Heat-pump system delivers effective underfloor heating for Somerset school
A heat-pump air-conditioning system has been installed to provide cost-effective heating underfloor heating for the new Performance Arts Centre at Sidcot School in North Somerset.
The six City Multi PQFY heat-pumps from Mitsubishi Electric deliver hot water at 45°C.
Lee Sheriff of AC Mechanical, an accredited installer for Mitsubishi Electric, says, ‘More and more owners of commercial buildings are now realising the energy-saving advantages that air conditioning can offer, and it is starting to lose its image as “cooling only”. The PQFY underfloor heating works in tandem with an air-handling unit on the roof which ventilates the building and keeps the air fresh throughout the centre.’
The hot gas refrigerant pipe in the PQFY runs through the water piping in a tube-in-tube coaxial system that extracts the heat from the refrigerant cycle and transfers it directly to the water.
City Multi air conditioning provides internal cooling in a few hot spots.
The overall system was designed by Bob Cross of Cross Consultancy to meet the school’s brief of trying to be as environmentally and sustainably active as possible.