The operational dilemma
Dalhousie Castle Hotel and Spa, a luxury 13th-century fortress near Edinburgh, reached a critical infrastructure bottleneck. Management planned to deploy a comprehensive electrical upgrade across its 35 en-suite guest rooms and five function suites. The goal was to introduce 40 electric radiators, heated towel rails and a new commercial kitchen.
However, this upgrade meant introducing a massive combined load of approximately 86.5 kW to the site. While the castle’s incoming supply was fused at 400 amps per phase, management had no visibility into their active real-time power consumption. Proceeding blindly risked overloading the main incoming supply, potentially forcing a total power failure that would severely jeopardise guest comfort and daily hospitality operations.
86.5 kW
Total proposed extra load
400 A
Main supply rating per phase
Data-driven resolution via PEL113 loggers
To map out the building's true usage profile, four Chauvin Arnoux PEL113 Power and Energy Loggers were deployed on-site. Because the investigation focused specifically on tracking current patterns, their products allowed the engineering specialist to capture everything cleanly without needing any voltage connections or exposure to live circuits.
Non-invasive deployment
Flexible current sensors were quickly looped around the primary meter tails with zero interruption to the hotel's grid power.
Multi-point analysis
One logger mapped the core incoming supply, while the remaining three simultaneously isolated load profiles at downstream consumer units.
Granular profile logging
The loggers recorded 5-minute aggregated metrics continuously for one full week, ensuring the hotel's absolute peak consumption periods were fully evaluated.
Measurable project impact
| Product outcome |
Direct value to customer |
| Empirical peak verification |
The PEL113 data pinpointed concrete peak currents of 173A on L1, 142A on L2 and 157A on L3. This proved that actual demand was sitting safely below half of the total 400A limit, giving engineering teams solid proof of ample capacity.
|
| By-passed grid interventions |
Armed with verifiable 7-day logs, the client bypassed a complex application process with the Distribution Network Operator (DNO). The data satisfied regulators that an expensive, physically invasive grid utility upgrade was completely unnecessary.
|
| Zero operational friction |
Because the loggers could be mounted non-invasively, the evaluation took place silently in the background. The hotel maintained flawless, high-capacity hospitality operations without a single minute of localised blackouts or downtime.
|
The practical value
Whether confirming maximum real demand, isolating voltage excursions, investigating complex harmonics or validating supply thresholds, Chauvin Arnoux PEL loggers provide accurate, reliable metrics. They turn guesswork into concrete assets, giving engineers and stakeholders the precise intelligence required to complete infrastructure expansions safely and cost-effectively.
{{SessionBasket.ItemCount }}