Energy expert Paul Webb has been writing a series of ‘toolbox tips’ for his social media followers, with advice for energy managers and those looking at making buildings more energy efficient. Here, he shares his guidance for dealing with heat loss in plant rooms.
When you are next in your plant room just review how many additional areas where there is potential heat loss. You will be very surprised to see that there are the following areas that may not have any insulation on:
- Valves
- Pumps
- Strainers
- Isolators
- End Covers
I am sometimes shocked when I attend plant rooms to see all these additional areas that have not been insulated or lagged, especially as with today’s technologies there have been nicely created ‘mats’ or ‘wraps’ for these items which can be customised to fit all.
Insulation of heating pipes and valves can improve insulation with 15-30% saving on your heating costs. These areas are missed off for good reason because of ‘maintenance’ and the lagging teams may not lag these areas because these items need to be maintained.
Occasionally there are existing metal clad insulation which is difficult to re-use on all fittings and because it is difficult to re-fit after maintenance it is often found on the floor of the plant room.
Most plant rooms have up to 40 fittings unlagged and with each fitting being summed to a significant area, the heat losses could be excessive. Have you ever walked into your boiler room and thought this is hot in here? The scenario we need to be achieving is that the plant room is warm but not too warm and all the excess heat that is being produced is going into the building.
I once re-lagged a plant room and we replaced all the valve areas, we then had to block all the door vents as in the winter the boiler room became too cold. The savings made was significant and, in this case, we achieved 30% savings on the heating costs. Valve wraps (sometimes called mats) provide a robust, flexible insulation that provides maximum heat retention and can be re-used indefinitely.
I often insulate pumps because again there is pipe work that is exposed. I have noticed lately that modern pumps come with their own insulation. This brings other issues because I have seen these not installed as they have been mistaken for packing.
I would like to point out that only one in 10 plant rooms I have visited have benefited from valve wraps. Therefore, this is a common issue with heating plant. I would recommend that this was reviewed as part of an energy assessment or a PPM program.
To achieve a 15-30% reduction in gas consumption, this remains the most effective package I have come across. These mats I have installed in every type of commercial property from care homes, hotels, leisure centres, schools, factories to football stadiums. This measure and opportunity across plant rooms makes complete sense and a good return on investment.
For more information visit: B2B Energy
