The key to reducing carbon emissions from boiler plant is efficient boilers in well designed systems. STEVE HILLS explores the issues in the context of the revised Part L of the Building Regulations.

PETER GAMMON explains why a programme of water treatment is so important for modern low-water-content boilers.

Architects like glazed façades on commercial buildings, but how can aesthetics and environmental performance be combined? KAI LIM has the answers.

SHARON KULIGOWSKI reviews the benefits of fitting inverters to burners and their place in the specifier’s energy-efficiency toolkit.

While the factory end of off-site production (prefabrication) is a smooth processes, there are many on-site issues to be considered. MARCUS DICKS explains.

PAUL COOPER shares his views as an off-site manufacturer of the wider issues addressed by the concept.

Individually designed rigs built by Keston for a large housing project combine a boiler, hot-water cylinder, underfloor heating panels and mains transformers, including electrical switchings for domestic appliances.

As examples of the space-saving benefits of prefabricated equipment, skid-mounted units supplied by Rycroft for six Royal Navy destroyers are the ultimate. Not only is a multitude of equipment packed into the minimum footprint, but all components are accessible from the front for ease of servicing.

Prefabricated services modules have saved one week per floor in installation time in a refit of three floors of 10 Exchange Square in the City of London. Phil Mardle, construction manager with M&E contractor Bancroft Group, says, ‘This was our first exercise in the use of off-site prefabricated services in this manner, and we therefore used it on a fairly limited scale. We will almost certainly, however, expand the scope of its use on future projects.’

The £1.4 million contract to upgrade heating in sheltered homes throughout Woking has been awarded to BTU Heating. The project is part of Woking Borough Council’s climate-change strategy and phase 5 of the local community energy system.

Glow-worm’s range of domestic high-efficiency condensing boilers have achieved SEDBUK A rating. There are six models in the range.

Three Vaillant high-efficiency condensing boilers with a total output of 66 kW have been used to update the heating system in the offices of Allen Gears, part of the Rolls Royce Group, at Pershore in Worcestershire.

The CG range of wall-hung commercial boilers from Clyde Combustions can be installed virtually anywhere in a building thanks to an integral flue fan that can deliver a pressure of up to 250 Pa. To simplify plant-room planning, all models have a common jacket width of 453 mm.

Locally sourced biomass will fuel a new heating boiler in a Cheshire school to provided heating and domestic hot water. The 50 kW Talbott boiler at Kingsmead Primary School burns processed wood pellets, and the aim is to move to locally produced wood chips later.

Heating for three Pullman railway carriages that provide accommodation at The Old Railway Station at Petworth in Surrey is provided by a Grant oil-fired boiler. Each of the six en-suite bedrooms has its own entrance from the platform, and the station’s waiting room and ticket office are the breakfast room and lounge. The space-saving multi-pass boiler is in a plant room at the end of the platform and delivers low NOx emissions and clean combustion.

The production of oysters from the Old Roman Oyster Beds at Reculver, Herne Bay, is expected to increase output. Each female oyster can produce 20 to 80 million ‘eggs’. When they are three months old they are sent to oyster farms and are ready for the plate.

A unit to remove condensate from boilers which cannot be drained by gravity is offered by Saniflow. The Sanicondens measures about 28 x 18 x 13 cm; it accumulates up to 1.8 l of condensate and periodically pumps it away to drain.

NOx emissions from Viessmann’s Vitocrossal 300 condensing boiler are lower than the stringent German Blue Angel requirements. The stainless-steel heat exchanger is said to have a service life equal to or better than conventional boilers and deliver an efficiency up to 98% gross.

Two ranges of wall-hung modulating gas-fired condensing condensing boilers from Keston have two pairs of flow and return tappings for separate connection to heating and DHW circuits. They can deliver two different flow temperatures at the same time to serve, for example, a fast-recovery indirect cylinder and underfloor heating.

The news that the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers and the British Institute of Facilities Managers are to co-operate to develop and promote excellence in facilities-management practice marks the much-needed breaking down of barriers between the various disciplines that are involved in the design, construction and operation of buildings (page 5).

The powers that regulate the construction industry and make the legislation that it has to respond to often seem to be out of touch with reality. Our feature on boilers that are at the heart of heating systems for buildings bears testimony to this.

Better understanding of the interaction between the design of services for buildings and their operation is signalled by an agreement between The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers and the British Institute of Facilities Management.

The Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association has welcomed the requirement in revised terms of Part L2 of the Building Regulations that a building logbook must be provided for every new and refurbished building in England and Wales. They must also be prepared when ‘controlled services’ such as heating and air-conditioning equipment is upgraded or replaced.

Andover Controls and TAC have merged to become Tour Andover Controls, a global operator in building automation and security with an expected turnover for 2004 of £363 million.

The total volume of new construction work in the year to the third quarter of 2004 rose by 7% compared to the previous 12-month period and was 1% higher in the third quarter than the previous quarter, according to figures from the Department of Trade & Industry — despite a 12% fall in infrastructure orders for the 12 months.

Ideal Stelrad’s centenary year, 2005, is destined to be very special, says John Colling (group marketing director) and Martin Smith (UK sales director of parent company Caradon Plumbing).

ACE, the Association for Consultancy & Engineering, has backed London’s bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.

Efficient Air has moved from Eastbourne to a recently converted mill in Uckfield. Managing director Darren Bryant explains, ‘Our intention is to convince more and more large organisations which consume most of the 22% of UK energy used by electric motors driving fans that there are real savings to be made.’

Contributing to the classification by Waitrose’s Food Illustrated magazine of this new Simpson’s restaurants on Highfield Road in Edgbaston as a ‘sassy, grown-up restaurant’ is air-conditioning provided by Mitsubishi VRF City Multi equipment. McDowall Air Conditioning specified a 20 hp Big Y outdoor unit to serve 15 wall-mounted indoor units providing 54 kW of heating and 51 kW of cooling, via a 2-pipe system.

Inviron Facilities Management & Service has won a long-term manned-maintenance contractor for The Lowry at Salford Quays in Greater Manchester. The contract marks a progression from a ‘mobile’ maintenance contract that has been renewed every year over the last four years. It was won in competitive tender, and Inviron’s bid was considerably enhanced by its in-depth knowledge of the site and its previous performance.

Toshiba has signed two new major distribution agreements. One is with AMP, which has offices in Welwyn Garden City, Bristol and Bournemouth. The other is with Cool Designs, based in the north east. Both are experienced companies with reputations for supporting consulting engineers and major contractors.

To celebrate the opening of its new Liverpool Ductshop last month, Senior Hargreaves has set up a charitable link with Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. To symbolise the relationship, the company has created a Tin Man, which will be a key feature in a themed garden at the hospital.

A 3-year maintenance contract for the 520 stores in the UK and Ireland of fashion retailer New Look has been awarded to Mowlem Technical Services.

BSRIA has installed a mini-CHP (combined heat and power) system to serve its buildings in Bracknell. Fuelled by natural gas, the DACHs unit generates 5.5 kW of electricity and 12.5 kW of heat. The installation includes a condenser to recover additional heat from the exhaust of the CHP engine. It was supplied and commissioned by Baxi Technologies.

The long-term perspective taken by critical-services-support-provider GSL for new ‘one-stop’ health centres being built under the NHS’s LIFT initiative has resulted in the specification of Novar Trend equipment to provide a standard approach to BMS.

Flexible cooling and heating for a new college building on the Isle of Wight designed around an atrium to minimise the need for air conditioning is provided by Toshiba VRF and split systems.

When researchers from the Sunday Mirror discovered how low the passive-smoking effect was in this wine bar in Folkestone compared with others nationwide, they failed to note the reason — three Honeywell air cleaners to remove smoke, volatile organic compounds, dust, smoke, allergens and other pollutants. The report in the newspaper said, ‘For some reason, Harvey’s Wine Bar fared better than the rest. Several friends did their best to blow smoke in my face during our visit, but the reading “only” registered the equivalent of one cigarette in three hours.’ The effect was less than a third of other typical ‘smoking’ bars visited.

The closed-circuit cooling system in the Bishops Square office development in Spitalfields, London, is protected by CSF sidestream filtration units featuring Cobra cyclone separators. The sophisticated automatic control systems in the chilled-water air-conditioning systems of this 74 700 m2 office complex dictate that system cleanliness is paramount.

A 80% reduction of limescale on heating surfaces has been achieved following the testing of an installation of WaterMatic’s KalGuard+ electrolytic scale inhibitors at Cranfield. This new scale inhibitor is based on the company’s proven zinc-anode electrolytic design and incorporates electronic controls to precisely match the levels of zinc to the hardness of the water. Testing was carried out in parallel with extensive field trials in commercial and industrial applications and found to control limescale in numerous areas with very hard water.

Every luminaire in the 19-storey 3000 m2 Moor House development in the City of London can be addressed from a central supervisory computer, which also provides for local controls to be added to meet exact tenant requirements.

Energy savings of nearly 20% in the provision of hot water for a holiday park in Somerset have been achieved following the installation of Rinnai Infinity continuous-flow water heaters to replace a 12-year-old storage system.

Gas bills for a youth centre in Devon have been cut by 80% following an upgrade of the heating systems, including the installation of Honeywell controls. The savings amount to nearly £300 a year, and the electricity bill has also been reduced.

The staged installation of a Fujitsu VRF air-conditioning system in a 1020 m2 call centre for Cox Insurance has now been completed. The VRF system serves cellular offices. There are also a number of Multi-type split air conditioners in open-plan areas, with up to four indoor units served by one outdoor unit.

With cooling capacities from 30 to 450 kW, Airedale’s Ultima Compact range of condensing units offer up to three times the capacity of the company’s existing range.

Rycroft’s SteamBreeze provides an interface between an existing steam main and DHW or heating systems. Based on stainless-steel plate heat exchangers, the standard range provides for heat loads up to 1.1 MW, which in DHW services can provide a flow of 5 l/s.

Jasun Filtration has introduced a disposal service for air filters to relieve its customers of this task. The company is registered to carry and dispose of waste and has engaged a specialist team to be responsible for the collection, recycling and, if necessary, the safe and legal disposal of its filters.

Electronic earth-fault relays introduced by Hager provide earth-fault current protection for conductors protected by devices of up to 800 A.

A plastics-based alternative to metal ball valves for chilled-water applications is available from Durapipe. The EV valve is of ABS construction and supplied with EDPM seals. It is available in sizes from 1/2 to 2 in or 20 to 63 mm with solvent-weld socket or BSP threaded ends.

Following a study of the requirements of hotels, Ability Projects has developed an upgraded version of its hotel fan-coil system.

Honeywell has launched self-calibrating wall sensors for carbon dioxide and carbon-dioxide/temperature that are more cost-effective than the existing AQS series. The styling, dimensions and mounting of C7110 series sensors are identical to the established T7460 and T7560 wall modules.

Mita’s latest floor box for power and data communications is compatible with Category 6 requirements for structured cabling. It is available with three and four compartments to accommodate Category 5e, Category 6 and fibre applications.

Daikin has introduced a range of heat-pump and cooling-only wall-mounted split pairs of air-conditioning units using R410A. Three sizes of unit provide cooling capacities from 2 to 3.4 kW and heating from 2.7 to 4 kW.

Quiet operation is a key feature of Vent-Axia’s Solo Plus range of centrifugal extract units for bathroom, toilets and utility rooms. They are designed to cope with the added resistance of extended ducting runs, but still have a sound output of less than 40 dB(A) at boost speed and 20 dB(A) in normal running. They are claimed to be the quietest fans of their type on the market.

Temperature detection and integrated control of HVAC, lights and blind)s in a single room control aimed at designed-oriented facilities is provided by Thermokon’s WRF08 operating panel. The frame can be of high-grade glass or natural stone.

Compact backflow preventers to ensure that contaminated water cannot flow back into the public mains supply are available from Honeywell as the BA295 series. They use the proven RPZ (reduced-pressure-zone) principle used in Honeywell’s existing products — with a thorough redesign to simplify servicing and greatly reduce spares holding.

In response to customer demand for replacement fans that will fit the footprint of Vortice’s Record range, it has been made available again, making it unnecessary to retile, redecorate or re-axtex rooms where fans need to be replaced.

A 12-way marshalling box for lighting installations has been added to Hager’s Klik LDS range. In commercial-lighting projects, the Klik concept is said to speed up installation by 50% or more. Each LDS box only needs hard wiring once before luminaires are plugged in. The range now comprises boxes with four, six, eight, 10 and 12 ways.

ClearSkies approval has been granted for Albion Water Heaters’ range of ECO cylinders, so that installations can be supported by grants to assist in the drive towards greener energy usage in the UK.

CCL Veloduct offers an M8 stud fixing that provides a very quick method of securing the Gripple hanger for suspending services such as ductwork from a concrete structure. The installer has only to screw the stud end into a drop-in anchor supplied with the kit, and the Gripple fixing is ready for use.

VES Andover’s Ecovent Plus range of heat-recovery ventilation units supersedes the original Ecovent, which became a major success when it was launched in 1990.

Belimo’s CCV quarter-turn ball valves incorporate an extra component that enables them to regulate flow. When it first begins to open, a Characterised Control Valve increases flow slowly. Thereafter, equal-percentage flow characteristic is provided, and the resulting output in a heating or cooling system is linear.

The potential for applying Priva’s Comfort CX room control unit to integrated systems is provided by native BACnet capability. This combines the advantages of RS485, such as simple wiring and standard converters, with the versatility of BACnet.

A range of stainless-steel hot-water cylinders from Férroli comprises six sizes with capacities from 150 to 500 litres. They are unvented, so there is no internal expansion bubble to maintain. They have a 25-year guarantee and require no anode, making them easy to install and long-lasting.

Integrated bunded storage tanks for a range of chemicals with specific gravities up to 1.9 and capacities from 1500 to 5000 litres have been launched by Balmoral Chemical Tanks.

The Grundfos WebCAPS (Computer Aided Pump Selection) program is constantly updated and provides information on 90 000 of the company’s products. They provide pump and pump solutions covering heating, air conditioning, pressure boosting, domestic water supply, groundwater supply, sewage and wastewater, dosing and accessories.