This year Jigsaw have been part of the decarbonisation project within Coventry City Council. As part of the work the team have been supporting installations on five buildings. The aim is to reduce the amount of energy used in the buildings with various equipment installations. Therefore, the council are focusing on using solar panels, battery storage, heating equipment and controls.
Initial Enquiry
Firstly, the Jigsaw team completed an initial plan of the building’s heating requirements in September 2020. This was all completed remotely due to COVID. The building was being upgraded in a number of ways to support decarbonisation. Furthermore, the building had a large range of storage heaters throughout on an Economy 7 tariff.Not to mention, these were being supplemented with extra convection heaters throughout as the heating was not sufficient.
The areas for installation were:
Reception
Head Teachers Office
Corridors
Classroom
4 x Offices
4 x Bathrooms
Heater Selection
On the Jigsaw teams first visit with Genius Hub they knew that the Made in Britain Infrared Panels would be used in all of the rooms. As they were luckily being upgraded to false office ceilings which our 400w and 800w panels. Correspondingly, Jigsaw and Genius used their expertise for calculating the requirements of the rooms. In conclusion, the heaters needed control systems and the installation processes.
In addition, the control system implemented meant that it would be controlled by a simple switch to heat the rooms required when they are being used. This is done through a room sensor which will monitor the room and switch the room down/off dependent on temperature and if the room is being used.
Installation Process
Moreover, the installation was carried out by R&M as the Councils main contractor. Their team installed all the heaters into the ceiling grids very quickly. Then, they installed the Genius kit which included the connections to the switch for power and, the room sensor for motion and temperature monitoring. Which were all carried out smoothly. As well as, all of the control system from Genius comes prepared and labelled ready for easy installation. Therefore, the system can then be commissioned to ensure all the units are connected and function correctly. Again, this is done efficiently by accessing the hub.
Controls
The biggest issues that this building was facing was the old storage heating system. As it took too long to warm up, heated up overnight on ECO 7 when the building was empty and then ran out of heat in the early afternoon. This lead to staff using convection heaters throughout the building to boost their heating.
The biggest difference with an IR system is that the response time is so much quicker. Due to the panels responding to heat immediately and they are at operational temperature within 5 minutes. Due to this the controls can be used to respond locally to where the heat is needed and not all or nothing like the storage heaters.
To improve the efficiency of the building the controls allowed:
1, Timed heating control for each room.
2, Overall building control on one app.
3, Motion control to turn the heating down in all rooms if no one is using the building.
4, Tamper proof maximum temperature settings and time controlled.
5, Push button boost for all rooms.
Why heat a room if no one is using it? With our setup you don’t need to make that decision. The control system does it for you. This saves energy and gives you confidence that the heating is being used wisely. The system will go to a lower fall back mode when the room is not occupied.
Results
- The installation looks a lot cleaner than the storage heaters. The walls are free and can be used for desk or storage space.
- The heating responds extremely quickly. The image of the tablet shows room temperatures during the commissioning. The temperatures were reached in less than an hour with an outdoor temperature of 15º.
- The air is cleaner as it is not being moved as much due to IR not requiring convection to heat the room.
- The control system allows for independent heating of spaces. Improving comfort and energy use.
- Heating system will be powered by solar and batteries producing green energy.
- Saving on energy reduces the carbon emissions produced by the building.
Click here for more of our case studies.