Heat Pumps for Warehousing

How to deliver a well-designed Heat Pump heating and cooling solution to an exacting Client, with a unique and very particular specification of indoor air control, in a not unfamiliar application such as a large partially open Warehouse activity.

Having signed a long lease on a new home for their business, environmentally-conscious B Corp brand Weleda UK had to consider how to heat it effectively for a sustainable future!

The Client representative Robert Wood, Head of Manufacturing & Supply Chain at Weleda UK, has responsibility for over ￡1million worth of stock at any time, and it requires a well-controlled environment. necessitating cooling in the summer months, and both heating and potentially cooling in the winter!

So how did Weleda approach a solution?

With a great deal of due diligence and an eye for the future sustainability of the business. Other fuels were available, yes possibly even Biomass, but the cooling potential needed addressing, so why install two systems?

The Solution: A Reverse Cycle Air to Water Heat Pump.

A prerequisite, good efficient and directional air distribution, suspended ducting was not an option, because of issues such as where to site it, as the internal activities evolve, and because it is also expensive to fix and insulate when heating and most importantly cooling is a must.

AFS Biomass Ltd engaged the Bruce Boucher Consultancy, HVAC design specialists on behalf of Weleda proposed a different but highly effective solution.

By working with AFS Biomass Ltd & Weleda and taking a product such as the Biddle NOZ2 air handlers, a CPV Ltd pre-insulated piping system and a CIAT Air to Water Heat Pump, has provided a complete and effective heating and cooling solution.

A nominal 120 kW reverse cycle Heat Pump with 4 scroll compressors, takes care of both heating and the cooling. However, you need to ensure you limit all of the piping system heat loss/gain when installing over a 1000 litres of carrier fluid. Answer, tBBC specified CPV Ltd using pre-insulated high performance piping system. Add to this a decent controls strategy, the (CIAT HP), and well-proven directional air distribution solution via ?4 Biddle NOZ2 units, directing the conditioned air where it is needed, and ability to adjust the air if required to local zones.

Connecting 97% of the internal piping with the pre-insulated Hiline product , and the job is done. When you are installing a piping system 8 metres + up, you need a system capable of delivering long-term energy savings, low heat loss and zero-maintenance.

Using the vast experience of the tBBC, with carefully selected well-proven products, a well-designed and managed installation again by tBBC, a trusted installation team from AFS Biomass Ltd, and a client willing to make bold decisions on precise evidenced-based design information again provided by tBBC.

“The system will be closely monitored 24/7 as to performance,” As the building use evolves adjustments to the flow temperatures and space temperatures are on-going to monitor running costs. Although we in the UK have a long heating season, winter sunshine through the part glazed roof could have an immediate need for cooling, specifically if you carry a huge stock of an expensive product. Therefore, you need a quick response time to space temperature changes; this design delivers on all fronts”.

Bruce Boucher of the Bruce Boucher Consultancy said, one issue to resolve was to limit the time taken with the carrier fluid to change from Heating to Cooling.

By using the 250L integral buffer, and not a larger external buffer, the change from heat-to-cool is only minutes. Again, you don’t want the control dead band too tight or you will end up with short cycling.

This Heat Pump solution has great merit and long-term environmental benefits, whilst crucially protecting the high-quality range that Weleda has been developing over 100 years creating award-winning authentically natural health and wellbeing products, made without synthetic preservatives.

Carrier commissioning engineer said "one of the best installations he'd commissioned"