De-carbonisation of the existing Heating System
The Principal’s House is a primary administrative centre for the University of Gloucestershire, located within one of the listed buildings forming part of The Francis Close Hall Campus.
The existing LPHW gas fired heating was historically provided from a basement plant room and distributed to three floors via a combination of steel panel radiators and a small number of wall mounted fan coil units.
The gas fired boiler was replaced by two air source heat pumps located within a new external compound with LPHW flow and return pipework trenched to the basement plant room.
A new LV electrical supply was brought to the Air Sourced Heat Pumps to reduce load on the existing campus electrical infrastructure.
Key design issues resolved:
- Upgrade of the existing panel radiators and fan coils to maintain output at lower system temperatures
- Provision of primary water storage to maintain load and reduce system cycling
- Incorporation of a plate heat exchanger between primary and secondary heating circuits to maintain water quality within the primary heat pump circuit, with tolerance required by the heat pump manufacturer.
- Upgrade of existing BMS / Controls to incorporate new equipment, control requirement and report performance for post installation analysis.
Key Challenges:
- Working in an occupied and operating environment • Access for and positioning of new equipment, particularly within the basement plant room
- Co-ordinating installation of new stand-alone power supply to an external compound and demonstrating earthing isolation from campus services
