Milford Haven's Requirements
OKEL were first approached by our client Sarah in August 2018, Sarah was in the process of negotiating a lease for a warehouse premises that was to become the new home of Milford Haven Gymnastics Club.
Our client was wanting to find the most efficient and cost-effective way to heat the whole of the premises (approximately 558 m²) and a solution that wasn’t reliant on there being a natural gas supply in situ.
Prior to our client agreeing to the lease of the new premises OKEL’s Managing Director attended a site meeting with our client to identify the most efficient and cost-effective heating solution available.
During the site visit the warehouse was found to be poorly insulated (both walls and ceiling) and although our client was wanting to introduce insulation this wouldn’t be for the foreseeable future due to expense associated with the move.
The Solution
Due to there being no natural gas supply entering the building our client had been keen to investigate the possibility of an electric heating solution.
There were 2 main reasons as to why in this instance OKEL advised our client against the use of electric:- 1) The cost per kw of commercial electric (approx. 16 pence) is considerably higher than the cost per kw of commercial gas (approx. 4 pence) and therefore the costs involved in heating the whole warehouse with an electric solution would be unsustainable for our client. 2) To provide heat throughout the whole of the warehouse/gymnastics facility and to ensure heat coverage was able to reach the centre of the room, OKEL would be reliant on many of the heaters being suspended in the centre of the room approx. 2.5 m at height.
Due to the nature of activities taking place there would be health and safety restrictions on placing heaters overhead due to the positioning of gymnastics apparatus.
Considering all the above, OKEL recommended that our client looked to introduce a high efficiency wall mounted TR80 warm air and destratification heating solution that would be fuelled by LPG.
Finalise Installation and Handover
Whilst on site OKEL had identified that there was ample space to the exterior of the premises for the introduction of an LPG tank and were able to progress this further by arranging for a local Calor representative to meet with our client on site to complete a free LPG site survey and to discuss costs and timescales for the installation of a tank.
Working closely with all involved in the transformation, including Calor UK’s engineering team who were responsible for the installation of the LPG tank, all works were completed to schedule to enable our client to open to the public and to have a warm gymnastics facility in readiness for the winter months ahead.
Prior to the installation detailed risk assessments and method statements were forwarded to our client capturing all aspects of the installation and full gas safety commissioning certification issued on project completion.
By the time the lease of the building had been agreed and exchanged with the landlord time was of the essence for our client who had a tight deadline of only 4 weeks to complete the full transformation of the warehouse into the new home of Milford Haven Gymnastics Club – Scheduled to open its doors to the public in October 2018.
The Results
OKEL’s recommended warm air heater model is fully modulating and designed specifically for heating large open plan areas with high ceilings. Supported by the introduction of destratification that would be introduced by combining the integral axial fan within the heater and by the introduction of a commercial destratification system positioned at ceiling height.
Destratification works by recognising when the temperature gradient becomes too hot at ceiling height and forces the warm air back down to the lower level where it’s of most benefit.
The warm air heater was to be controlled by a multi-functional thermostatic controller which included functionalities such as frost protection, keyboard locking, overtime programme, 10 programmable time blocks, summer ventilation mode and facility to connect to a BMS system
Whilst on site OKEL had identified that there was ample space to the exterior of the premises for the introduction of an LPG tank and were able to progress this further by arranging for a local Calor representative to meet with our client on site to complete a free LPG site survey and to discuss costs and timescales for the installation of a tank.
Get in touch with OKEL in the form below if you would like us help you source a more efficient warehouse heating solution.
