It may not be obvious just what a commercial heating system entails, certainly, there is enough confusion within the industry so the end-user could be forgiven for not knowing. Hopefully by the end of this article, you may now a little more about what the differences are between domestic and commercial heating systems.
In domestic heating there are a relatively small amount of different items;
- Heat only boilers (traditional small boilers often in the kitchen)
- Combination boilers (all in one unit providing heating and hot water)
- System boilers (using an external cylinder for hot water
- Radiators
- Underfloor heating
- Controls (time and temperature for either single or multi-zone)
That probably covers over 90% of the commonly found installation equipment in UK homes, you should recognise a mix of these from your own domestic property.
In commercial heating systems there are a wider variety as commercial properties have a plethora of applications, what is found in a school may not be anything close to what is found in a leisure center with a swimming pool.
Some of the heating equipment most commonly found in commercial heating systems includes;
- Warm air heaters (these are often high mounted fans with gas or oil burners, cabinet heaters are available for warehouses to provide large amounts of heat for spaces with large air change rates)
- Commercial boilers (often installed in cascade these may be similar to a domestic boiler if they are new but many commercial boiler systems have been running for decades so could be large cast iron floor standing units. Commercial boilers should be serviced often to maintain the efficiency and prevent failure)
- Calorifiers (a calorifier is simply a commercial grade hot water cylinder, it may contain multiple tappings to fit into a more complex system)
- Water heater (there are many types of commercial water heater, they may be direct fired and run on gas or oil for instance. Water heaters could also be used to store solar energy as part of a larger system)
- BMS (Building management systems are often used for a larger plant room controls, they help tie together the commercial heating, cooling and sometimes lighting. They can be incredibly complex to include windows, fire and energy management as well)
There are many other aspects that may be within a commercial heating system, these are just some of the most commonly found. Unless the attending professional is an experienced commercial plumber they may be way out of their comfort zone.
Chapman plumbers are based in Aldershot which conveniently gives us easy access to Farnborough, Farnham, Camberley and Fleet however we are happy working outside our local area all over Hampshire, Surrey and West London.
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