The New Technology Heating System
using Zero-light, Far-Infrared heaters
A leaflet has been written which tells the story of the project. When
printing, set the printer to “flip on short edge.”
Background
Heating a small, rural, ancient church economically and sustainably is
difficult. The previous gas boiler and radiators at St Mary’s did not
heat the church even after being left on for 6 hours before a
service in winter! The heat simply went up and out. Most of the pipes
and radiators were 100 years old and leaks had meant that some
radiators had been isolated. The boiler was not big enough to give
useful heat and we were wasting a lot of money for no benefit.
Something had to be done!
Getting permssion to install new heating
As a Grade I Listed Church, an application for a Faculty had to be
made to the local Diocesan Committee - in our case the Derby
Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC). The following documents were
written for the Faculty application:
•
Project Overview & Plan
•
Background & Options Appraisal (including the Five Ws)
•
Specification (2 documents)
•
A Statement of Significance
•
A set of photographs.
•
A completed Church of England Checklist called the Practical Path
to Net Zero Carbon.
The DAC members asked a few questions prior to their meeting, but
the proposal was supported first time.
The most important document was the Options Appraisal which looked
at all possible options for the energy source (electricity, gas, air-
source heat pumps, solar panels, etc) and how the heat would be
emitted (radiators, under floor heating elements, infrared panels,
heated pew cushions, etc). The conclusion was that the only viable
and affordable option was the new technology infrared electric
system. This system was calculated to reduce the running cost by
66% and reduce the carbon emissions by 88%.
The main decision making (by the PCC), planning and preparing the
documents took about 8 months. The Faculty process took 4 months.
Raising the money
It took five years to raise the money! Few grants for heating systems
in churches were (are) available. This situation has to improve. We
successfully applied to the following grant making bodies:
•
The Benefact Trust
•
The Garfield Weston Foundation
•
The Raymond Ross Fund (managed by Diocese of Derby)
We also received a small grant from the Derbyshire County Council
Members’ Community Leadership Scheme, which helped to fund the
early specification work.
Installation work
The work took about 4 months, but this included the removal of all the
old cast-iron pipework and radiators. The most difficult item to
project manage was the replacement of the electricity meter by the
utility supplier.
The Results
As the weather has become cooler, it is very clear that the main Halo
heaters in the nave work very well. The number of the smaller
Summit and Aspect heaters in the side aisles and chancel may have
been under-estimated (although there is limited space to fit more).
Records are being kept so that decisions can be made next spring
about adding one or two additional heaters.
The number of events that have taken place in church in September
and October has increased dramatically, especially evening events -
this is all due to there being effective heating.
Members of the congregation and visitors are now heard to say that
they are too hot - something which probably has not been said in
St. Mary’s for many centuries!
A Common problem for ancient churches
Many small, usually ancient, churches have the same difficult problem
- how to heat the building a few times per week economically with
lower carbon emissions remembering that we are temporary stewards
of God’s world and resouces.
We are keen to share our experience. Please get in touch if you have
similar problems and don’t know what to do first!
How to contact us
If you would like to visit St Mary the Virgin Church, Denby, DE5 8PH,
to see the new Zero-light, far infrared heating system, please send an
email.
We can provide more information about how the detailed work to
analyse all the options was carried out and the calculations which
proved the extent of the carbon reductions. There were a few
problems as the installation work proceeded, but these were resolved
relatively easily. However, with hindsight, a few aspects should have
been probed in more detail during the planning stage, particularly
around the additional electrical distribution board and switchgear that
was required.