Air conditioning systems from Panasonic’s FS range for medium commercial applications are providing a comfortable year-round environment for growing student and staff numbers at a specialist financial training centre in Liverpool.
Two inverter controlled 6hp CU-L50DBE8 outdoor units and two 3hp CU-L28DBE5 units support six 3hp CS-F28DB4E5 four-way 90 x 90 cassettes in Kaplan Financial’s four new city centre training rooms. Chris Parkinson, Director of Merseyside air conditioning installer Chilltek, switched to Panasonic for the job and says he plans to use the brand for future installations.
Kaplan’s Liverpool Centre is in Cotton House, a 1960s office development that replaced the original ornate façade of the 1906 Cotton Exchange building, which for many years was the focal point of the global cotton trade. Head of Centre John Bennett says the additional rooms on the 6th floor were required to accommodate increasing demand for the leading international financial training group’s accounting and business courses.

The two larger 12 x 5 metre rooms each have a 6hp outdoor unit and two cassettes, while the two smaller rooms have a 3hp outdoor unit and one cassette – facilitating different temperature choices in each room. The cassettes have rated capacities of 7.1kW cooling and 8kW heating and a flow rate of 1,200m3/h in both modes. 
Outdoor units are roof mounted, above the 7th floor, giving pipe runs for the environment friendly R410A refrigerant of up to 30 metres to the cassettes in the 6th floor ceilings. Because of very shallow ceiling voids, fit-out contractor Pacific Design (North West) provided special boxed collars for the 246mm deep cassettes. Pacific also provided the electrical supply for the air conditioning installation.
Panasonic’s FS series provides compact, energy efficient and cost saving solutions to cooling and heating requirements in small to medium offices and shops. The FS series includes inverter controlled, heat pump and cooling-only variants, with a variety of indoor units from 1hp-6hp. Also included in the FS series are wired and infrared control options for precise selection of comfort and airflow. Inverter control technology ensures the desired temperature is achieved as quickly as possible, and then economically uses minimal energy to maintain it.
Chris Parkinson says he changed his order to Panasonic on the advice of his supplier, TF Solutions, Stockport, when the system originally specified could not be delivered within the deadline for the Kaplan installation. He says: “I had quoted on a small VRF system from another manufacturer. In this instance, the Panasonic FS system provides the same levels of comfort and at comparable cost. It was our first experience with Panasonic, and we found the equipment good to work with.”