Fan coil units
Coiled and ready for action
The heating solution for a new build is often integral to ensuring the overall project represents good value and delivers a building that is cost-effective to run over the whole building’s life. Fan coils and their sibling fan convectors can provide integrated heating/cooling options to give commercial projects their competitive edge. Simon Butcher, technical services manager for Smith’s EP elaborates
terms of space, energy efficiency and aesthetics. The challenges of delivering this new project surface at specification time when the contractors have to consider the physical space available to install heating and cooling products, and the factors involved in making this decision. Alongside the space available, other factors include controls, comfort factor for users, noise and budget. The decision whether to specify fan coils and fan
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convectors usually arises because of the heating challenges of the project in question. Both are more energy efficient than other heating options because they have much lower electricity consumption and use much less water. Both are highly favourable options when air or ground source heat pumps have been specified and both can be sited in almost any and every location, with different model options to fit inside walls, high on walls, on the floor, in the floor, on the ceiling or in the ceiling. Their versatility alone makes them the ideal heat emitter across most new build applications and they drive value and cost- savings through the whole life of the building, not just at the installation stage. The issue of climate controls is now a fundamental aspect of any new build project. Building users want to be able to manage their building’s comfort at the push of a button. The heating and cooling solution should be compatible with a BMS in order to reduce management time and increase the intelligent use of temperature in different areas, zones or rooms of the building. With more and more projects integrating BMS into their specification, it follows that contractors will need to specify heating products that can be properly controlled. Most fan coil and fan convector units now have EC
motors. EC motors make these units extremely simple to manage, either in isolation or as part of a series of units. This technology has also improved fan coil energy efficiency and made them much quieter. EC fans allow for much easier integration into BMS systems than other heat emitters. Working closely with a fan coil manufacturer can give contractors additional benefits and another perspective on how to fulfil this sort of requirement.
20 July 2017
typical scenario we often experience is where the commissioned architects have designed a superb new building that ticks every box in
Increasingly, we are finding that our clients are seeking heating partners who can problem-solve and add value to the relationship beyond merely supplying a set of units at a given price. They’re looking for a cost- effective solution that will give the overall project its competitive edge. With air source and ground source heat pumps becoming a more mainstream method for heating a building, it’s worth noting that you can also use heat pumps for cooling as well, by reversing the refrigerant cycle. This makes a fan coil unit a highly attractive proposition as a heating solution because there’s no requirement to invest in an additional chiller unit.
Rather than specifying an air ducted chiller air
conditioner, you can have better local control using fan coil units with thermostats to better manage the cooling needs of a specific zone or room. This can be hugely beneficial in hotel rooms and offices. The investment in plant can be reduced by selecting a heat pump because of its heating and cooling capabilities, which in turn delivers greater cost- effectiveness into the project and for the building’s life. This helps to demonstrate that a one-size fits all approach is a bit clumsy and lacks the sophistication end users and building engineers actually want. Every project deserves to be looked at and considered on its own individual merits and will
require its own specific solution. When it comes to space considerations,
contractors will seek out compact fan coil units, either from those available off-the-shelf or produced specifically for their project by their preferred heating partner. The advantages of working with a heating partner on a project are many. The contractor benefits from the experience and flexibility of the heating manufacturer while the manufacturer benefits from a close working relationship with a contractor. Both benefit by learning from each other how to resolve physical and technological challenges by working together to resolve those issues. Commercial applications without fan coils or fan
convectors as part of the specification are simply not going to deliver cost-efficiencies, value for the whole life of the building, energy savings and the most easy-to-manage controls.
Responding to
these sorts of issues and being able to design and build project-specific units is the sort of challenge that makes my day and it’s this continual ability to create new solutions for partners that makes the fan coil such a flexible and versatile heating solution to work with.
www.heatingandventilating.net
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