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Condair has appointed Julien Taschot as Business Development Manager for its range of industrial and commercial dehumidifiers. Julien’s role will be to develop sales of Condair’s dehumidification systems across the UK and Ireland.

Julien has 11 years’ experience in humidity control having been with Condair in various sales positions across both the UK and French Condair offices. His previous role within Condair was to support international sales of adiabatic humidification systems manufactured in the UK but sold internationally throughout the Condair Group.

Julien comments, “I am delighted to be joining Condair’s UK Sales team and to be playing a central part in Condair’s focus on dehumidification systems. Condair is largely known for adding moisture to the atmosphere with its range of humidifiers so this newly created role within the company highlights Condair’s commitment to this sector.”

Condair’s range of dehumidifiers incorporates both desiccant and condensing technologies and is suitable for any commercial or industrial drying application. Standard capacities range from 0.5-182kg/h extraction rates, -30°C to 40°C operating conditions and dry air volumes from 120 to 25,000 m³/h.

The Condair Group is the world’s leading specialist in humidity control and evaporative cooling, with energy efficient, hygienic and innovative technologies for commercial, industrial and heritage applications. Condair is represented in the UK by Condair plc, which offers system design, manufacture, supply, installation, commissioning, maintenance and spares. You can find out more by visiting the company’s website at www.condair.co.uk.

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Story

On November 27 and 28, the decorating trade will convene at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena for the 2018 National Painting and Decorating Show.

For professional decorators, contractors, merchants and stockists, this is the annual trade event that has the entire decorating sector covered. Paint and wallpaper, preparation tools and applicators, colour trends and time-saving techniques – show visitors will see the latest in product innovation as well as plenty of trusted best sellers.

From Dulux, PlastiKote, tesa and Wagner to Brewers, Crown, 3M, Graco and Benjamin Moore, the 2018 show will again feature hundreds of products, brands and suppliers revealing the latest trends and textures making news across the decorating market.

Every year this show buzzes with product launches, hands-on demos, theatre sessions, show-only deals, free samples, how-to information, competitions, raffles, prize draws, sporting challenges and celebrity guests.

Several special features also help visitors make the most of their time at the show. Making its debut at the 2018 event is SprayZone, designed to take the mystery out of spraying. Visitors will have a hands-on opportunity to hone their paint spraying skills, instructed by experts in the proper and safe use of several different types of equipment.

In the two MasterClass theatres, sponsored by Packexe, again this year industry experts will present practical information and demonstrations, and reveal tricks and techniques of the trade every 30 minutes throughout the two-day show.

The popular Lucky Dip will be back again, making everyone a winner of useful gifts, product samples and promotional items.

The CoffeeZone, sponsored by Crown Decorating Centres, will provide visitors with a welcome break as they shop the show. And each day the first 1000 pre-registered visitors to arrive at the event will receive a complimentary product-packed DecoBag.

The show venue, complete with on-site hotel, parking, restaurants and bars, is easily accessible by road, rail and air. It’s just a two-hour drive from 75% of the country, Birmingham Airport is a short drive away, and an on-site train station provides an hourly service between Coventry City station and Ricoh Arena.

The National Painting and Decorating Show provides visitors with a valuable networking opportunity to meet exhibitors face-to-face, find out who’s doing what in the decorating industry, and exchange ideas and solutions with like-minded decorating professionals.

For FREE tickets, visit www.paintshow.co.uk

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Story

Can one component really make testing easier, safer and faster? Dave Enefer, Devices Product Manager at Crabtree, one of Electrium’s leading brands in electrical components, talks about achieving time and cost savings in periodic circuit testing.

Testing is an essential activity, yet it can often be a time consuming one, whether it has to be repeated annually or more or less frequently at regular intervals.

Obviously, this means that there’s a cost to be budgeted for, with time and labour being the most expensive part. So, if there’s a product on the market that can make testing easier, safer and faster why wouldn’t you use or recommend it?

Responsible social landlords, for example, will have a programme of periodic testing of the electrical installations in the dwellings that they own and rent out. T

hey do this not only because it’s recommended in the IET wiring regulations, regulation 135.1 and Chapter 65, but also to ensure that their tenants have a safe environment in which to live.

In social housing situations periodic testing is often carried out more frequently than other types of installation because every time there is a change of tenant, the housing authority or association will check the electrical installation before the next tenant moves in.

Ordinarily when this involves insulation resistance (IR) testing on circuits that are protected by RCBOs, the circuit cables on the RCBO circuits need to be disconnected.

This is so that the IR tester does not damage the electronic components inside the RCBO, but that slows down the testing process, adds cost and introduces risk.

It takes time to disconnect the live and neutral cables, and attach the test leads to each core in turn in order to carry out the test.

It then takes more time to put those cables back into the terminations on the RCBO and make a secure connection again so that the installation can be put back into use.

However, making that secure connection might mean stripping the cable insulation back a little further to find fresh undamaged conductor cores to put into the terminals (It’s a fact that copper cables can’t be repeatedly disconnected and reconnected without getting damaged from the screw biting into the cable core).

However, all of that can be avoided with Crabtree Miniature RCBOs, as they are two-pole switching devices.

The only thing that has to be done to get a circuit ready for an insulation resistance test is to switch the device off. This saves time and money from your annual budget on essential testing, and provides higher levels of protection for all who interact with it.

In a single second the circuit is ready to test. There’s no need to disconnect the circuit cables, no need to attach test leads, and no need to be concerned about reconnecting cables either. All of which makes this testing process easier, faster, safer and cheaper too.

By taking some of the cost burden away from the regular testing of circuits, it not only makes it more competitive for contractors quoting for ongoing periodic testing but it also then enables the property management company or social landlord to invest more of their increasingly tight budgets into the upgrade of old systems and the implementation of new ones.

Crabtree Miniature RCBOs are just one module wide and the same height as an MCB, so they provide lots of extra wiring space during the installation and test process. Regular maintenance is made safer by the two pole switching capability of the device.

The device also totally isolates any faulty circuit or faulty appliance and provides a much safer environment while waiting for the emergency electrician.

When they arrive, having the faulty circuit fully isolated by a two pole device provides a safe working environment for the task of maintenance or and repair as necessary.

By the way, it’s not just new installations that can benefit from these new and innovative miniature RCBOs.

Crabtree Miniature RCBOs are designed to fit into all Crabtree Starbreaker consumer units, whatever the age of that consumer unit might be.

Crabtree Miniature RCBOs are fully retrofit / backward compatible and can be simply plugged into the fully insulated plug self-connecting busbar system for an easy upgrade from single pole to two pole protection – making the ongoing time and cost benefits from testing readily accessible.

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Story

A cladding system based on a unique safety glass has achieved an outstanding A2 fire-resistance accreditation and is now available to architects and specifiers looking for product re-assurance in the post-Grenfell environment.

Chromatics safety glass has undergone extensive testing by Exova Warringtonfire who awarded it an A2-s1-d0 ‘reaction to fire’ classification. Class A2 means the product is non-combustible as no flashover occurs; s1 is the lowest level of smoke generation and d0 the lowest level for production of flaming droplets or particles.

The system is also lightweight, being up to half the weight of traditional glass cladding solutions.

Not a toughened glass, Chromatics is extraordinarily resilient as a result of bonding together, at a molecular level, glass, organic colour process and metal. This results in a laminate that is visually stunning, durable and opaque and when encapsulated between annealed glass and aluminium gives world’s first optically flat, shatterproof, bomb blast resistant, thermally safe and impact resistant laminate that can be cut, edge worked and drilled after processing.

A full range of RAL colours is available. As an alternative, high definition imagery may be specified.

Products are produced by glass industry specialists Klöpper Maschinentechnik of Dortmund, Germany for UK company Chromatics Glass Ltd
 
 
 
 

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Story

Increased capability all round. That is the simplest way to describe the Powerstar VM160 panel board from Crabtree, one of the leading brands at Electrium.

Designed and manufactured in the UK, this latest generation of Powerstar panel boards offers high standards of protection and control, plus a host of other market-leading, user-friendly features.

Competitive? Definitely. In more ways than you might imagine too. For example, this is one of only two panel boards on the market capable of offering a true Form 4b Type 6 group mounted solution. So, now specifiers and installers have a real choice.

The VM160 offers;

• More outgoing ways (up to 18 in an off the shelf unit)
• Higher current capacity (up to 800A)
• Higher out-goer ratings (up to 160A with 250A add-on options also available)
• Increased breaking capacities (up to 65kA for 1s)
• Adjustable MCCBs
• Four pole device options (incoming & outgoing devices)
• Earth leakage protection (incoming & outgoing devices)
• Metering throughout (incoming & outgoing including MID options)
• Easy fit MCCB control & monitoring accessories.

Jimmy Higginbotham, Product Manager for Commercial Circuit Protection Products at Crabtree comments on the new range: “For discerning contractors the VM160 represents an opportunity to reduce on-site time with labour saving features such as easy wire meters, fast fit coppers, as well as open cableways that provide greater access for cabling.”

The VM160 has been designed for ease of installation. All enclosure keyhole fixings are positioned ‘in’ from the corners to allow easy access for power tools. VM160s’ asymmetrical terminals provide certainty of connection. VM160 also includes “faster fit” copper interconnections at the front of the board (no awkward hand positions or dropped parts from working blind to hold “out of sight” nuts and bolts in place).

The Powerstar VM160 has increased internal cabling space that provides greater access to terminals, while the flat cable ways allow the back plate to be installed and then cables fitted before the side walls and front cover – providing additional working access for wiring, especially important when handling larger cables.

VM160 also benefits from a new range of MCCBs; utilising Siemens technology, and with an enhanced range of easy fit accessories including shunt trips, under-voltage releases and auxiliary contacts, the new MCCBs have increased current ratings and breaking capacities up to 55kA at 415V.

For more information about Crabtree’s new Powerstar VM range, submit a request via: electrium.co.uk/contact-us  

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