2011 September

Adding solar thermal to existing buildings and boiler systems is an efficient option for property owners who want to reduce carbon emissions and take advantage of the Renewable Heat Incentive says Firat Ucer.

Too many building services control systems are not ‘intuitive’ and ask too much of the end user. The commercial heating sector must take on board the lessons learned by the IT industry and deliver easy to operate solutions, says Ron Barker.

Potterton Commercial has designed and supplied a Paramount MB package boiler plant for the Heathlands Hotel in Bournemouth. It has 114 bedrooms and is set in its own landscaped gardens in the centre of Bournemouth. It was recently acquired by Britannia Hotels, which noted that the heating system was aged and in a poor state of repair.

MHS Boilers now offers a cascade system for its recently introduced Ultramax Thision L wall-hung boiler. The cascade kit enables a modular system of up to eight boilers to be created and deliver a total output of up to 1140 kW — said to be the most powerful manufacturer-supplied cascade system available in the UK. Three cascade systems are available — wall mounting in line for up to six boilers and freestanding back to back for three to eight boilers.

The theory that will lead to more efficient heating systems served by boilers is often not borne out in practice. Steve Cooper provides food for thought.

With fuel prices soaring and the Renewable Heat Incentive about to kick in, there has never been a better time to look at wood as a fuel source. Mark Northcott examines what you should look at when considering a biomass boiler installation.

With a 10% surplus of oil-seed rape being produced in the UK, Harry Howard discusses the potential for liquid biofuels for boilers — aided by the use of other waste oils.

Efficient boilers and heating systems are the result of a combination of technologies and controls techniques. Are you familiar with all the features explained by Paul Sands?

Ideal Commercial now offers a wall-hung LPG boiler as part of its Evomax range. There are four models with outputs from 30 to 80 kW delivering seasonal efficiencies in accordance with Part L of the Building Regulations and low NOx emissions. They can modulate down to 20% of full output.

Replacing an oil-fired heating system with a biomass boiler from Remeha Commercial is the latest initiative in the campaign to reduce the carbon footprint of the Duchy of Cornwall Nursery at Lostwithiel in Cornwall. This 100 kW boiler serves the newly opened visitors’ centre, shop and cafe building and the new greenhouse area.

Hamworthy Heating is taking its Fleet range of condensing boilers around the country with a roadshow running through to Summer 2012. You can request an invitation to these events, where you will have the opportunity to speak to Hamworthy sales engineers and business-development managers about the Fleet range and the boilers on display.

As part of a £20 million redevelopment of halls of residence at the University of Glamorgan in Pontypridd, MHS Boilers has supplied 10 Ultramax 65 kW wall-mounted condensing boilers and 10 Xpressflo 300 l condensing hot-water generators. The halls are on the Treforest campus, and the equipment will be installed in five plant rooms to provide heating and hot water for over 450 new en-suite rooms.

Glow-worm’s Ultracom2 35 Store boiler combines the benefits of a system store and combi boiler in one package and is suitable for new-build properties and retrofit. Hot water can be delivered with a flow rate of 19.7 l/min through a 35 K temperature rise. These boilers have an output of 35 kW and include two storage cylinders within the unit.

It is now very common for projects to use more than one heat source for space heating and domestic hot water. Integration and control are therefore fundamental to the system design, says Kevin Stones.

Smedegaard’s SimFlex A range of glandless circulators provide all the benefits of variable-speed control and also have permanent-magnet technology to make the motors even more efficient. These pumps are designed to run at a slower speed than many similar pumps on the market, reducing noise levels and maintenance.

Sontay has introduced a new series of water- and heat-metering products to help building-services specifiers and contractors achieve precise and affordable flow and energy metering. The range includes flow sensors, ultra-sonic flow sensors, water meters, compact heat meters and heat-meter integrators. These devices conform to the requirements of the Measuring Instrument Directive and EN 1434, where applicable.

Armstrong has launched a series of pre-designed packaged pump solutions that offer specifiers low first installed cost, reduced footprint and the opportunity for outstanding energy efficiency. Pumps, pipework, controls and motive power are fully integrated, and the packages are made off site for fast and efficient installation.

Durapipe’s Friatherm plastic pipework system has been specified for a boiler refurbishment at Hurst Community College in Hampshire. The main boiler house was being refurbished, and a replacement was need for the existing copper pipework that had galvanised and stopped performing to the required standards.

With EU legislation on the efficiency of electric motors starting to come into effect, and continuing to do so for the next six years, we look at the implications for pumps

Are you one of the crowd that regards commissioning as an expensive luxury? Let Graeme Waugh try to convert you.

The Grundfos ‘Thinking buildings universe’ web site offers building-services professionals a centralised information point that is a one-stop shop for the applications of pumps for commercial building services. The site has been designed to work as an aide during the planning and specification stages, as well as when the selections have been made and systems are operational. At all points during the development of the new system, potential users provided input on what they expected, needed and wanted from such an information hub.

Is the proportional balancing of hydronic systems outdated? That’s a question we asked Andy Lucas.

How does a modern stainless steel pipework system when installed and commissioned compare on price against more traditional BS1387 carbon-steel pipework?

Des Dolan answers the most frequently asked questions regarding plastic pipework systems

Kamco’s ScaleBreaker FX is a vigorous chemical descaling agent that dissolves limescale, rust and corrosion deposits. It can be used to remove scaled from boilers, air-conditioning plant and heat exchangers. The product is circulated through the equipment to be descaled. It reacts immediately, taking deposits into solution. The evolution of carbon dioxide provides visual monitoring of the descaling process.

Grundfos offers a pump-refurbishment service that is designed to ensure that the energy and cost savings achieve their full potential. It is estimated that 70 to 80% of commercial buildings that will exist in 2020 are already built, emphasising the importance of refurbishment to achieve energy savings. In some cases, a pump refurbishment can reduce its energy consumption by up to 80%.

The British Pump Manufacturers’ Associations’ directory and buyers’ guide’ for 2011/12 provides key information about members’ products and services and an update on current directives affecting the pump industry. A new-products section has been added to provide an update to new innovations.

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary has reduced the cost of providing heating and hot water by 15% by converting from shell-and-tube calorifiers to EasiHeat systems from Spirax Sarco. In addition, up to three weeks’ of maintenance work has been saved each year as the old systems had to be stripped down for regular insurance inspections.

Are the pumps in your heating or chilled-water system using anything up to five times more energy than they need to? Dr Arnold Teekaram outlines how to design systems that are inherently more efficient.

Zehnder has enhanced its range of architectural services to train, support and inform the architectural, engineering and construction industry in the specification and installation of its products. In particular, Zehnder provides parametric BIM (building information modelling) objects for its product range. Designed as fully parametric Revit families, the BIM objects can be downloaded from Zehnder’s web site.

As a recently approved CIBSE-accredited CPD trainer, Sontay has introduced its first course for building-services engineers on wireless temperature-sensing systems. The course covers how, for comparison, wired systems are installed into buildings, the evolution of wireless technology into our everyday lives, early wireless sensing devices, wireless technologies available and their differences, how radio systems work, and the advantages of using wireless systems over conventional systems in HVAC control applications.

Geberit has been named supplier of the year by BSS Industrial. Votes are cast on a national basis by various teams across the BSS regions. Geberit won the title after receiving the highest number of marks across a wide range of criteria — including commercial, regional sales, key accounts, logistics and marketing.

Baxi Commercial Division has rebranded its service operation as heateam Commercial Service to provide continuous support for all products supplied under its three key brands — Andrews Water Heaters, Potterton Commercial and Baxi-SenerTec UK. Customers can sign up to a tailored servicing contract for their entire plant, designed to cover all heating and hot-water equipment — including low- and zero-carbon technologies. If the installation includes a mix of Baxi Commercial Division products and equipment from other manufacturers, heateam Commercial Division technicians have the necessary training and expertise.

A free training programme offered by Legrand has already helped over 200 contractors, installers and system integrators with its Arteor range of wiring-devices and home-automation. Gurninder Ghuman, Legrand’s training and technical manager, explains, ‘When we launched Arteor last year, we were fully aware that by combining traditional wiring devices and home-automation solutions in one range we were asking contractors to embrace an installation discipline that had previously been confined to specialist system installers.’

Cooper Lighting & Safety claims to have become the first manufacturer of emergency lighting to gain certification under the new SP203-4 scheme. Launched by British Approvals for Fire Equipment in March 2011, the scheme provides independent third-party certification that a supplier is competent to provide services such as design, commissioning and maintenance of an emergency-lighting systems.

The new CO2 retail refrigeration test plant and training facility of DCI Refrigeration & Electrical of Portsmouth combines a live convenience store with fully equipped training room. For optimum performance, the plant room features Bitzer CO2 semi-hermetic compressors.

Hi-Velocity UK is offering a free sales and marketing training event for M&E consultants and architects. Its aim is to offer useful training to help you stay successful and thrive. As an HVCA company, Hi-Velocity believes that this will help the industry as a whole by providing sales and marketing training for those that may not have had the benefit of it.

Big Foot Systems offers the complete non-penetrative mounting system for photovoltaic panels on a flat roof.

Anglo Nordic is now an appointed UK distributor for the Dwyer range of HVAC products. This range includes instruments for determining pressure drop, air quality, flow temperature, level, process control, data loggers and recorders, test equipment and valves. Common products are available for next-day delivery.

Danlers manufactures a wall mounted passive infra-red occupancy switch that does not require a neutral wire (product code WAPIR). This easy-to-fit, automatic lighting control, complete with over-ride off switch, can be a direct replacement for a wall-mounted switch, saving on installation costs.

Marco now provides a protective seal for all its Elite range of uPVC cable-management systems to protect against damage or marking during installation. The coloured film stays firmly in place until all work is complete, including painting, at which point it can be simply be peeled away. The sealing is included at no extra cost.

MHS Radiators offers an extensive range of LST (low surface temperature) radiators for a multitude of applications. The range consist of Aeroguard, Ecoguard, Safeguard and Slimguard models, which are available in hundreds of permutations. They are all tested to BS EN442, and the casing and grille temperatures comply with NHS guidance. The finish is a durable antibacterial polyester powder coating.

Panasonic’s Etherea air-conditioning range is now available with a KNX interface. All Etherea models (MKE), both split and multi-split, can now be compatible with building-automation systems that help manage business premises and homes remotely.

JS Humidifier’s Condair FF2 high-pressure spray humidifier can deliver up to 1080 kg/h of moisture to a duct or air-handling unit. It is said to be ideal for AHUs with multiple humidification and adiabatic-cooling elements, as a single pump station can feed nozzle grids in up to four different ducts. At maximum output, power consumption is 3.2 kW — with the potential to deliver 745 kW of adiabatic cooling. RH can be controlled to ±4%.

Myson’s iVector range of fan convectors can provide high heat outputs from low water temperatures. and respond rapidly to a room’s heating requirements. There are five models, each with three fan speeds and capable of providing heating and cooling. Maximum outputs range from 4.1 to 11.7 kW with flow/return temperatures of 75/65°C and a room temperature of 20°C, falling to about 40% at minimum fan speed. With flow/return of 45/35°C and a room temperature of 20°C maximum outputs range from 1.4 to 4.4 kW, falling to about 40% at minimum speed.

Buderus GWPL 38 gas-fired absorption heat pumps have an output of 38 kW, with up to 65% of the heat output extracted from the surrounding air. They have the benefit of gas being about a third the cost of electricity. As a renewable technology with NOx emissions qualifying for BREEAM 5, these heat pumps help achieve targets for renewable technologies required for planning permission without high installation or operating costs.

Smith’s Environmental Products’ Eco-Powerad combines the aesthetics of a radiator with fan-convector technology to deliver higher outputs than a radiator of comparable size. There are four models with outputs from 500 W to 2 kW with a flow temperature of 50°C. The built-in fans have a power consumption from 15 W for the smallest model to 36 W for the largest. They can operate effectively with a system water temperature as low as 40°C from, say, a heat pump.

Dimplex’s EC-Eau range of heat-pump hot-water cylinders offers mains pressure hot water for a wide range of light-commercial and domestic applications. These cylinders offer the same efficiencies as the rest of the EC-Eau range. They are available with capacities from 125 to 300 l and are specially designed to match the requirements of Dimplex heat pumps for optimal performance, although they can be used with other heat pumps.

Hager claims that wall switches in is Sollysta range of decorative wiring accessories are the first in the UK to have a neutral loop. The consequence is that switched power can be sent to light fittings without the neutral wire becoming live as is the case when the neutral loop is in the ceiling rose. Lighting circuits can also be connected at the wall rather than in the ceiling recess.

Flakt Woods has redesigned the controller unit for its intelligent demand-based ventilation system. It also has improved connection and expansion options. The i3Fan intelligent adjusts power consumption according to system demands. The new user interface has embedded software that is easier to use and understand. The redesigned hardware can be combined with other remote speed controllers and frequency inverters in Flakt Wood’s e3 range.

Dialight’s LED DuroSite high-bay lighting fitting delivers 14 000 lm with an efficacy of 93 lm/W and is claimed to be the most efficient high-bay luminaire on the market.