An Air Source Heat Pump case Study by Natural Warmth (www.natural-warmth.com)
CLIENTS:
Daisy Chain registered charity, Norton, Stockton on Tees.
www.daisychainproject.co.uk
BRIEF:
Provide heating for a new Day Centre measuring approximately 9300 sq. ft (864 sq. metres) over two floors - to include hot water to two kitchen units and numerous toilets, many with disabled facilities.
SOLUTION:
To meet all requirements via the installation of two air source heat pumps.
PROJECT:
Natural Warmth was called in by the charity, which wanted to reduce its carbon footprint while at the same time lowering costs by reducing the amount of electricity being used.
This was a special challenge as the building was to house respite care and support services for the charity that works with families who have children with autism.
Therefore it was important to ensure a constant room temperature for the staff who would be working there for eight or more hours a day as well as ensuring the comfort of the children and families who use the Centre to take part in a range of activities aimed at aiding their development.
Natural Warmth engineers installed and commissioned the system just before Christmas 2009 – a time when the regular daily temperature was around -7 degrees.
The size of the building and the bitter weather conditions meant that the system had to be run at full gain for a number of weeks before it reached optimum heat and hot water delivery. That was achieved in early February and since then there have been no problems.
Matt Simpson is the Daisy Chain Project Manager: “I think, like a lot of people, I was a bit unsure as to whether the two pumps would be sufficient to heat the Day Centre to our requirements. Steve Heslop explained that the temperatures were about the worst-case scenario for launching a new system, but we were desperate to go ahead. By the first week in February all doubts had disappeared and we had to turn down the heat setting on at least three occasions – the Centre was too warm!”
SUMMARY:
Early teething troubles due to the size of the installation and the atrocious weather conditions were to be expected and engineers were always quick to respond to any call outs.
“I would say that Steve was always here right away if we had a problem,” said Matt Simpson. “Although there were no families using the facility at the time he understood how important it was to us, and the families we help, to get it right before we could start to use the Centre properly. I couldn’t fault Natural Warmth for their work throughout this project.”
Hilary Morrison is the mother of Josh who has Asperger’s and dyspraxia – for her the Centre is a vital part of their life; “This place is a Godsend,” she said. “It is very important that I can be sure that I am bringing Josh somewhere where he will be safe and comfortable. Since we started using the Centre it has been absolutely fantastic. Given the size of it I was surprised at just how warm it was. And although Josh doesn’t grasp the concept of global warming I personally support the idea of everyone doing what they can to reduce their carbon footprint.”
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