Plant room installation and pipework – Royal Chelsea Hospital

/in , /by

Having carried out the enabling works for both the East and West Plant Rooms at the Royal Chelsea Hospital, the CH team moved on to carry out the installation of three Worcester GB162 boilers, supplied with frames and low loss headers to each plant room.

Due to the age of the existing system and a need to prolong the life of the new boilers, a decision was made to install a Plate Heat Exchanger, which offers hydraulic separation between the new and old system whilst allowing the necessary heat transfer to take place.

The team was also tasked with finding a suitable location for the associated Vessels and Pressurisation Units within some very compact/tight spaces. Looking at the images below, you’ll be able to see that usable space is at a premium; as such, a great deal of time was spent in consultation with the client over what would be the best and most acceptable use of the space we had.

This was by no means the largest project we have undertaken but the space constraints proved challenging – the team worked efficiently to get the job done and we are pleased with the end result.  

Freezing and enabling work – Royal Chelsea Hospital

/in , /by

The team at CH Systems is currently on contract at the Royal Chelsea Hospital  – one of our most prestigious projects to date. We won a tender that commissioned the following:

1.Freezing and Enabling work
2.Plant room installation and pipework
3.Below ground pipe gas pipework

The work includes the creation of two small boiler rooms (within existing plant rooms), which are required to supplement the existing heating system during periods of high load. As one might imagine, this is extremely important within the context of a hospital environment.

As part of the ‘enabling’ that had to be carried out prior to commencing work on the boilers, we had to cut into the existing primary pipework within the plant rooms in order to make our connections to the existing system. With a building of this size, draining down the pipework is not an option due to the length of downtime and inconvenience this might cause to hospital guests, so we froze the pipework in the West and East plant rooms (with the help of an expert Pipe Freezing Service) and used liquid nitrogen to stop the flow of water thus enabling work to take place with as little downtime possible.

Because we were under pressure to get the system up and running as soon as possible, we opted for a number of prefabricated sections of 3-inch and 4-inch pipework (on which our welders did an excellent job) that we joined to the existing system without issue. Not being able to thread pipework or weld anything into place, we used the Viega Megapress system, with support from Paul Burkett (this being our first instance of using the megapress), enabling us to press onto medium and heavy weight pipe thus dramatically speeding up the entire process.

We’re still in the midst of completing the project but check out the pics below to get an idea of the the work explained above…and watch this space for further project updates.

Small space boiler installation  – MRM Worldwide

/in , /by
Sometimes, the installation process is like a puzzle – figuring out how to make the best use of the available space in order to ensure a system that is as cost-effective, safe and efficient as possible. The team at CH Systems was recently commissioned for a boiler installation by MRM Worldwide, which turned out to be an interesting challenge.
The work took place in a ‘package plant room’ that was built and assembled off site then craned up into place and essentially “plugged in”. The seven Keston boilers populating this very tight space had reached the end of their serviceable life and needed replacing but due compact nature of this plant room, our only option was to fit four Keston Heat 55 Boilers in the space left when we removed six of the original Keston 170 Boilers.

Keston’s Heat 55 Boiler was the perfect option for this type condensed space as it has been designed to be light weight and offer flexible installation solutions. Every component within the Heat 55 has been carefully selected to ensure maximum reliability and longevity. With simplicity in mind the boiler features a large back lit screen and simple button controls, allowing the user to get the most from their new boiler installation.

Also included in the installation was a compact, fully integrated Flamco Pressurisation unit – again, perfect for a small are. Have a look at the pics below to get a sense of the space we were working with:

High pressure gas purge – MCSBS

/in , /by

In order to ensure the efficient and effective functioning of a Hamworthy Gas Fired Water Heater with an onsite gas carcass running at 35mb (not common place), the CH Systems team opted to decommission the gas line to fit a local Governor serving the water heater. Once the pipework modifications were carried out we returned the pipework into service and conducted a tightness test as well as a purge back to Natural Gas.

Decommissioning, tightness testing and purging are carried out on existing or new gas pipework installations to ensure that the industrial and commercial gas pipework is safe for use, or continued use, and will not be rendered a hazard or cause an unsafe situation. The high pressures produced by this particular system required both experience and skill on the part of our engineers. See the below pics for an idea of what the job entailed:

Boiler Chemical Clean

/in , /by

We always enjoy repeat work with our regular clients and a recent commission to carry out a chemical clean on nine Hamworthy Wessex 220 M Modular boilers for one of our regulars in Luton was no exception. The boilers were under-performing in efficiency, having not been cleaned in some time and the team at CH Systems was happy to revitalise these massive pieces of machinery to proper working order.

The heat exchangers within these boilers are in excess of 100kg and, as such, required lifting equipment to safely handle them. We’re always up for a challenge, and all nine boilers were cleaned over the course of 2 weeks and put back into service for our client in the most timely fashion possible.

To get maximum efficiency from your boiler, no matter how big or small, it’s important to schedule regular (yearly – as per industry standard) maintenance checks; this will enable your heating professional to fix any problems before they escalate, and end up costing you more money!

You can read more about Hamworthy’s ModuMax boilers HERE. Also, see below for some onsite pics of the work we did:

 

Aldi RDC – Isle of Sheppey

/in , /by

CH Systems secured the pipework installation contract on the new Aldi Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) in June 2017. The new £50m RDC has created around 400 new jobs and measures more than 40,000 square foot. Have a look at the below pics for an idea of the scale of the project:

Our scope of work included:

  • 136no Fan coil units on a 4 pipe system
  • all the LTHW & CHW pipework on this system which was Geberit stainless steel mapress
  • 3no Plant rooms incorporating the 2no Viessmann boilers
  • 2no Beta Echos chillers and 2no Barkell air handling units
  • Over 500meters of welded gas pipe serving 9no Reznor warm air unit heaters
  • 2no Vaillant air source heat pumps
  • 1no GRP water tank and pumps.

All of the Domestic water services pipework was installed in Geberit Copper Mapress with all the valves on the project manufactured by Crane.

Once again we received fantastic support from our suppliers and the engineers involved in the project proved why they are an invaluable part of our team.

We recently achieved Prime Cost (PC) on this project, which makes it the longest running and largest project we have carried out to date.

Cafe Brera Canary Wharf

/in , /by

One of our most recent projects was an assist on a café that was being stripped and remodelled to accommodate a new design. The work we did included the installation of a Heatrae Sadia unvented MegaFlo, which serves the domestic hot water outlets. (All the domestic pipework has been installed in Geberit Mapress copper.)

AAH Ruislip

/in , /by

The ‘Ruislip project’ is a great example of the lateral thinking that is often required in the type of contract work that the team at CH Systems is recruited to do. In this instance, an existing building on the site in question was to be demolished and all the service pipework for 3 Sanyo Gas Fired Heat Pumps was fixed to this building. Our team was contracted to run three new refrigerant circuits as well as a new natural gas line to feed each unit. Have a look:

The team carried out some very tidy welding on the 4-inch branch that we tied in to the existing 6-inch gas line with the remainder of the natural gas pipework being run in Geberit stainless steel pipework and fittings. The final connection was carried out by hot-tapping the service as this ensured the least amount of down time possible, which was critical on this project due to £27m’s worth of stock in the warehouse (and all the product temperature critical).

The Air Handling Unit served by the GHPs is housed on the first floor of the warehouse, which made running the refrigerant pipework an interesting challenge, but nothing that our capable team couldn’t figure out.

These GHPs are fantastic units as they give customers the option to introduce additional cooling capacity into a property where the electrical capacity has already been utilised for other applications.

You can CLICK HERE to read up a bit more about these units.

BBC Allis Studio

/in , /by

CH Systems worked alongside Soho House and ATS on a project that entailed the mechanical fit out of the Allis Bar, as part of an overall  revamp of the BBC’s Television Centre. The project was time sensitive, with a definitive date for the opening the Bar (that was set in stone), which meant late nights and long shifts to get the work done.

Our scope of work included the piping up of ten fan coils all in Geberit Mapress copper. These units run on the “Chilled Water” and “Low Temperature Heating Water” systems, giving the option to heat and cool this vibrant space.

There are also two bar and toilet areas that required hot and cold domestic services as well as soil and waste connections.

The finish in the bar area (featured below) is of a high standard, even down to the choice of sanitary-ware and brassware.

 

Major Supermarket Ashford

/in , /by

A major supermarket commissioned CH Systems for a pipework installation to two air handling units in its Ashford branch. The project involved up-sizing the heating pipework to two of the roof mounted AHUs. The coils on the AHUs were replaced and the units themselves were overhauled at the same time that the pipework was being installed.

All the heating in this store is generated by air-source and ground source pumps.

All the pipework on this site was Geberit Mapress and because of the project location, we carried out all the crimping with a Novopress XL pressing tool, which is cordless and enabled us to carry out the installation timorously.

We’re really proud of how this project turned out. If you have any questions, please do contact us directly.