2016 March

Contamination in commercial heating systems can be a costly affair, leading to increased running costs and a higher probability of system breakdown. Kevan Peaker of Spirotech highlights some of the key symptoms to look out for in commercial heating systems, many of which are caused by the build up of dirt and air.

DXR controllers from Siemens offer robust control for fan coils, VAV, and fan-assisted VAV units. They have been designed with both new-build and refurbishment projects in mind.

Rinnai UK’s 2016 programme of training modules is designed to engage with heating engineers and contractors as specifiers increasingly turn their sights to the energy-saving benefits of gas-fired continuous-flow water heaters.

The many benefits of underfloor heating, perhaps with cooling, can be maximised with the help of powerful control. Malcolm Jacques of Warmafloor takes up the story.

Inta’s Hiper heat interface unit (HIU) has separate plate heat exchangers for heating and DHW. Features include a factory-set non-electric temperature-control valve to prevent the risk of scalding if the power supply fails. Dual-speed PID control intelligently controls the heat into the plate heat exchange by the electronic modulation of a PICV (pressure-independent control valve).

Marriott International selected Strebel to provide more efficient heating and hot water for its Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club in the West Midlands. The new heating solution comprises three boilers with 10 sections and outputs of 700 kW with Baltur gas burners supplied by EOGB. The improved system provides heat and hot water for the three floors of this 214-room luxury hotel and its full-service spa.

Energy-efficient heating for large high-bay buildings is delivered by Nordair Niche air-rotation heaters by avoiding stratification — hot air accumulating below the roof. The effect is achieved without addition destratification fans/units.

Salem Methodist Church at Cheslyn Hay in Staffordshire has a reliable heating system again following the donation of two boilers by Potterton Commercial for installation by specialist church-heating contractor Christopher Dunphy Ecclesiastical — also free. Potterton contributed two 70 kW Sirius wall-hung boilers.

Rinnai has enhanced the aesthetics of its Energysaver 559FT fanned-convection space heaters, which are widely used in schools, community centres, libraries, conservatories and churches. Changes have also been made to the operation board, which is now an easy-to-use touch-control pad on the top of the unit, rather than on the front with a flip-up cover. A child lock prevents tampering with the controls. The picture shows a humidification tray.

To protect the reliability of LPHW and HWS systems in a care home in Sheffield, Mikrofill supplied gas-fired condensing boilers for a localised plantroom and Extreme 300 l loading cylinders to meet the hot-water demand in each bungalow.

As part of its drive to improve sustainability and reduce carbon emissions, Stroud School in Hampshire has installed two Hoval biomass boilers. They provide space heating and domestic hot water for the main building and two new buildings. The school had previously used LPG boilers.

Comfort and fuel economy have both been massively improved following the replacement of warm-air-heating in an aircraft hangar at RAF Brize Norton. Base Hangar’s gas bill in 2012 was £800 000 a year. The installation of an AmbiRad Nor-Ray-Vac continuous-tube radiant heating system has reduced fuel costs by 75%.

The Renewable Heat Incentive scheme is crucial to the UK’s long-term decarbonisation efforts, believes Justine Grant of Team.

Combat’s multi-burner radiant-tube heating system is available in a wide variety of zoning options. They include herringbone, flag and T configurations. Multiple burners per pump reduce installation costs and the number of building penetrations. The system uses Blackheat burners.

Lochinvar has upgraded its popular CPM range of condensing, gas-fired, stainless-steel, wall-hung boilers in line with the requirements of the European Eco-design of the Energy related Products (ErP) Directive. Lot 11 of this directive requires that integrated glandless circulating pumps have a maximum Energy Efficiency Index (EEI) no higher than 0.23. The revamped boilers all contain an A-rated integral fully modulating pump.

Stewarts Plumbing, an underfloor-heating installation specialist in Warwickshire, specified Polypipe plastic plumbing and underfloor heating for its new offices. The system chosen for heating was the Overlay, which is well suited to retrospective installation as it is installed over the existing floor and is only 18 mm deep.

Ideal Commercial Boilers’ Imax Xtra EL range of floor-standing condensing boilers is available in five models with outputs from 320 to 620 kW. They have a single aluminium silicon alloy heat exchanger and are suitable for single and multiple installations for fully pumped, open-vented or pressurised systems.

Rehau has created BIM (Building Information Modelling) models for its district-heating pipework ahead of the deadline in April 2016 for BIM Level 2. BIM models are available for the Rauvitherm and Rauthermex pre–insulated polymer pipework systems.

Engineered heating solutions can answer the challenges of installations that aren’t suitable for off-the-shelf products. They offer the flexibility required to meet the heating needs of ‘problem’ buildings, explains Joe Kiernan of Reznor.

This overdoor air curtain from Boon Edam is specifically designed for revolving doors to prevent cold air entering the building as the door revolves. The main body of the heater unit is mounted above the revolving door and has curved air outlets to create a warm barrier around the inner opening of the door.

Trench heating has provided an effective alternative to radiators for heating a living room in Kenilworth Cottage in Cheltenham, owned by Richard Wheatley. He explains, ‘The room previously had a great big radiator on the back wall. It limited what we could do with the room. If we were to put a sofa in front of it, it would block the heat from circulating around the room and potentially damage the furniture over the course of time. The room also features large French windows.’

Stelrad now offers a heavy-duty version of its popular Planar radiators for applications such as nursing homes, factories, sorting offices, and commercial premises where trolleys, wheelchairs and tractor units may accidentally nudge the radiators.

The largest parish church in England and a Grade 1 listed building, Holy Trinity Church in Hull, is now heated by an Imax Xtra EL 620 kW floor-standing condensing boiler from Ideal Commercial boilers. It was installed as part of a major overhaul of the heating system which was itself part of a £4.5 million project to transform the church into an events venue for Hull being the UK City of Culture in 2017.

EcoPowerad fan convectors from Smith’s have been paired with an air-source heat pump for a new heating system to replace an oil-fired boiler and radiators in a home in Norfolk. The fan convectors have been installed in downstairs rooms, with traditional radiators upstairs in the bedrooms.

Replacing ageing boiler plant in heating systems has become an important undertaking in commercial buildings, but as Peter Gammon of ELCO Heating Solutions explains, there are some considerations to be made.

Oventrop’s projects division has designed, supplied, installed and commissioned a 2000 m2 Cofloor underfloor heating system at the new Cardiff & Vale College. This campus covers an area of 16 000 m2 and is close to the centre of Cardiff. It will eventually house 4000 students, 250 staff and offer 200 course options.

One of Europe’s leading equestrian training centres has chosen Bio-Nordic to design and install a decentralised energy network based around a modular Ariterm biomass system. Two Biocomp PX 60 kW wood-pellet boilers are at the heart of the group-heating network at Yorkshire Riding Centre to heat several buildings — including the Courtyard Guest House, its adjacent accommodation block and other lodges and chalets.

Powrmatic has supplied two radiant U-tube heaters to provide effective temperature control for the warehouse of Keim Mineral Paints in Telford. These natural, water-born silicate paints produce a micro-porous coating that is waterproof while allowing the substrate to ‘breathe’. Given the complex formulation of the paints, environmental conditions in the warehouse are critical to maintaining product quality.

Heat interface units (HIUs) have a key role to play in enhancing the user experience of community heating and maximising its efficiency. Colin Judd of BSRIA explores the issues.

A major remodelling and refurbishment programme for the Tait building of City University, which houses two departments and a lecture theatre has utilised several ranges of air-terminal products supplied by Waterloo Air Products. Essential requirements for the project were good air flows and aesthetics.

Gas bills for heating and hot water at St Catherine’s College in Cambridge have been reduced by 25% following the installation of new boilers and an upgrade of the heating system. Hamworthy Wessex ModuMax boilers were chosen on the basis of experience of neighbouring King’s College and replaced Hamworthy Lulworth L10 (1050 kW) steel boilers.

Eclipse Magnetics offers a universal flush adaptor attachment to enable installers to carry out routine system flushes quickly and easily by attaching flushing equipment to its BoilerMag boiler filter, using the filter as the access point. This adaptor can be attached to the back of the BoilerMag port block in just a few seconds and is compatible with screw-fit or female cam-lock hoses — so that a wide range of flushing equipment can be used.

With new regulations to improve the energy efficiency of buildings coming into force from 1 April 2018, the time for landlords to act is now, says James Porter, Sales Director at Remeha Commercial. And when it comes to quick wins, you need look no further than the trusty condensing boiler.

As part of major renovation of the heating-distribution and complex ventilation system of the Happyland leisure centre in Klosterneuburg, Austria, 45 Belimo EPIVs (electronic pressure-independent control valves, the orange units in the picture) were installed on eight distribution circuits during operation to avoid loss of revenue.

Customised Powrmatic Vision 2.3 condenserless heat-pump air conditions have been installed in guest rooms as part of a major refurbishment of Whittlebury Hall conference, training centre and hotel, close to the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire. 55 units were installed, and they were selected for their ability to meet key criteria relating to internal and external aesthetics, as well as speed of installation and ease of use.

Planning for the worst can seem like a daunting task but understanding how your business and its facilities will cope in a disaster is incredibly important. Russ Baker of the hire division at ICS Cool Energy outlines why a business continuity plan is so important and the basics of putting one in place.

Political enthusiasm for reducing carbon emissions continues to run high. Martin Passingham of Daikin UK outlines recent building energy-efficiency legislation and how the efficiency of an existing climate control system can be improved as part of the industry’s response.

Santander is set to achieve energy savings of more than 50% with an upgrade of its lighting infrastructure. A fully funded LED lighting retrofit will see 90 000 new lights installed across the bank’s UK estate of 800 branches and 13 office buildings. The project involves GE Lighting delivering lighting services throughout the 10-year contract, which includes optimised system design, installation, maintenance and management.

Numerous users of AET’s Flexible Space underfloor air-conditioning systems are benefiting from improved operation and energy efficiency following major controls upgrades. They include clients such as Jaguar Land Rover, Tag Farnborough and Bloomberg.

To meet the growing demand for charging devices such as smartphones and tablets via their USB socket, Nadine Deery, channel marketing manager with MK Electric, suggests replacing existing power points with USB-integrated switch sockets. She argues that retrofitting with USB is a strong investment case for hotels, offices, airports and universities.

Vortice has seen double-digit growth year on year since 2009 — with 2015 being a record year for its ventilation-system business. Product development at the company’s Milan headquarters has been focused on energy-efficient ventilation for many years, thus mirroring the trend for energy-efficient products in many global markets.

When the existing boilers at Sir William Romney’s School in Tetbury started to fail, swift action was needed to restore heating and hot-water services before the start of the new term. Hewer Facilities management won the contract and installed four Remeha Gas 210 Eco Pro 5-section condensing boilers of 160 kW each. and a Remeha 500 l unvented hot-water cylinder.

UK ventilation manufacturer EnviroVent marked the production of its millionth Filterless Extract Fan by presenting a special-edition gold version to Fife Council. These fans are designed for the social-housing sector and have been produced for 12 years. The company estimates that over 25 000 are in operation in properties owned by Fife Council since 2004.

The major refurbishment of Sea Containers House on the south bank of the River Thames in London includes the use of Wieland Electric’s Metalynx2 modular wiring system. The building has been converted to a luxury hotel with 359 bedrooms and 33 000 m2 of office accommodation.

With increasingly stringent regulations regarding building energy performance, LED lighting is often seen an easy way to get those energy bills down. But the latest lighting solutions can offer more than a simple quick fix — as Mike Attard of RIDI Lighting explains.

Trads, which specialises in traditional radiators and baths, has invested £40 000 in new lifting and testing equipment to meet growing demand for its cast-iron radiators and improve product quality. A surge in business in the UK market during the past two years has prompted the purchases to help stay ahead of competitors, particularly from China.

Rinnai continuous-flow water heaters now provide hot water for a family shower block at Nicholaston Farm Campsite on the Gower Peninsula near Swansea. There are 12 separate cubicles for families. The showers are served by LPG, and the system provides the option to add more showers at a later date.

Reznor part of Nortek Global HVAC (UK) Ltd, Europe’s leading developer and manufacturer of energy-efficient HVAC systems, has developed EnviroPak, a new generation of gas-fired heaters to provide combined heating and ventilation with optional cooling.

Following a company restructure ATAG Commercial has moved to new headquarters in Basildon. The move follows the acquisition of ATAG by the Ariston Thermo Group, which already bases a number of its UK companies from the same offices in Basildon.

Kingspan has announced its first delivery partners for its KoolDuct insulated ductwork system. They are CG3, GB Air Solutions, Pascal Air, Sterling Thermal, Technicool and West Mercia Air. These highly experienced partner firms have been selected based on their extensive industry knowledge and have undergone further rigorous training from Kingspan Insulation.

Plummeting oil and gas prices are not a reason to abandon energy efficiency — especially with legislation affecting commercial buildings soon to come into effect, says Tim Rook of the Building Engineering Services Association.