Wet Heating Solution

At Hull University, Vinci Construction UK Ltd were contracted to deliver 1,400 student bedrooms. The construction period was 24 months with fit-out activities being carried out over two winter periods.

One of the challenges to the project was keeping temperature sensitive activities, such as flooring, which needs to be laid in an ambient temperature of 18°C on programme.

We currently employ various methods to provide temporary heating on our sites. The method that was originally used was electric heating, this was expensive to run, needed an extensive electrical infrastructure and required a substantial electrical incoming supply. Whilst we had the electrical supply available, the site lost many man hours due to the heaters tripping out the electrical supply.

We decided there must be a better way of providing temporary heating. This is when we came across a wet heating solution. The wet heating solution distributes heat around the building using heaters located on each floor. The heaters are then connected via temporary pipework to the ground floor where they are connected to the district heating main.

The benefits of using a wet heating solution include:

• Cost of fuel (unit price of gas vs unit price of electricity).
• No need for large electrical distribution units which cannot be moved until the final temps are stripped out.
• Minimal disruption to the electrical system due to circuits being overloaded.
• Tidier and safer on site – no trailing cables.
• Increased productivity on site – heaters run constantly and efficiently.
• The system is ideal for high rise buildings and sites with no power available.
• Risk of fire is reduced.
• Heaters have a greater output and cover a larger area.
• Reduced cost of infrastructure installation.

To find out more, click on the link below.