2006 December

Tortoise stove

Tortoise stove

17 December, 2006
The Tortoise stove dates from 1830, when the first was hand-built by Charles Portway to heat his ironmongery store in Halstead, Essex. After making a second stove for a neighbour, Mrs Portway suggested he go into business manufacturing and selling them, so he established a small foundry and went to work.
hypocaust

The hypocaust

17 December, 2006
This underfloor heating system is said to have been devised by the Roman Sergius Orata in about 80 BC and was described by Vitruvius in his book De Architectura in 16 BC. Hypocaust heating was used by the Romans in their villas throughout the colder climates in Europe and Britain as they expanded their Empire. This was the first widespread central-heating system and remained in use throughout much of Europe for over 400 years. It is, at last, enjoying a revival.
Lancashire boiler

Lancashire boiler

17 December, 2006
In 1698, Savery produced a steam boiler to operate ‘The miner’s friend’, a water pump used in mines. In 1705, Newcomen and Cauley designed a boiler to drive Newcomen’s steam engine. By 1725 the Haystack and Wagon boilers were in common use and held their place for the next 70 years or so. They all had one thing in common. They were inefficient because the boiler sat above the fire, and much of the heat and hot gases never came into contact with the water-backed surfaces.
Sturtevant fan

Sturtevant fan

17 December, 2006
Primitive wooden fans are depicted in 16th century German woodcut illustrations showing mine ventilation methods. These paddle-bladed fans were enclosed in a square wooden casing and cranked by hand or driven by windmills. A hand-cranked fan was installed in the House of Commons in 1736, but the forerunners of today’s centrifugal fans only appeared from the mid-19th century.
Gurney

The Gurney stove

17 December, 2006
Goldsworthy Gurney (later Sir) was born in Cornwall in 1793. In 1814, he settled in Cambourne where he practised as a surgeon, moving to London in 1820 and developing his interest in engineering. In 1825 he patented a steam carriage, going on in 1842 to patent a system of heat recovery from lighting fittings. In 1852, Gurney was appointed to investigate the ventilation problems in the House of Commons where he flashed off large quantities of gunpowder in the chamber to observe the motion of the air currents, He was said to have posed a greater risk than Guy Fawkes!
Grundy

The Grundy stove

17 December, 2006
John Grundy Senior was born in Tyldesley near Manchester in 1807. He was a grocer and flour trader. He was a warden of the local Top Chapel. When the chapel needed a heating system he developed and installed a revolutionary warm-air heating stove with an arrangement of plenum and discharge ducts. This was so successful that in 1859 he set up in business to manufacture and market his heating apparatus, which he later patented. The business flourished and he continued to make improvements, increasing its efficiency and effectiveness, and securing more patents. He died in 1879.
Thermostat

Electric thermostat

17 December, 2006
Even the cave man who rubbed two sticks together knew that he needed some control over his fire. He got fed up lugging logs from the forest just for his missus to fling the goatskin door open to cool down! Fire was therefore rationed to conserve energy, which is pretty much what a thermostat now does. Without control, we squander precious resources or use our fabulous machines to exhaustion.
H&S

Hartley & Sugden boilers

17 December, 2006
In the 18th century the development of boilers was directed towards raising steam to drive steam engines. Around 1810, systems of heating by hot water were introduced. Early hot water heating boilers were small and crude, and heating for buildings such as country houses, churches and prisons continued to be mainly by warm air. Most early hot-water boilers were of the saddle type, originally manufactured using rivetted wrought-iron plates. Steam heating for other than factories and large institutional buildings, such as hospitals and asylums, never achieved great popularity.
What product has been the most influential in the development of the industry? Modern Building Services has teamed up with the organiser of the H&V07 exhibition to find the answer — and we want your vote. Read on.
Haden stove

Haden stove

17 December, 2006
In 1797 the brothers George, James and John Haden, with their father George Senior, were working at the world-famous firm of Boulton & Watt at the Soho Manufactory in Birmingham. The brothers all worked for the Engine Company. After serving their apprenticeships George and James worked as erectors for the improved steam engine of James Watt. In 1814 George went to Trowbridge for the firm, later being joined by James. In 1816 the pair formed their own company of G&J Haden to act as agents in the West Country for Boulton & Watt.
Perkins
Jacob Perkins was born in Massachusetts in 1766. In 1816 he moved to England and secured a number of patents relating to boilers, steam engines and, most notably, a vapour-compression refrigeration machine.
Boreholes
One of the largest ground-source heat-pump projects in the UK will provide heating, cooling and hot water for a school in Sheffield.
adiabatic
How the heat is rejected from an air-conditioning system has a significant effect on its power consumption. BAC Balticare has been developing new approaches.
KeyMed
Ground-source heat pumps to heat and cool a new office development in Southend make an important contribution to reducing its energy consumption by at least 30% compared with an equivalent traditional building. Olympus KeyMed’s 3400 m2 logistics centre will also consume 25% less water. It is the use of Mitsubishi Electric ground-source heat pumps that led to the building winning the Cooling Industry Awards this year.
Hoval
As part of its commitment to reduce carbon emissions, Caerphilly Council has replaced four coal-fire boilers at a school with three wood-burning boilers from Hoval.
To provide information on the recycling of lamps and batteries, Mercury Recycling has developed a new web site. The processes used by the company recycle or re-use 99.75% by weight of the lamp — including the mercury. Mercury’s service also provides a means of complying with EU legislation that used lamps and batteries are taken to a suitably recycled recycling facility or authorised landfill site.
Flues
To enable boiler plant serving the Wester Hailes Community Centre and High School on the west side of Edinburgh to be replaced with new condensing boilers, SFL supplied new flues to replace the previous mild-steel system.
tank

Rainwater harvesting

16 December, 2006
Harvesting rainwater can meet a large part of the water consumption of commercial and domestic buildings, considerably reducing the demand on mains water. STEFF WRIGHT highlights how rainwater harvesting systems can help the environment and for what purposes the harvested water can be used.
TER & BER

Delivering greener buildings

16 December, 2006
‘Greenness’ cannot easily be added to a building at a late stage in the design process. The reduction of carbon emissions must be considered from the very beginning, and building-performance simulation software is an important tool. DAVID McEWAN explains.
solar

The renewable-energy options

16 December, 2006
Against the background of the planning process increasingly requiring renewable energy on site, NIGEL ANDERSON explores the options.
cooling
Escalating heat loads in data centres pose cooling challenges that cannot always be met by traditional approaches. ROBERTO FELISI explores the issues.
screens
Using iSBEM (Interface to Simplified Building Energy Method) to determine the carbon footprint of a building is a slow and tedious process. LUCY HARRISexplains the many benefits of a different interface.
To ensure lighting is on only when necessary, Furness Green Partnership specified a Rapid lighting control system from CP Electronics for a speculative office development at 16-20 North Audley Street in central London.
Altherma
Underpinning the development by Daikin of a heating system for houses based on a heat pump is a careful analysis of its potential to massively reduce carbon emissions.
fire damper
Terry Farthing is concerned that although new standards for preventing the spread of smoke and flame through ductwork are imminent, the use of traditional curtain fire damper will still be permitted in some areas.
filter
Viledon Filtration Division offers a range of cassette air filters that are highly resistant to moisture and chemicals and microbiologically inert. As such, they are applicable to sensitive areas like the food and electronics industries.
diagrams
How do you halve the energy used by the fan in a VAV air-conditioning system? ANDY BARLETT has a suggestion.
ductwork
Against the background of increased global demands for energy efficiency, DUNCAN McGREGOR believes that property owners should raise the standards of duct systems for ventilation, heating and air conditioning. Across Europe this could not only save energy equivalent to the output of three nuclear power stations — and also result in lower installation costs, shorter assembly times and better air quality.
VSG
Lindab’s CADvent software has been used by D&S Air Conditioning of Northampton by produce detailed ventilation-system designs for the 2-storey 1870 m2 headquarters of security company Vision Security Group.
Titon
Whole-house central-extract ventilation units have been supplied by Titon for 42 apartments in an exclusive circular building in Hulme, Manchester.
Kitchen
A new De Kobra kitchen-ventilation system at Thames Valley University incorporates the new Energy Saver system to control ventilation levels. It was installed by Weatherite Building Services and is one of its first installations to include this control system.
ventilation
The impact of climate change offers new opportunities for displacement ventilation says KOE WIECKOWSKI.
adcas
PAUL ROXBURGH detects signs of a new appreciation of the role played by the ductwork specialist.
ductwork
The ability of Kingspan’s KoolDuct pre-insulated ducting system to be installed up to three times faster than sheet-metal ductwork has been exploited in the new £4.5 million hospital sterilisation and decontamination unit for Hull & East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
sheen

VRF shines in Sheen

10 December, 2006
Sanyo air-conditioning systems have been installed in Centre House in Sheen to provide heating and cooling for 10 separate zones for flexibility in letting.
chalmor
The problem of lights being left on unnecessarily in plant rooms at the Alderley Park site of AstraZeneca is being addressed by the installation of Chalmor’s 2-channel BlueWave controller.
sfl
As part of an ongoing policy of energy-efficient refurbishment, SFL chimneys have been installed in the headquarters of Lothian & Borders Police. They were installed when the heating system was upgraded, a project that also included the installation of a building-management system to reduce fuel consumption and running costs.
dance
Traditional cast-iron radiators have been supplied by Clyde Energy Solutions for the refurbishment of a Victorian house that is part of the Rambert School of Ballet & Contemporary Dance. It is the largest modern-dance company and has moved to Twickenham, where studios, library and other departments have been developed close to the Thames around a converted church and Clifton Lodge, the Victorian house.
airbloc
To prevent dust and flying insects getting into the new £300 million Quinn Glass bottle plant in Cheshire, Airbloc air curtains have been installed over the doors of loading bays.
dimplex
Dimplex air curtains installed at 10 motorway service areas run by Extra MSA Services tackle the problems of noise, pollution, dust and cold draughts.
hotel
When the family-run Regent Hotel in the centre of Cambridge felt that it was time to install air conditioning, it approach specialist contractor Adcock Refrigeration & Air Conditioning. The task of installing air conditioning into the large Grade 2 listed Georgian building with severe space limitations was solved by two Toshiba SMMS VRF systems.
arsenal
The fire-safety system for the 60 000-seat Emirates Stadium of Arsenal Football Club is based on a bespoke solution designed by Grundfos Pumps. It comprises a diesel/electric fire sprinkler pump system and a hose-reel packaged set. It was commissioned and installed in partnership with Hall & Kay Fire Engineering of Windsor.
cobalt square
As part of the refurbishment of one of Birmingham’s iconic office buildings, the 17-storey Cobalt Square (as it is now known) has Mitsubishi Electric City Multi air-condition installed in seven 410 m2 open-plan office suites. The equipment was installed by Coolair Equipment, a preferred supplier of Mitsubishi equipment, so it comes with a 5-year guarantee.
youth hotel
The new flagship youth hostel in Whitby, which offers accommodation for a hundred people has its water-heating requirements met by two gas-fired, wall-hung, modulating condensing boilers supplied by Lochinvar.
O2
Carrier is to provide air-conditioning equipment for The O2 Arena — the successor to the Millennium Dome, for which Carrier also provided the air-conditioning equipment.
Priva
The use of the ModBus communications protocol and the IT network at an education centre in Swindon is estimated to have saved about £6000 on installation and hard-wiring costs of a building-management system from Priva Controls.
Visitors and stall holders in the Grade 1 listed Pontefract Market Hall are enjoying the first effective heating in years following the installation of Ambi-Rad warm-air heaters, supplemented by Airbloc overdoor air curtains. The new equipment replaces an ineffective quartz electrical heating system.
hilton
Heating and cooling systems for the new Hilton Hotel in Manchester, which occupies the lower 24 floors of the 171 m-high Beetham Tower, incorporate valves supplied by Oventrop. The rest of the 47 storeys are residential accommodation.
AET
Not only were significant savings in installation time achieved by the AET’s Flexible Space underfloor air-conditioning concept for a new building at Farnborough Airport, but subsequent changes to internal layout will also be achieved more quickly and with minimal disruption.
Durable pipework solutions that were quick to install have been achieved at Manchester’s Beetham Tower using plastics systems from Durapipe.
SPC has supplied specially made radiant heating panels for installing in the suspended ceiling of a primary school in Bolton. Four Thermatile Plus panels were supplied to Moorgate Primary School as part of a revamp of its heating and electrical services. The powder-coated panels have been installed in the ceiling of the hall and are virtually unnoticeable.



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Manufacturer helps equip skills centre

Ideal Heating has helped to equip a new £500,000 green energy centre in Merseyside which is seeking to attract fresh talent into the heating industry.

Acoustic solutions suite with easy access to services at University of Birmingham

A suite of ceiling and wall acoustic solutions have been specified for The University of Birmingham’s new landmark Molecular Sciences building, which will provide a hub for research and academic work.