 | Environmental Engineering (e2), the mechanical design and build contractor, was asked to meet the client of their principle contractor, Chris Browne Builders Ltd, who wanted a review of their heating system in a domestic property. The property is an old Kent farm house off grid using oil heating for the main house and guest barn, a four-bedroom, three-bathroom converted barn. Following an initial exploratory consultation with the client it became clear that the offering wouldn't be a straightforward project. |
The main house would be altered at a later date. The barn would remain almost as it was, and a garage would be converted to create a one bedroom apartment with laundry facilities.
Air source heat pump solution
Following further consultative meetings Steve dale, MD of e2 and Russ Langthorne, Commercial Director, presented a concept that consisted of a remote plant room housing Daikin air source heat pumps, a buffer vessel, boosted pressurised hot and cold water, a water softener, central controls and a standby generator.
The team sites the equipment servicing each property from a common plant room which is 85 metres away from the principal home. The air source heat pumps consisted of six high temperature Altherma out door units and six 16KW indoor units. The team also installed a 300 litre buffer vessel. e2 recommended underfloor heating to be installed where possible whilst the upper floors of the barn and house would be wet radiators.
Renewable heating with remote control
Following more consultations and fine tuning e2 and the client agreed on the concept and started the project. The net result has seen the work completed within a five month programme. Each property has a plentiful supply of instant pressurised hot water, pressurised softened cold water, a plant room central controller feeding performance reports and faults back to e2 via a wireless mobile network.
Each property has a local touch pad controller, underfloor heating and traditional wet radiators. The system has the capacity to run 12 showers simultaneously, including high volume rain showers, without losing pressure or running out of hot water.
To maximise the energy and performance efficiency the heat pumps run on a sequential basis allowing each heat pump to operate for the same amount of time and facilitate the peaks and troughs of the demand.
Youth employment
In the past 12 months, e2's team has seen engineers whom they employed as school leaving apprentices complete their apprenticeship training programme who are now fully NVQ qualified. One has moved on to work in another field the second is proving to be a key player in our future and features in our forward plans.
Due to the success of creating a ‘home grown’ engineer base and through their work within both the local community and local secondary education academy, e2 has recently employed another 16 year old school leaver who will be enrolling for his apprenticeship later this month and starting his path to becoming an NVQ qualified engineer.
Air source heat pump solution
Following further consultative meetings Steve dale, MD of e2 and Russ Langthorne, Commercial Director, presented a concept that consisted of a remote plant room housing Daikin air source heat pumps, a buffer vessel, boosted pressurised hot and cold water, a water softener, central controls and a standby generator.
The team sites the equipment servicing each property from a common plant room which is 85 metres away from the principal home. The air source heat pumps consisted of six high temperature Altherma out door units and six 16KW indoor units. The team also installed a 300 litre buffer vessel. e2 recommended underfloor heating to be installed where possible whilst the upper floors of the barn and house would be wet radiators.
Renewable heating with remote control
Following more consultations and fine tuning e2 and the client agreed on the concept and started the project. The net result has seen the work completed within a five month programme. Each property has a plentiful supply of instant pressurised hot water, pressurised softened cold water, a plant room central controller feeding performance reports and faults back to e2 via a wireless mobile network.
Each property has a local touch pad controller, underfloor heating and traditional wet radiators. The system has the capacity to run 12 showers simultaneously, including high volume rain showers, without losing pressure or running out of hot water.
To maximise the energy and performance efficiency the heat pumps run on a sequential basis allowing each heat pump to operate for the same amount of time and facilitate the peaks and troughs of the demand.
Youth employment
In the past 12 months, e2's team has seen engineers whom they employed as school leaving apprentices complete their apprenticeship training programme who are now fully NVQ qualified. One has moved on to work in another field the second is proving to be a key player in our future and features in our forward plans.
Due to the success of creating a ‘home grown’ engineer base and through their work within both the local community and local secondary education academy, e2 has recently employed another 16 year old school leaver who will be enrolling for his apprenticeship later this month and starting his path to becoming an NVQ qualified engineer.
