The New Technology Heating System using Zero-light, Far-Infrared heaters

Download a Leaflet

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 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 Churc 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 only viable and affordable option was the new technology infrared electric system. The key decision making, planning and writing 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 were available, although the situation is getting better. 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 our utility supplier. The current indications are generally good, but the cold weather is awaited to see if the new techology is effective. As several worshippers have said “it cannot be worse than the old system!”

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 that was required.