Baxi Commercial Division has supplied five floor standing condensing boilers for a refurbishment of Wigan Town Hall’s heating system which has shown a 22% energy saving over the year to May 2012, compared with the previous year’s usage. This saving was made despite the heating remaining operational until the end of May 2012 compared to 2011 when it was switched off in early April.
The Town Hall is home to the Council Chamber, the Mayor’s Parlour, offices, as well as home for a number of civic functions and popular events. Consequently, it was important the heating system should be extremely flexible as well as energy efficient, in order to accommodate a number of functions which take place outside of normal business hours, in a cost effective manner.
The five Potterton Commercial Sirius 160kW floor standing condensing boilers were selected by consulting engineers NPS North West Ltd. in a joint venture with Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council. The NPS Group specialises in providing property design and management services to both public and private sectors and is wholly owned by the public sector. A spokesman commented: “These boilers replace units which had reached the end of their operational lives and so had become less efficient and less reliable.
“As access to the plant room was via weight restricted stairs and lifts, we needed boilers that had low individual weight and had compact dimensions. The client was very pleased with the project and especially the 22% saving in gas use over a measured 12 months.”
The boilers were installed in the third floor plant room at Wigan Town Hall by Hayman Mechanical Services Ltd. This floor also provides office accommodation, so the Sirius FS range’s low operating noise level makes it a good choice for such locations. As well as being quiet in operation, this range is perfect for refurbishment projects as each boiler is compact and lightweight for its output, fitting through a standard doorway and, importantly in this case, fitting in a small lift.
The boilers serve both constant and variable temperature circuits, running fan convectors, air handling units and radiators. New pipework was installed to each of the boilers, with the headers connected to existing pump circuits. The heating system is connected to a Building Energy Management System which provides monitoring and control functions including zone control.
A spokesman for Hayman Mechanical commented: “We had excellent support from Baxi Commercial Division’s Area Sales Manager if any issues arose that we needed their help with.”
Potterton Commercial’s Sirius FS is a technically sophisticated range of floor standing, stainless steel condensing boilers, backed by a comprehensive five year warranty. Using the latest stainless steel heat exchanger technology in conjunction with a sophisticated controls system, the range delivers maximum condensing boiler performance. Sirius FS is easy to handle and install and, with ample internal space providing easy access to key components, it is simple to service and maintain.
The Sirius FS features include a modulating pre-mix burner adjustable between 30% and 100%. The boilers provide energy efficiencies up to 107% net at 50oC flow and 30oC return and Part L2 seasonal efficiency of 96% gross. An in-built weather compensation facility optimises seasonal efficiency and encourages the boiler to condense whenever possible. The range offers a full fault diagnostics system and in-built time controls as standard with system controls options available and, as in this case, BEMS connectivity.
The boilers were supplied via Baxi Commercial Division’s Agents, COMPHeat Ltd.