Case Studies, Green Energy, Infrared Heating
Mansfield Church Infrared Heating Installation
23
Apr
Apr
Infrared Heaters in Situ
Mansfield Church Infrared Heating Installation
Did you know there is no need to turn the heating on at lunchtime on a Saturday to ensure everyone is warm enough on a Sunday morning? Sometimes even longer! This appears to be a common problem for most religious buildings.
Jigsaw are approached frequently to help on ways to heat older buildings. The most requests we get are for support for churches. These are some of the more challenging buildings to work on due to the age, construction, wiring and delicacy needed to when planning and installing.
We are usually asked one simple question. Will Infrared work for our church? The answer is, YES! But, the challenge for our staff is to find the best way of warming the building quickly, efficiently and with controls which make is easier for members of the church to use.
Initial Enquiry
The Jigsaw team recently completed a three week installation at Mansfield Baptist Church, Nottingham. We were originally approached along with five other companies to offer our solution for heating multiple rooms of various sizes. Ones of their main issues was that there are so many rooms that each would require different infrared solutions to work. The previous convection/gas system was taking too long to warm the rooms up. Some rooms never reached temperature in some large areas. This caused the congregation to feel uncomfortable in the colder months.
The areas for installation on the first phase were:
Reception
Managers Office
Central Corridor
Nave (10m+ High Vaulted ceiling)
Balcony
Vestry Office
Parent and Baby Room
3 x Large Meetings Rooms
3 x Bathrooms
Heater Selection
The team on their first visit knew that the Mid Range of Infrared heaters would be required for the larger spaces. Our Made in Britain Infrared Panels would be used in the others. Their expertise were put in to use for calculating the requirements of the rooms, the heaters needed, control systems and the installation processes.
Comfortable working environment
Once an initial estimation had been made, the custodians of the church visited one of our previous church installations in the Midlands. This gave them the sense of what the IR heat feels like and how it can quickly warm the space up. This gave the group the confidence in their investment. Two demonstration heaters were loaned to the church to aid their decision. With Infrared you need to feel it, know what it does and how far it reaches.
Heaters in Situ
Installation Process
Due to the size of the installation the incoming feed of power to the church had to be updated. The electrical company were very quick in completing all of their guidelines for this to happen. Jigsaw worked with the church to advise them on their requirements for the installation. This made it easier to carry out the work.
The whole installation took a team of three electricians, 14 working days to complete. This was mainly because of the number of heaters to install and because of the shear amount of cabling and additional consumer unit updates or rewiring needed. The church were impressed at how this was all hidden from view. Our control supplier noted that it was one of the cleanest installations that he had seen.
Infrared Heaters in Situ - No Visible Wiring
Controls
One of the most important things that Jigsaw installs is the control system. Without a well engineered system it could cost an extra 20-50% on the energy bills. As part of our planning we specify that each room is controlled independently. This allows for each room to be set at different temperatures when required. The clever addition on our system means that this can be controlled in the room, on the app and also by movement in the room.
Jigsaw Smart Room Sensor
The system looks for a number of things before turning on the power:
1, What is the required temperature?
2, Is the room required to be heated at this time?
3, Is there anyone in the room?
4, Can I override this in the room? (Tamper proof maximum temperature settings and time controlled)
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.
With our training session at the end of the installation we helped demonstrate and setup that with the control system together. The managers of the church were surprised at how simple it was to have all this control in the room, on the computer and on the app.
Screenshot of Control System on App
Results
Thanks to Jigsaw, the Church now have a system that warms up quickly. Infrared heating heats objects and people directly within five minutes of switching on. This ensures that you feel the warmth much quicker than you do with convection based heating systems.
The heating is proactive and targeted meaning that there is less wasted energy. This is now saving the Church a lot of money per year on their energy bills. So much so they are looking at installing throughout the rest of the building already.
App on phone ready to go
Feedback from the custodians of the church told us the reason Jigsaw won the contract was because of:
- Clear presentation of the heating requirements
- Support throughout the decision making process
- Clear designs of the installation
- Clear costings for each room
- A tutorial of the control system at the completion of the installation
- Staff that cared about process from start to finish
- Quality products that worked as specified
Excellent feedback for our dedicated site survey, installation and support staff. WELL DONE!
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