2013 September

Adding a Fuelsaver passive flue-gas heat-recovery unit to a Vokera combi boiler can increase the efficiency of producing DHW by over 33% compared with a standard condensing boiler. It also reduces water consumption by about 7%. A Fuelsaver unit is positioned neatly between the boiler and the flue.

Danfoss has added two high-flow models to its AB-QM range of pressure-independent balancing and control valves (PICVs). The 125 and 250 mm models enable Danfoss to offer a completed collection of PICVs for applications from DN10 to DN250. The largest model can handle flows up to 442 000 l/h. The new valves provide the potential to reduce project costs by downsizing valves.

Our Editorial Programme for 2014 can be dowloaded using the link below.

Fulton’s FHE-250 modular hot-water boiler has an output of 250 kW and features a fully condensing stainless-steel heat exchanger. The modular design means that several boilers can be combined to suite any application and hot-water requirements.

An award-winning residential development in Harrow has its heating and hot-water requirements met by Hamworthy Wessex ModuMax condensing boilers linked to heat-interface units in each apartment. The Stanmore Place development by St Edward offers a range of high-specification apartments with one to three bedrooms, There are also houses, office units and a multi-storey car park — set among landscaped squares and avenues.

Amtech, developer of software for the building-services industry, has launched Service Manager Mobile for the Android mobile platform. It works with the Service Manager desktop application to improve visibility of job and engineer status and to maximise the productivity of service engineers while they are on site.

BSS Industrial now offers an extensive range of Saint-Gobain’s Ensign cast-iron drainage solutions, including the Eezi-Fit push-fit range from its branches in Bristol, Bellshill, Birmingham and Manchester. BSS Drainage has also added Saint-Gobain VortX floor and shower drains, and the Timesaver soil range to its extensive portfolio.

Siemens has launched a new application booklet for its RVL400 series heating controllers. The booklet contains applications with and without DHW control. The RVL400 series controllers are easy-to-use optimiser/compensator controllers which deliver energy savings based on demand based control.

Burner manufacturer Nu-way has increased its stock of heating spares in readiness for the heating season. With over 7000 different spares in stock, trading director Rick Crees believes it is now time to plan ahead and stay in front of the competition.

Giacomini, one of Europe’s largest producers of plumbing brassware, has trialled its first trade-counter design with Davies Ltd. It provides a large dedicated area for the Davies sales team to discuss and recommend products and components to customers.

Klima-Therm is now UK distributor for the Rhoss range of high-performance chillers, air-handling units and fan-coil units. Klima-Therm also provides factory-backed support for existing Rhoss installations. The Rhoss range has full Eurovent certification, providing performance assurance on all critical operating data.

Aura Light is now an accredited supplier of the Carbon Trust, demonstrating the company’s ability to provide energy-efficient and cost-effective lamps and solutions. Managing director Simon Taylor says, ‘This accreditation gives our customers the reassurance of quality energy-efficient lighting solutions.’

Newey & Eyre has developed a dedicated catalogue for its range of specialist fixings for cable installations. It covers an extensive range of cable tray and trunking, channel and accessories, wire basket and flexible conduit, and hole saws and drill bits.

Aurora’s large selection of energy-saving lighting solutions is available in printed (A5 catalogue) and digital format. ‘Green v.1’ is a single source for indoor and outdoor lighting. There are 1240 products in its 335 pages, accented with QR codes for enhanced online content (first link below).

Luxonic Corrilux LED amenity-lighting luminaires have an expected life of 50 000 h with 70% lumen maintenance. They use only half the energy of typical compact fluorescent luminaires with comparable light output.

BSRIA has updated its guidance to the commissioning of air systems and VAV systems in buildings with the publication of BG 49/2013. It explains how to commission ducted air systems in buildings. The commissioning process mainly comprises the setting the fans to work and the propor- tional balancing) of system flow rates.

Weatherite Manufacturing has produced a brochure highlighting its capabilities for the direct replacement of old and inefficient air-handling units. This approach reduces capital expenditure and provides improved reliability and longevity of an existing system.

Vokera has published a brochure to help installers navigate its comprehensive range of commercial boilers. The company has recently updated its commercial offering to ensure installers have all solutions they need in one place. The brochure covers the CondexaPRO range.

Airflow Developments has launched a new web site that reflects its increased range of ventilation solutions and offers a ‘quick-order’ facility for trade customers. The site takes into consideration the many needs of the UK ventilation market and demonstrates the breadth of Airflow’s solutions.

BSRIA has prepared practical guidance on the delivery of thermal models. It is available in eBook and pdf format. The development and preparation of thermal models is now an integral part of the design process, in particular to demonstrate compliance with the Building Regulations.

Daikin Europe’s EWAD-TZ range of air-cooled chillers use R134a and offer cooling capacities from 200 to 700 kW. Inverter-driven screw compressors can reduce running costs by up to 20% compared to traditional chillers.

The Powertrack underfloor power-distribution system from Apex Wiring Solutions meets all underfloor power-distribution needs. Powertrack is 300 mm wide and comes in lengths of 1.2, 1.8, 2.4 and 3.6 m. Attachable feet provide quick and secure fixing to slabs and surfaces in floor voids as low as 60 mm. End feeds incorporate additional internal capacity for easier connection and termination of SWA cables.

Dimplex has improved its DAB range of recessed air curtains to make them quicker to install, easier to maintain and save energy. They are available in lengths of 1, 1.5 and 2 m with high-output airstreams for entrances up to 4 m high. Heating can be by electricity or water. Ambient air can be circulated, and there are cold-store models.

Panasonic’s Eco G High Power is a 2-pipe gas-driven VRF air-conditioning system that incorporates a 2 kW electricity generator. It can supply heating, cooling, hot water and generate electricity for its own consumption. Its electrical requirement is only 1% that of standard GHP and VRF systems.

Sontay’s TT-515 and TT-512 low-profile button temperature sensors provide are discreet and unobtrusive. They are tamperproof to provide a robust and reliable solution and are also suited to projects where anti-ligature products are required for the safety and protection of people, such as in prisons and hospitals.

LG’s H-Inverter range of commercial split air-conditioning system can achieve system SEERs (seasonal energy-efficiency ratio) of up to 6.11 and an energy labelling of A++. Indoor units include cassettes, ducted or ceiling-suspended units with allergy-reduction features and responsive step controls.

Heating requirements can be provided as a by-product of domestic hot water using the Theta dual-service system from A.O. Smith. Camp sites and sports facilities are potential installations. The system can also be used with solar water heaters for applications with a relatively small heating demand compared to DHW.

McQuay UK has launched a range of R410A reverse-cycle air-cooled heat pumps with scroll compressors and offering cooling capacities from 164 to 624 kW. ACZH heat pumps can function in cooling mode at ambient temperatures from -10 to +46°C and in heating mode down to -17°C.

Rehau’s CoolBoard chilled-ceiling system is a one-piece system with polymer pipework pre-embedded into plasterboard panels. Pre-drilled fixing holes make it quick and easy to install. Pipe tails from the boards are connected using Rehau Everloc compression sleeve fittings, which guarantee no leaks, and then onto a manifold system for circulating warm or chilled water.

Sentinel Commercial’s Senticlene 8500 heating-system cleaners is ideal for one-day cleaning projects and for circumstances that require immediate, unplanned cleaning — such as before a new boiler or chiller is installed. This cleaning solution has been developed specifically for commercial heating and closed cooling solutions.

Following the expansion of its factory in Germany to produce LED boards, Ridi has reduced the power consumption of its EBRME-LED 600 x 600 luminaires from 68 to 45 W, making them a viable replacement for T5 schemes. The range includes a variety of sizes and finished, including a tunable option that balances colour temperatures (2700/6500 K).

Ciat’s PowerCiat2 range of chiller offers cooling capacities from 610 to 1350 kW and can achieve an ESEER of 411. These chillers use R134a and achieve 7 kW of cooling per kilogram of refrigerant charge, said to be the best figure on the market. A key feature is the combination of micro-channel coils and shell-and-tube dry-expansion evaporator technologies.

Ex-Or’s MLS Digital Lighting System now offers the option of automated testing for emergency lighting. This feature is also available as a system upgrade. Integrating this functionality eliminates the additional wiring required by standalone test systems.

An explosion-proof controller for HVAC applications is available from Rotork Controls. The Schischek ExReg controller can control HVAC systems for variable air volume, pressure, temperature and humidity and minimise the number of components required. These controllers can be using extensively in hazardous areas, including Atex zones 1, 2, 21 and 22.

Stokvis Energy Systems has responded to the growing popularity of communal- and district-heating systems with the introduction of the H-Series Econoplate interface units. There is a choice of single and twin plate units to provide heating and hot-water services within dwellings such as apartments, student flats and sheltered-housing schemes.

The latest generation of controllers for Panasonic’s Aquarea air-to-water heat-pump systems comes programmed with up to 600 pre-configured installations that are easy to select with the ‘ready-to-go’ system. Following simple on-screen diagrams and selecting settings that are relevant to the system enables a system to be made ready for operation in less than three minutes. A cascade system is possible for larger installations.

Marshall-Tufflex offers a range of power-factor-correction systems to reduce power bills by improving the efficiency of electrical systems. These units use high-quality, reliable capacitors to improve the efficiency of the electrical supply at industrial locations by reducing the effects of reactive power.

Vaillant’s auroFLOW commercial solar-thermal drainback system is designed for buildings that tend to require hot water throughout the day when the building is in use. The system allows the solar fluid to fully drain from the collector and into the discharge vessel in the solar drainback module as soon as the heat demand in the cylinder is met. When heat is again required, the solar fluid is pumped back up to the collector.

Apex Wiring Systems has extended its modular wiring systems and components with the introduction of new accessories and cabling products for small to medium-sized electrical contractors. The company has used its knowledge and capabilities in product design, manufacturing and system integration to significantly reduce installation time and achieve cost savings.

ICS Cool Energy offers a range of air-to-water heat pumps for systems where there is a need to combine high-temperature water for space heating and sanitary purposes with air conditioning. Space heating, with a COP of up to 4.2, can easily be provided by radiators without any major changes to an existing distribution system available on site.

Elegant and discreet drainage for shower cubicles with tiled floors can be provided by The Blade from Aquabocci. These drainage channels come in lengths of 1200 mm and can be cut to the length required. they have a removable anodised-aluminium lid and come in five colours — matt black, titanium, metalazan, champagne and GT silver.

To help use thermal imaging for inspecting solarPV panels on roofs, Visiotherm, a building-services company in Belgium, has developed a retractable pole system for use with the Flir T640 thermal-imaging cameral When extended to maximum reach, the aluminium pole is about 12 m long, enabling it to be used for most residential buildings and low-rise industrial buildings.

Carlo Gavazzi’s SB2WEB BACnet gateway for Dupline networks links all field-level devices, simplifies wiring and reduces the cost of building-automation systems at the device level. Integrating a Dupline network into the BMS environment is easily implemented. The versatile Dupline 2-wire bus network has simple I/O devices, many of which are powered by the bus itself. All these points can then be discovered by the BMS controller using BACnet.

Ability Projects has developed a 190 mm-deep Matrix self-balancing fan-coil unit to complement the current 270 and 235 mm-deep units. Matrix units have internal-rotor-motor fan and motor sets with every fan directly coupled to its own motor, making every fan/motor assembly an independent entity and enabling its speed to be individually controlled.

Potterton Commercial Eurocondense commercial boilers installed to replace life-expired boilers at Holyhead School in Handsworth, Birmingham, were able to complement the existing heating circuit, so only the pipework in the plant room needed replacing. This school currently provides secondary education for 1110 pupils. The previous boilers were original to the building, and certain spare parts were no longer available.

Powrmatic has supplied a range of Midea VRF and split-system air-conditioning systems to deliver heating and cooling at The Barracks in Bury. Formerly the regimental headquarters of the Lancashire Fusiliers until the merger with the Lancashire Regiment, the building was used as a museum until 2009. It is now owned by Circle Leasing and has been refurbished into state-of-the-art office accommodation.

Installation time for the lighting and control system for an office in the City of London office was halved by combining Hager’s klik.system lighting installation and tebis.KNX. The prefabricated system will make future changes to the lighting installation quick and easy.

The refurbishment of three Munters desiccant dehumidifiers at Manchester Aquatics Centre has reduced running costs by about 20%, while preserving the building fabric and optimising comfort. The project involved replacing all major components, replacing the old reactivation ductwork with polypropylene and retrofitting the dehumidifers with Munters energy-recovery purge technology to reduce running costs.

Three 5-stage liquid-cooled propane chillers have replaced aging chillers at the 12 600 m2 distribution centre of Nestlé at York. It consists of a fully automated high bay with six cranes and a conventional storage and picking hall. In all, the centre holds up to 33 000 pallets with a typical value in excess of £25 million.

Baxi Commercial low-carbon technologies in a care home in Caerphilly include two Baxi-SenerTec mini-CHP units and solar water heating from Andrews Water Heaters to pre-heat domestic hot water. The services for Ty Penrhos were designed by McCann & Partners in accordance with operator Hafod Care’s requirements.

MITIE has completed the first stage of a £1.7 million project for Bedford Borough Council to reduce running costs, generate income and cut carbon emissions across seven council properties. The first project is the installation of 212 solarPV panels on the roof of Allhallows multi-storey car park.