 2007 to look at the project and provide a quote to replace the system. The representative suggested the installation of 10 new Triad Boilers, consisting of five Series 300 space heat boilers firing at 399MBH and five Series 900 space heat boilers firing at 900MBH. Replacing the old boilers was a good opportunity for Grinnell to get rid of the hassles of firing with oil, and instead switch to cleaner burning natural gas.

Installation of the equipment started in the spring of 2008. Due to the compact nature of these boilers, the entire process was simple. With the boilers ready in plenty of time, initial startup of the boilers was completed in fall of 2008.

John Guthrie, the Chief Engineer for Grinnell Mutual, was very happy with the new Triad boilers due to their simplicity of operation and extremely rugged design. An independent energy company stated that the Triad boilers were more efficient than advertised, calculating the energy savings for installing the units at nearly 432 MBTU per year.

Grinnell Insurance is pleased because due to the efficiency of the boilers they received a rebate of $6,965 from their utility, Alliant Energy.

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