A heating system for your kind of church
The range of church heating systems installed by Mellor and Mottram is as varied as the churches themselves. In some cases the project may involve just the replacement of a boiler utilising existing pipework that is in perfectly good order. In others the entire church heating system needs to be replaced. In some churches the heating system needs sophisticated controls to ensure energy-efficient operation.
There are two principal types of church heating system: the traditional wet system using hot water to heat pipes or radiators, such as the systems installed by Mellor and Mottram at St James Church in Milrow and St Andrew’s Church in Dearnley and warm air systems, such as the one at Newquay Christian Centre, in Newquay.
Within the traditional wet system the boiler may be fuelled by gas (including LPG where no mains gas is available) or use modern, condensing oil-fired units. Modern gas boilers are condensing units that are more energy efficient as they are more controllable. Even the range of radiators is wide and varied to sit individual churches – in addition to a range of underfloor options.
Warm air units are predominantly gas-fuelled, although air source units are becoming more popular. Fan convectors are more suitable for modern churches and church halls.
Crucial to the energy-efficiency of any church heating system is the control unit. These, again, are many and varied. The units used by Mellor and Mottram are manufactured for them in the UK and offer features such as an ‘intelligent’ optimum start facility – where the unit ‘learns’ over a period of time how long it takes to heat the building and turns on at the optimum time for the church service.
In some cases two thermostats are installed to allow the temperature to be consistent throughout the church. Some systems with two boilers will alternate the start times of the boilers and shut one boiler down when the required temperature is reached.
Safety is a major consideration in church heating systems. Mellor and Mottram systems feature radiators with low surface temperatures and tamper-proof room thermostats.