Commercial heating
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When oversizing is good practice
Technologies and training director, Mark Wilkins from Vaillant explains why redundancy is essential for many commercial applications, how it is implemented and why oversizing is unavoidable in these cases
O
versizing a heating system is regarded as bad practice for domestic properties. But, it’s a diff erent story for commercial applications,
because of the need for redundancy where the provision of heat is business and operations-critical. It should never happen accidentally, however, implementing a redundancy contingency in certain plant rooms is not only wise, but can off er a range of benefi ts. By controlling and designing such systems in the right way, boilers can be used effi ciently, alternating the heat between boilers so that they are eff ectively being used less, therefore improving the lifespan of the product whilst providing essential and comfort conditions.
Why redundancy?
There is a wide range of non-domestic buildings where the provision of heat is critical to an organisation’s operations. To ensure heat security, redundancy is built into the heating system using ‘spare’ boilers. Without this back up to deliver heating
20 November 2021
and hot water, lives could be put at risk, businesses could incur signifi cant losses, and occupants could suff er disruption to important aspects of their daily lives. Valuable insights into our history and culture could even be lost. Protected services such as hospitals and nursing homes need hot water and heating to keep vulnerable patients safe and comfortable, and ensure maximum hygiene on the premises. Thermal comfort is also essential in educational establishments and childcare settings, as set out in the requirements of Building Bulletin (BB) 101. Adherence to the guidelines not only contributes to occupants’ physical health, but also the ability of both staff and pupils to concentrate. Loss of heating and hot water could lead to building closures and disruptions to their education. The Health and Safety Executive also places constraints on employers to provide basic comfort and care to their employees, so there is a legal framework in all workspaces, even in offi ce environments. Heat is not only needed to keep people safe and comfortable. Many industries require heat and
hot water for manufacturing processes. Without these, production would grind to a halt, resulting in signifi cant losses to businesses. In museums, humidity levels and temperatures must be kept constant to preserve valuable artefacts. If their condition is not maintained, this could result in damage to irreplaceable objects which have historical and cultural signifi cance to a country.
Cascade set up
Installing a system with cascaded boilers is advantageous in that it operates at its maximum capacity during the highest heat demand. At the same time, it can guarantee heat security if a failure occurs or during essential maintenance. For example, in a nursing home with a 600kW heating demand, six or seven Vaillant ecoTEC plus 120kW boilers could be set up as a cascade. This ensures that the heating demand can be met with fi ve units fi red up, with one or two spare units as back-up. If this happens, the Vaillant VRC 700 controller, which
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