The Kimpton team recently completed another boiler room replacement. This one at Shoreside Primary School.
Shoreside primary school is a small, friendly primary school with 210 pupil capacity in Ainsdale, Southport. In 2018 it became part of the Rainbow Education Multi Academy Trust, which is a family of six schools across the North West.
The school caters for children aged 2-11 years old, with an additional Nursery provision for three and four-year-olds. It can be a long school day, with a busy Breakfast Club and a wide range of After School Clubs. As with any school, it’s vital that the learning environment temperature is regulated. If it is either too hot or too cold, the research shows that this can cause serious concentration and attentiveness issues, for both students and teachers.
The existing heating system had reached the end of its working life and was operating inefficiently. Under the CIF (Condition Improvement Fund) and following a successful bid on behalf of the school by their consultants, the school received funding for a complete overhaul of the boiler room.a
We are also often asked, “but is my boiler okay?” You can read the ten signs to look for to know if your boiler needs replacing here.
With this project, the biggest challenge we faced was timing. The CIF approval normally comes through at the start of the financial year in April, which would allow time to plan for installation during the six-week summer shutdown. With the problems that the Covid shutdown of 2020 caused, this approval was delayed until July, leaving no time for the work to be programmed in for the school summer holidays. Working closely with all parties we agreed a new installation programme for Easter 2021. This left us a much shorter window, where, if there was an issue during installation, we would have little time to rectify the problem before the school reopened.
With careful planning and timely execution by the Kimpton team on site, the installation was completed on time and in budget, and any in-process problems were overcome.
The boilers chosen for the system were Viessmann Vitoden 120kw units. These have an overall efficiency of up to 98% and are Class A-Rated for energy efficiency. They are quiet, with noise emissions of less than 32db. The choice of installing two smaller boilers on a common manifold racking system, rather than one bigger one is to give system flexibility. The pattern of usage for a school is mainly long periods of very low usage, with short periods (mainly break times when the kids are washing hands and doors are being opened and closed) of high demand. In winter this peak/trough is exacerbated. There are winter and summer settings on the newly installed BMS and temperature sensors inside and out to manage and regulate temperature. When demand is low, the system cycles between the two boilers and at times of peak demand, brings both into action.
With the old system removed, the boilers were mounted onto the steel-framed manifold and the low loss header installed alongside. The system is supported by an upgraded Andrews Domestic water heater to replace the outdated model that was in place previously.
A “hydraulic break” was installed in the form of a Plate Heat Exchanger and new circulation pumps on the secondary side. The Air/Dirt separator was also upgraded and a new one installed to prevent issues within the system going forwards. As the name implies, this removes any residual dirt within the system and will ensure a longer life and greater operating efficiencies. Along with this, there’s a new dosing system on the primary side, between the boiler and the plate heat exchanger, to allow easy delivery of chemical treatment to the system.
The Building Management System (BMS) allows central control and more accurate reporting to help the school manage the system as efficiently as possible and meet their carbon reduction targets. New flues were also added to the outside of the building.
The Kimpton team managed the programme, delivering the completed project in under three weeks by working in close collaboration with our specialist supply chain partners.
If you are considering a boiler room replacement, would like to know more about the CIF funding and how it could help you, then please call the Kimpton team on 0151 343 1963.
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