Downland Bedding's Requirements
Our client had recently purchased an unoccupied mill located next door to their factory and had expansion plans for the new premises. This involved housing a large piece of temperature sensitive machinery that the company had recently invested in.
OKEL’s Director attended an onsite meeting with the client’s Operations Director and Factory Manager to understand more about the client’s heating requirements; including overall aims of the heating project, temperature requirements for the machinery to operate most effectively, operating hours and number of staff to be based in the neighbouring mill.
Whilst on site, several photographs and measurements were taken to capture the layout of the premises which would enable our team to design the most effective and efficient heating solution for the client.
The new warehouse (approx. 23,000 sq. ft in size) had an uninsulated roof with a maximum ceiling height of 10m and no existing form of heat present.
OKEL’s Solution
Considering all the findings from OKEL’s site survey, OKEL chose to design a warm air and destratification heating system for our clients premises as it’s recognised as the most modern, cost effective and efficient ways of heating large industrial space.
The characteristics of the heater models chosen (Winterwarm TR150) contributes to very low energy consumption and high energy savings are achieved in comparison to conventional unit air heaters. Favoured by many of our clients, the warm air heaters have rapid and effective warm air circulation in the winter months and the added advantage of a summer ventilation mode to provide continuous air circulation throughout the warmer summer months.
The heaters gradient controls and temperature sensors identify when the ceiling temperature becomes too hot and switches the fan on automatically to forces the warm air back down to the lower level and to preventing heat loss from above.
As an additional measure to combat the loss of heat through the uninsulated roof space OKEL chose to introduce heavy duty destratification fans to be evenly positioned at ceiling height to maximise the even spread of warm air. The Carbon Trust estimates that the use of destratification fans in industrial buildings with high ceilings and operating a warm air heating system can reduce energy consumption by 20%.
To create even greater efficiencies for our client we chose to introduce into the overall design plan the fitting of heavy-duty PVC strip curtains to prevent heat from escaping via the entrances into the rooms adjacent to the main warehouse.
The Results
A pre installation engineer site visit took place ahead of the installation with key project leads from both OKEL and our client in attendance to agree and sign off the exact positioning of the heaters and fans and to formalise the installation plans; to include health and safety requirements.
On completion of the installation our client was provided with a full handover of their new warm air heating system to ensure they were confident on the capabilities of the heaters and able to maximise the efficiencies by effective use of the intelligent thermostatic controls.
To complete the project electronic copies of Gas Safe and NICEIC certification along with operating guides for the heaters and fans were forwarded to the client to retain on file.
12 Months after the successful installation of Phase 1, when the clients finance director had been able to assess the annual running costs of the new heating system, OKEL were approached by our client to deliver a Phase 2 project to heat an unused area of the factory that was also to become occupied as part of our client’s latest expansion plans – Phase 2 works were completed in March 2018.
Need a reliable commercial heating solution in Liverpool? Contact OKEL in the form below to discuss your specific needs.