Background
Grittleton House is a magnificent stately home on the southern edge of the Cotswolds, near to Chippenham. It is a Victorian Manor House sat in 35 acres of beautiful parkland and formal gardens. It has been described as an Italianate Gothic Mansion. It boasts many original features. The House was built for entertaining, with its large ballroom, cosy library and elegant social spaces, not forgetting the impressive orangery overlooking the Italian sunken gardens. It is the family home to the Shipp family, and it has been in their hands for over 50 years. Today it is spectacular wedding venue providing grandeur and style. The heating in the ground floor wedding area was in need of updating and the owner, Matthew Shipp, was very keen to use the same Smith’s Caspian fan convectors that had successfully been installed in an earlier stable conversion project.
The Challenges
Smith’s was contacted by Mr Shipp to assist with heating the ground floor wedding venue area. This project required a heating solution that can work on biomass and their oil boiler supplied system. The grandeur and style of Grittleton House was a major consideration so the aesthetics were always going to be key in an environment such as this. In common with most Victorian properties Grittleton House has very high ceilings and the wedding area is a large space so the ability to heat it efficiently and quickly was an import consideration.
The Solution
Simon Butcher, Senior Technical Services Manager at Smith’s worked closely with the contractors and Mr Shipp who was closely involved throughout the project. Because of the requirement to ‘hide’ the emitters Caspian FF with rear outlets hidden in the service walkways were initially considered. However, there was hidden brick ducting running from the service passages under the floors and up into the impressive reception rooms and hall. To capitalise on the pre-existing ducting Smith’s Caspian UVC fan convectors were installed in the subterranean wine cellars and service passages beneath the stately home. The ducts were cleverly employed to assist in the transfer of warm air from the Smith’s Caspian UVC fan convectors to heat the vast spaces above. Other ducts were used to provide the return air back into the underfloor passages. The use of Caspian UVC meant that the brief of providing heat emitters that could heat the very large spaces quickly whilst avoiding having any emitters within the historical spaces was achieved. Mr Shipp commented on the impressive capability the Caspian units had to raise the temperature quickly. The fans are turned up high prior to the arrival of the guests to provide a warm and welcoming environment. The output from the fan convectors increases dramatically as the fans run faster. Once the guests arrive, the fan speed is turned down making them inaudible. The Caspian fan convectors work quietly in the background maintaining a warm and welcoming environment.
Having visited the property prior to the works and during the installation Simon Butcher was able to advise and guide the installers through to the successful completion of the project.
Products
The Caspian UVC concealed heating fan convectors was developed for recessed or concealed heating projects and is suitable for high, low or ceiling concealed installations, can even be turned upside down. EC versions are now available with Caspian Smart Controls.
Compatible with all types of wet central heating systems and any commercial or domestic air source heat pump project, the Caspian UVC has four different main accessories. They function together in any combination to create the recessed or concealed heating solution required, depending on the project specification.
Caspian UVC is compatible with most types of wet central heating systems, functioning equally efficiently with conventional boilers, biomass technology or ground or air source heat pumps.