Installation Stats
VRF - ECOi 3 Pipe Systems
Installation Notes
South East Water supplies drinking water to around 2.1 million customers across the South of England. In 2007 they merged with Mid Kent Water, with large numbers of staff relocating to the company’s new HQ in Snodland. Comprising two main buildings, a new call centre and an existing office, the HQ’s older property needed urgent refurbishment in order to cope with the heating and cooling needs that came with increased staffing levels and an extremely inefficient old HVAC system.
South East Water, along with most utility companies today, is under pressure to make savings where possible to reduce energy bills and its carbon footprint. The company has waterless urinals, intelligent lighting, efficient air conditioning and recycles its paper, all in a bid to become a more environmentally focused organisation. The previous air conditioning systems were cooling only which meant at times radiators, fuelled by an old oil boiler, were emitting heat at the same time as cold air was being blasted out - wasting a massive amount of energy.
City Air was therefore contracted by South East Water to install an updated air conditioning system, which was supplied by SANYO distributor ESS. Chris Woolsey at City Air explains: “The first thing we had to do was select a more energy efficient HVAC system. Previously, due to budget, smaller scale refurbishment projects had taken place in the building resulting in one-to-one splits being installed rather than focusing on the heating and cooling requirements across the property as a whole. However, since the HQ required a total refurbishment it was possible to take a holistic approach to air conditioning and energy efficiency within the building when specifying a HVAC system.”
It was SANYO’s ECOi electric VRF 3 pipe system which ticked all the right boxes for City Air and the Snodland project. With its simultaneous heating and cooling the new system dramatically reduces the amount of kit needed, since it eliminates the need for a traditional boiler and radiators. The ECOi also has a small footprint, which was key in air conditioning selection since space was tight on site.
Chris Woolsey at City Air adds: “We chose an electric VRF 3 pipe system because of the building’s mixed needs. The general construction of the building was complex; this resulted in solar gain at the back of the building on the southern side while the other end of the building needed more heating. The building has individual cooling and heating demands in each conditioned space which changed throughout the day making a 3-pipe system ideal since it easily meets these demands.”
The 3 pipe heat recovery system of SANYO’s ECOi electric VRF range combines advanced design, cutting edge technologies and R410 refrigerant to produce the most energy efficient and cost effective system to date with COPs up to 4.1. The ECOi offers customers great flexibility with a wider range of outdoor units, indoor units and control options than ever before. Providing system configuration available from 8HP to 48HP the ECOi range allows connectability of up to 40 indoor units from 24HP upwards. Meanwhile, to ensure easy installation extended pipe runs of up to 150m can be utilised with the ECOi 3 pipe heat recovery system.
“With the ECOi VRF system, SANYO has developed an air conditioning solution that is energy efficient, easy-to-install, low on maintenance and provides quick and powerful cooling and heating, thereby providing South East Water with reliable air conditioning that cuts both energy costs while minimising the effect on the environment,” adds, Norman Hobday, from ESS.
At the South East Water project the ECOi 3 pipe outdoor unit was combined with the new ECOi XM Type indoor units which are lighter and slimmer than standard units making installation possible even in the shallowest of ceilings. Ideal for retrofitting, the XM Type is specifically designed for easy installation and maintenance and fits exactly into a 600x600mm ceiling grid, which means that there is no need to alter the bar configuration. Not only is the unit lightweight, but it is also very quiet.
“SANYO scores highly on the flexibility and variety of its equipment, offering compact air conditioning units with small footprints. Some of the rooms at South East Water are very small but SANYO’s wide selection of indoor units meant that we didn’t have to select large cassettes for these rooms since smaller SANYO cassettes were available which are integral to the grid 600 x 600. This means you can choose a selection of units to suit both the rooms and the whole building,” explains Chris Woolsey at City Air.
David Smith, Land and Estates Manager at South East Water says: “We are very pleased with the outcome of the project at our HQ. Utility companies, such as ours, are measured on their sustainability and are ultimately accountable to our customers. After the refurbishment of our HQ, heat calculations were carried out throughout the whole building which found the SANYO ECOi had reduced the overall demand between heating and cooling by a 100 kW, which previously had simply gone to waste.”