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An established care home in Swindon is a warmer and safer place thanks to the specification of Stelrad LST radiators as part of an overall refurbishment project. The Ridings Care Home provides 32 self-contained flats offering a mix of one and two bedroomed accommodation, for a mix of active elderly individuals and couples, some with 24 hour care needs.

The care home – one of many owned and managed by The Guinness Partnership – used to feature an ageing electric underfloor heating system with electric immersion heaters providing hot water. As well as being ‘past its sell by date’, it was expensive to run option and needed upgrading and replacing with modern energy efficient and reliable heating options. Hewer FM, based in Gloucester was selected to replace the heating for the care home and the old system was ripped out and replaced by a traditional wet heating system using three modern gas fired condensing boilers to provide the heating source, and two further gas boilers operating in conjunction with solar thermal and solar PV panels to preheat the cylinder and provide hot water.

Because of the differing levels of disability and care requirements in the home, LSTs – low surface temperature radiators – were selected. These comply with the strict requirements of the NHS Guidance Note for ‘Safe hot water and surface temperature’ and can be installed in domestic, commercial and public buildings running heating systems with total public safety assured. The surface temperature of these LSTs will never exceed 43°C. It’s for buildings such as these that Stelrad’s LST range has been designed, to ensure that elderly and vulnerable people cannot suffer the serious dry burns that are possible from falls against standard radiators where the surface temperatures can exceed 70 degrees Celsius.

In all, more than eighty Stelrad LSTi Plus K2 radiators were supplied for this project to heat the flats, the corridors and other public areas of the care home and The Guinness Partnership is very happy with its investment so far: “When you are providing a home for elderly tenants, warmth and safety are the two key features of the property and the Stelrad LSTi’s, as part of this new heating system, offer both perfectly,” says The Guinness Partnership’s Oliver Wilkinson. “As well as being effective and safe, they are aesthetically pleasing and blend in nicely in both the rooms and the wider care home – the covers for the radiators look good and have rounded edges to ensure there are no sharp edges to touch or fall against and have the added benefit of being finished in a long-lasting anti-bacterial coating which is perfect for an environment such as this. The smooth fronted casings are easy to keep clean and hygienic.”

HewerFM’s John Hendzel was the contract manager responsible for the Ridings project: “The LST i Plus from Stelrad is supplied with the addition of an integral remote sensing thermostatic valve to allow adjustment of room air temperature, making it even more energy efficient than other LST radiators, as well as offering an arthritic adaptor that makes it far easier for older people who may have grip problems to adjust the level of heat in their rooms. There are also additional components to discourage unauthorised tampering for the radiators situated in public areas of the building. Importantly the LST i Plus features curved casing edges which ensures no square edges to damage anyone falling against it. The design has been well thought through and provides an ideal solution for heating in a property such as this one.”

Each Stelrad LST emitter provides high outputs through convection for outstanding heat performance and is guaranteed to perform to a maximum working pressure of 116 psi (8 bar) and conform to BE EN 442 – the European standard for radiators.
Full details of the range of Stelrad LSTs can be found at its website at www.stelrad.com.

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Monitoring the performance of water and energy saving initiatives is essential to demonstrate the benefits, ensuring that systems operate to specification and are tuned for maximum savings to deliver fast pay-back on investments. And London based PA Energy who specialise in the supply, installation and ongoing monitoring of turnkey sub-metering systems have used Micronics ultrasonic, clamp-on flow and heat metering products to good effect on a wide range of water and or energy saving projects.

The projects have included rainwater harvesting, fuel cell and solar/thermal installations on commercial buildings in the London area and the simple clamp-on, non-invasive solutions from Micronics have offered significant advantages over the traditional alternative of in-line meters and their requirement for system drain-down, pipe cutting, re-filling systems and the associated costs, which are all avoided by the use of a clamp-on solution.

For the rainwater harvesting project a claim for a reduction in the sewage charge is being developed by using a Micronics U3000 to demonstrate how much rainwater is being dumped to sewage by metering the amount of water being pumped into a grey water tank in comparison to the boosted cooling water entering the tank. Another application was measuring the LTHW heat flow from a fuel cell calorifier again with a U3000 to demonstrate the performance of the fuel cell process. And yet another was monitoring the heat transfer/performance from a solar/thermal panel by measuring the water /glycol mix and differential flow and return temperature with a heat calculator to calculate heat transfer to the buffer vessel heat exchanger to demonstrate the performance of the solar/thermal system i.e. that it was performing to specification.

PA Energy selected clamp-on ultrasonic flow meters for the clear advantages of being low cost, non disruptive and simple to install in comparison to in-line meters and Micronics were selected as the supplier due to a combination of their long-term experience with non-invasive, clamp-on technology, product performance and pre-order assistance.

PA’s Managing Director – Percy Albuquerque says “The Micronics clamp-on flow meters have proved to be an effective component in providing accurate water flow and heat measurement data for our web based aM&T plus data analysis services. The product performance has been good, even on partially filled pipes and on the rare occasions that we have had application problems the Micronics support has been good.”

The potential for similar use is significant and PA’s experience is an example of how clamp-on, ultrasonic technology can be successfully implemented to gather information and demonstrate the performance of water and energy saving installations. For further information call +44(0)1628 810456, or visit www.micronicsflowmeters.com.

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In HVAC system terms, heat recovery is a process of capturing, and putting to good use, heat that would, in the normal course of events, be “rejected to atmosphere”. One example is heat energy that is absorbed and rejected by an air conditioning system during its cooling cycle. This, to all intents and purposes, is free heat that can be successfully redirected for space heating, domestic water heating or any other process that requires heat.

Heat recovery is being successfully applied in all types of buildings, schools, manufacturing plants and office buildings. It typically provides a very attractive return on investment for building owner/operators.

Hotels with their relatively high year-round internal cooling loads combined with high hot water demand are excellent opportunities for “green” heat pump, heat recovery chiller technology.

Importantly, heat pump heat recovery systems can allow for substantially downsizing or even eliminating fossil fuel, combustion based heating equipment such as gas boilers. This was the case in a project undertaken and described here by the Daikin Distributor, Space Airconditioning plc.

Space Air has enjoyed a partnering agreement with a leading UK hotel group for over 20 years and, for a refurbishment project in the heart of London, supplied a 320kW Daikin air-cooled chiller with a heat recovery option. In addition to satisfying specific, almost continuous cooling demands, this chiller also provides warmed water to 4 x 500 litre indirect DHW cylinders.

The hotel’s hot water supply is pre-heated by the chiller’s heat recovery process; this in turn dramatically reduces the output required of new high efficiency gas fired water boilers.

The result is significant kW savings in energy and huge reductions in mains gas consumption.

The Hotel Group had committed to refurbish the Covent Garden Hotel including all guest bedrooms as well as function rooms, reception areas and restaurants.

Space Air technicians in conjunction carried out a survey with the hotel’s maintenance company. It was determined that whilst the existing Air Handling Unit serving the common areas and restaurants etc. was in good condition and could be re used, an existing air cooled chiller needed replacing, due to the fact that it was designed to operate with R22 refrigerant (the use of which for service purposes will be banned from 2015) and was in a state of disrepair with only one working compressor circuit.

The concept that a new Daikin Chiller to replace the old machine, could also provide cost effective heat recovery features, created interest because the hotel’s existing gas boilers were due to be replaced.

Space Air presented the features and specification of the Daikin Heat Recovery system to the client. Space Air was able to illustrate cost savings the Heat Recovery option would provide, and combined with the reduced costs for the smaller gas boilers, substantial reductions in the hotel’s hot water services operational costs could be realised.

The Hotel group decided it made good financial sense to proceed with the Heat Recovery option.

The new Daikin heat recovery chiller operates 24/7 and an existing back up (cooling only) Daikin chiller is only used in case of unlikely
failure. This means the new chiller provides virtually continuous pre-heated water for the DHWS.

On a seasonal basis it has been calculated that the chiller will produce an average of 236.6kW of hot water, free of charge. This takes into account the chiller operating for 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 day a year (8760 hours).

Four x 500 Litre indirect cylinders provide pre-heated water on a separate circuit to the secondary heat exchanger in the basement, which serves the main feed to the showers, and DHWS for the hotel guestrooms.

Allowing for losses in the cylinders and pipework etc., the system achieves delta T of approximately 20°C. So the mains water supply to the DHWS heat exchanger is increased by this temperature rise resulting in a much lower demand than usual on the new gas boilers.

To put this into perspective the cost to heat 2000L of water based on a ∆T of 20°C with a gas boiler was calculated and compared with the ‘extra’ cost of providing a heat recovery option on the chiller price to perform the same function.
Approx. 46.44kWh (per hour) of energy is required. Over one year based on 24/7, 365 days (8760 hours) operation and with gas at 4p per kWh, the cost of gas would be approx. £16k.

The premium cost for the optional HR circuit on the Daikin Chiller plus the required tanks, pumps, pipework etc. Installed = £30/40k (Estimated). This equates to a payback period on the investment of less than 3 years.

So far the client is delighted with the cost savings achieved and is looking to apply similar heat recovery principles in more of his property portfolio.

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FAKRO FTT U6 triple-glazed roof windows have been used in combination with in-roof solar thermal panels of the same size in a self-build within Bath’s Central Conservation Area. Head of Sustainable Design at Architects Stride Treglown, Rob Delius installed 6 FAKRO roof windows and 6 FAKRO solar thermal panels using B12/1 horizontal combination flashings on the south aspect. Airtightness was key to the highly sustainable design and with an installed U-value of 0.81W/m2K the FAKRO FTT U6 performance surpasses Passivhaus requirements.

The building, which utilises passive stack ventilation, also has a rainwater harvesting system, green roof area, PV tiles and  sheepswool insulation.

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Saint-Gobain PAM UK has been awarded a major contract to supply more than 70km of its EN545 approved Natural ductile iron pipe range for a flagship project for Wessex Water.

The water company is constructing a number of schemes as part of its water supply grid project to help meet future demand without developing new sources. The project will allow Wessex Water to improve the security of supply for customers – even in the event of a catastrophic failure – and meet reductions in abstraction licences required by the Environment Agency to improve flows in some rivers and protect their ecology. It will also help deal with seasonal or occasional deteriorating raw water quality – particularly increasing concentrations of nitrates at some groundwater sources – as well as meeting future water supply demands. It includes the construction of a new water main to transfer water from the south of Wessex Water’s region, in Dorset, to Salisbury in Wiltshire via Blandford and Shaftesbury.

Due for completion by 2018, much of the pipeline route passes through the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has been designed to avoid environmentally sensitive areas.

The first order will see around 17km of DN350 pipe supplied for a twin main section between Sturminster Marshall and Snowsdown.

Wessex Water held a number of initial consultations with Saint-Gobain PAM UK to discuss the options for pipe materials. Ductile iron was ultimately selected by Wessex Water for the majority of the project for its strength. The design was able to achieve a bed and haunch to support the pipe, which has reduced the import and export of materials, lowering the impact on the environment. Ductile iron pipes also offer installation flexibility, with multiple pipes in a single trench, as well as a relatively short and discreet installation period, meaning trenches do not need to be left open for extended periods. With the native soils being primarily chalk, the ability to rapidly backfill trenches quickly is key, as chalk left at a trench side for long periods could be exposed to the effects of heavy rainfall, making it more difficult to reinstate.

The Natural range, available in diameters from DN350DN to DN600DN, offers strong corrosion resistance in soils with resistivity as low as 500ohm cm through its 400grm Zinc Aluminium alloy protection. The protective coating also eliminates the need to identify transition points between medium and low resistivity soils, where alternative systems may require a change from standard to supplementary protection.

Simon Cottingham, Director of Key Accounts and Major Projects at Saint-Gobain PAM UK, commented: “We worked closely with the Wessex Water team to define the scope of the project and recommend a solution which would allow the customer to benefit fully from the performance attributes offered by ductile iron pipes. We are very proud of taking part in this project and contributing to its success.”

Davin Eversett, Project Manager at Wessex Water commented: “Wessex Water’s project management team in conjunction with the internal design and procurement teams have worked with Saint-Gobain PAM UK in the development of this pipeline and concluded that ductile iron pipes will offer the lowest whole life cost as well as the flexibility to deliver what will be a challenging construction programme.”

Visit www.saint-gobain-pam.co.uk for more information on the products and services offered by Saint-Gobain PAM UK.

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The U3000 & U1000 latest generation of clamp-on, ultrasonic flow meters from Micronics are a viable alternative to in-line meters for HVAC metering, in both retrofit and new build applications, delivering major installation savings, minimal downtime, maximised availability and significant maintenance benefits.

Liquid flow metering including LTHW, Chilled water and DHWS plus flow measurement for Thermal Energy measurement are all areas where clamp-on meters offer a best value solution for Building Services or Energy Management i.e. they will be significantly cheaper to install than traditional in-line meters and as they’re non-invasive they deliver maximum availability through dry servicing and minimal maintenance.

The larger the pipe size the greater the installed saving will be but with the elimination of flanges and by-pass valves significant savings are available for a wide range of pipe sizes with major savings for larger applications! The following is a comparison of new build installation costs the comparable savings for retrofit would be higher:

The above demonstrates the potential installation price savings from using a clamp-on solution, which would deliver an installed clamp-on meter price with savings ranging from significant to major from 50mm upwards. And with the added benefits of being non-invasive, requiring only dry servicing and maximising availability. Call+44 (0) 1628 810456 or visit www.micronicsflowmeters.com for further info.

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As the requirement for cleaner heating solutions gathers pace, condensing biomass boilers – boilers that burn wood pellets made from recycled sawdust or virgin timber from managed sources – are increasingly being seen as sensible options for people looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

One of the leading manufacturers of wood pellet boilers is Grant UK, a company that has been designing and manufacturing reliable, high quality, easy to install heating products for more than 35 years. Perhaps best known for their award winning oil fired condensing boilers, Grant UK has expanded its business very successfully into the new world of renewable heating technologies, offering the most efficient air source heat pumps, a sector leading eco efficient solar thermal system as well as the Spira Wood Pellet boilers – all in a range of sizes that would complement virtually any UK residence.

Grant has welcomed The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) decision to include the Grant Spira range of Condensing Wood Pellet Boilers in the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme (RHI). The MCS approved Grant Spira Condensing Wood Pellet boilers are available in outputs of 6kW up to 72kW and deliver efficiencies up to 97.4% which is impressive by any standard. Models are available for domestic properties or small scale commercial installations, the latter achieved by using two boilers mounted side by side. The solution is very efficient as the precise electronic burner control allows both units to modulate as one, down to just 25% of maximum load when the full output is not required.

With most pellet burning boilers, up to 20% of the energy that is produced is lost to atmosphere via the flue system. The Spira range features a unique secondary condensing heat exchanger designed to capture some of this lost latent heat energy, conveying additional warmth for the home. It’s just one example of the intelligent, value added design features you can expect from Grant UK products.

The Grant Spira Wood Pellet boiler requires very little maintenance in comparison with other wood pellet appliances. It has a self-cleaning system for the primary and secondary heat exchangers ensuring the system is debris free. The self-cleaning burner uses a premium EN Plus A1 standard pellet with low ash content, requiring minimal maintenance.

Wood pellet boilers are generally larger than traditional oil or gas boilers and will require a hopper to store the fuel, sited adjacent to the boiler. The Grant Spira is designed to be located in a garage, store or outhouse building, so it’s important to consider its position prior to installation. In addition, ventilation is a crucial factor for the appliance and the flue in order that its operation is safe and efficient. The boiler has an automated cleaning cycle which does result temporarily in an increase in noise levels, so that too should be considered when selecting a location for the boiler.

The Pellet storage is available in capacities from 3 to 6 tonnes. Pellets can be auger fed from storage hoppers into the intermediate pellet store supplied as standard with the boiler. Alternatively, for installations where an auger fed hopper is unsuitable, there is the Grant SpiraVac unit which swiftly and conveniently moves the pellets from the Grant external store to the internal Spira boiler hopper via vacuum hose. The system enables the bulk pellet store to be positioned up to a distance of 20 metres from the boiler.

Managing Director of Grant UK, Paul Wakefield says: “Our training team are seeing a huge increase in demand for knowledge in this arena and courses are at capacity.” Full details of the Grant UK Spira Wood Pellet boiler range and accessories can be found at www.grantuk.com.

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Wavin – a leading supplier of water management, plumbing and drainage systems for the building, construction and utilities markets – has upgraded all insulation products in its Thermoboard Underfloor Heating (UFH) range so that it is now easier for builders and developers to score highly when following the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH).

The upgrades affect Thermoboard Low-Build, Pocketed Polystyrene and Foiled Polystyrene heating panels, improving both their strength and environmental characteristics.

The change in the extruded polystyrene insulation employed means that Long Term Strength is now 300% of what it was and that its Global Warming Potential (GWP) has been reduced to less than 5. Compressive Strength has risen from 200kPa to 300kPa while the figures for Long Term Strength, over 50 Years with 2% compression, have risen from 40kPa to 130kPa.

The reduction in GWP benefits all properties being assessed against CSH, where credits are awarded when all insulants used within a property have a GWP of less than 5. Now builders and developers following the Code can attain higher scores with minimal effort.

The Thermoboard range of products provides the ideal answer to surface heating and cooling within any domestic or light commercial environment, being designed and tested to the highest industry standards.

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Iron technology leader Saint-Gobain PAM UK, part of leading international materials company, Saint-Gobain, has further demonstrated its environmental commitment through several major investments at Holwell, near Melton Mowbray, including one which has seen CO2 emissions from its cupola furnace – the biggest of its kind in the UK – fall dramatically.

The previous installation of a dry bag filter system has meant particulate emissions have been reduced by 99 per cent from the cupola furnace. As a result, emissions are now less than 0.3kg per tonne of castings, while the company has reduced site water use by 63 per cent and electricity by 9 per cent, and completely eliminated the use of caustic soda previously employed for cleaning the wet filtration system. The move also brings a reduced risk to permitted drainage discharge points.

A second substantial investment has been the installation of a heat exchanger to recover waste heat from combustion gases. The energy regained by the heat exchanger will be used to re-heat input air to the furnace, resulting in an annual saving of 2,200 tonnes of CO2. A new control system has also been established at Holwell, which will facilitate both the cupola furnace’s filter system and the new heat exchanger.

Paul Minchin, Managing Director of Saint-Gobain PAM UK, added: “It is important to us that we continue to invest in measures that will put environmental savings at the forefront of business. The investment in the cupola furnace’s new filtration and heat recovery system has reduced CO2 emissions enormously, and is just one example of our business ethos, which has minimising our environmental impact at its heart. These measures will pave the way for further developments in optimising energy use, reducing gas consumption, use of low level waste heat and the recycling of collected particulates.

“The investment also shows our commitment to maintaining a UK manufacturing base, with our site near Melton Mowbray providing a truly local service to UK customers, removing the supply chain delays which can occur with imported products.”

For further information visit www.saint-gobain-pam.co.uk/access-press.

Pictured in front of the cupola: project team members (left to right) Richard Brown, John Mcleod, Tim Benton

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British Gas (the UK’s leading supplier of services to energy customers) has recently started using Hep2O plastic systems alongside, or instead of Copper for installations. This now means that British Gas’s network of around 10,000+ engineers and the many thousands of heating projects they install and maintain each year, will be able to benefit from Hep2O’s multiple advantages in both installation and use.

For installers, the product is quick, simple and safe to use and is backed by an industry-leading 50-year guarantee, a UK-wide distribution network and comprehensive technical support. The customer benefits from a product that will never be compromised by either scale or corrosion and is quieter in use than more traditional equivalents.

Gareth Samuel, Wavin Product Manager Comments “British Gas went through a rigorous process in selecting a plastic system, and by adding Hep2O to their approved products they are giving installers the choice to select the most appropriate product for the installation.”

Gareth adds “We are delighted to be involved with British Gas and will be working with their training academies to show installers how to maximise the benefits of the system, and save valuable time on their installations”

Another major innovation incorporated into this product is In4Sure™ joint recognition and HepKey™ secure demounting.

Developed to give installers a fool-proof means to test that a joint is secure, the In4Sure™ ‘joint recognition’ technology allows the user to simply push in the pipe and twist so they can ‘feel the rumble’. The profiled end of the re-designed SmartSleeve™ interacts with castellations inside the Hep2O fitting to know that they have made a fully secure connection.

The HepKey™ demounting system allows the system to be adjustable but secure, so that pipes can be released easily and quickly as the HepKey Plus™ releases the grab-ring within the fitting allowing removal of the pipe from the otherwise tamperproof joint; while the smaller pocket size HepKey™ provides a handy pocket-size alternative. Hep2O pipes and fittings are available in four diameters: 10, 15, 22 and 28mm.

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