Watkins Hire has 500 kW heating system operation within two days
At the heart of a warm-air heating system supplied by Watkins Hire for the train-maintenance depot of First Great Western at Plymouth is this 500 kW air-handling unit served by external oil-fired boiler plant.
Ducted warm-air heating supplied and installed by Watkins Hire has replaced 28 hired portable heaters in the train-maintenance shed of First Great Western at Plymouth. There were a number of issues associated with the previous LPG- and oil-fired heaters. They included overall cost against the heat benefits and inefficient localised heating. There were also too many heaters scattered throughout the building. Other key concerns were the labour required to change LPG cylinders and the risk of fuel spillages when refilling oil-fired heaters. The new system removes fuel-burning equipment from inside the building, which is 150 m long, 50 m wide and 20 m high. Watkins Hire supplied a 582 kW Heatgen mobile packaged boiler plant fuelled by 35 sec oil, a 500 kW air-handling unit and 300 m of 500 mm-diameter flexible ductwork. There is also a 2400 litre bunded fuel tank. Pipes and pumps to take hot water from the boiler plant to the air-handling units were also installed. Installation, commissioning and handover were achieved within two days of equipment being delivered to site, with no disruption to day-to-day train maintenance.
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