Background
Flamstead End Primary School and Nursery in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire is a school typical of many educational buildings comprising of 1960’s and 70’s flat-roofed buildings in need of upgrading and refurbishing. Over the course of the past 7 years the school has undergone refurbishment to the heating system. In 2014 the boilers were replaced and in 2018 the heat emitters in the Junior school were replaced. In 2020 funding was released to upgrade the heating in the Infant and Nursery sections of the school.
The Challenge
Funding for capital expenditure was released in the summer of 2020 meaning the time to arrange for the work to be carried out, and the replacement products to be available was very short.
By the very nature of the school the students were very young and special attention needed to be paid to the risk of high temperature surfaces being within reach of young hands. The existing heat emitters were old and had become ineffective through wear and tear and also, through damage. These incumbent heat emitters were ‘radiator’ type products with fans ducted to blow the warm across the fins into the rooms. The Site Manager at Flamstead End Primary School and Nursery, Tim Wistow recalls ‘the old heaters were noisy and blew very warm air at low level creating discomfort for the children sitting close to them’.
These old heat emitters being floor-mounted also took up valuable teaching space.
The Solution
The Contractor, James Wilson of Gowing and Hunt, says the late release of the government funding caused all sorts of problems with scheduling of school refurbishment work as well as obtaining the required heating products at short notice. He recalls ‘the government effectively gave us just two weeks with in which to organise things’. He turned to Smith’s to source the fan convectors needed to complete the heating refurbishment at Flamstead End. A total of 15 Caspian fan convectors were installed, with 2 each of the SL90 variants being used in the nursery and reception classrooms with one smaller classroom having 2 SL60’s and 3 SL90’s installed in the School Hall. Further SL90’s were used in the dining room and 3 other rooms. The heating in all of the rooms was controlled by room thermostats to provide individual control. Gowing and Hunt removed all of the redundant pipework from the former heating replacing it with new fully insulated pipework.
The fan convectors in the classrooms and hall were all located at or above head height releasing wall-space for teaching activities, as well as removing the risk of young hands coming into contact with hot surfaces. Siting of the Caspian fan convectors higher up on the walls also improved the mixing of the warm air and aided the quick
warm-up of the rooms.
Reflecting on the service provided by Smith’s James Wilson, Associate Director at Gowing and Hunt says ‘I was really pleased the service Smith’s provided. We were really up against it in terms of time constraints, but Smith’s did a great job of getting the products we needed at such short notice’.
Tim Wistow is equally delighted with the Caspian fan convectors ‘they are far quieter, far better and have brought big benefits to the school. The classroom heating is superb’.
Products
Smiths’ Caspian fan convectors have been specially developed for a wide range of applications in larger spaces and commercial environments. With the ability to rapidly heat large areas at low cost, Caspian fan convectors are both practical and energy efficient. They can be also installed in an adjacent room, or storage cupboard, with the warm air outlets positioned at the rear of the appliance and ducted into the adjacent room such as a sports hall or even a narrow corridor, permitting an obstruction free wall space. They can also be supplied in any colour to meet the demands of the installation location. Fully compatible with renewable energy technology, such as heat pumps, Caspian can also enhance your environmental credentials.