In December of 1998, the 170-unit St. Petersburg North La Quinta® Inn in St. Petersburg, FL, replaced its three aging water heating systems. The previous systems were more than 10 years old, and wisdom dictated replacing them before they failed and created an emergency which would leave guests high and dry.
Since La Quinta has been purchasing A.O. Smith water heaters for the past five years for its entire chain of more than 230 inns and 70 inns and suites, the selection of A.O. Smith as the manufacturer of the replacement equipment was a natural choice. For this particular inn, the chain specified three Cyclone XHE® BTH-150, 150,000 Btu units. The Cyclone offers 94% thermal efficiency and La Quinta hoped to take advantage of the changeout to reduce its water heating costs.