St Marys RC Church in Birmingham gets split zone heating system

St Marys RC Church in Birmingham contacted Manchester based church heating specialists HeatinGlobal with the task of designing a heating system that would involve a split zone between the main church and the church priory rooms.

The church had two Sunday services with an average of 1,200 people attending and so it was important to install a system where comfort conditions could be gained with ease for both the church and the eight fathers living in the church house.

The church was currently heated by a Lenox gas warm air unit which had poor heat outcome and this was substituted with natural convected radiators around the church walls. The main house heating system was a one pipe system connected to various different radiators and heating loops.

The church spend on the gas was three times the average of any church system - so the main aim was to reduce the running cost. New wall mounted condensing boilers were installed in the current church boiler room and all were connected to new low loss headers, filtration systems and correct zoning requirements.

The new controls were via a Heatmiser digital control connected to weather compensation units to reduce further running costs. The main church had its existing heating removed and new fan assisted radiators installed along with new radiators in the entrance area to tackle this cold spot. The Lenox warm air system had new return ducts fitted to give a better heat output with all being connected to a single digital tamper proof room thermostat.

The main house was completely re-piped and where possible the existing radiators were re-used to keep costs down. Where there was not enough heat output, new radiators were installed - all of which now had thermostatic control valves.

The radiators were moved to better positions in most areas of the house and the whole church heating system was power flushed before filled. The whole project was completed in just two weeks with a team of six engineers. It was important to have the church heating system off for as little time as possible to ensure the fathers in the house didn’t get cold and the numbers during services didn’t drop.

The new and improved church heating system now has an even heat distribution throughout and gets everywhere warm within just 40 minutes of run time. The old heating system was beyond repair and bad advice had been taken before about ways to tackle and improve it. The church raised the funds needed and are now seeing the benefit of the savings on overall fuel consumption.

The priest, Fr John, told HeatinGlobal director Damien Bradbury: "We looked at a few different options from various companies but it was clear that your guys new what they were talking about and your design plan came as a whole package. The job was completed a week ahead of schedule we were so grateful for the amount of time you put in. A fantastic attitude towards the job from start to finish. God bless!"