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OKEL were approached in October 2018 to assist with Medstrom’s expansion plans which required the introduction of high-efficiency heating solutions for 5 of their new and existing warehouse and factory premises located in Derbyshire, Kent, Lancashire and Cardiff.
All sites were to be completed and fully operational by 31st March 2019 in readiness for a new contract that Medstrom had signed.
A pre-installation site visit took place ahead of the installation to sign off on the exact positioning of the heaters. Detailed risk assessments and method statements were forwarded to Medstrom for each of their sites; complete with liability insurance, Gas Safe, electrical and working at height certification for the team of installation engineers working on site.
Having completed heating surveys at each of the sites, OKEL recommended installing bespoke and expertly designed high-efficiency warm air and destratification solutions that would deliver the lowest lifetime running costs, whilst capturing the individual site’s specific needs.
As with many of our factory heating solutions, warm air heating was chosen due to its vast capabilities of heating large open spaces.
OKEL chose to install high-efficiency wall-mounted warm air units with kW requirements specific to each of the sites, ranging from 40 – 100kw units.
As heat naturally rises, all buildings will be affected to some degree by thermal stratification which causes a significant imbalance of temperature from the lower ground to ceiling height.
To reduce the loss of heat, OKEL chose models with integral destratification fans which would force the warm air back down to the lower level once the gradient controls and temperature sensors identified high ceiling temperature.
The site which came with its own challenge, due to having no natural gas supply was the warehouse facility located on the perimeter of Castle Donnington Airport. For this site, OKEL suggested introducing an LPG solution which would require a storage facility at the exterior of the building.
Medstrom had initial concerns about LPG as they were unsure as to whether an LPG storage tank facility would be permitted due to the proximity to the airport. To provide our client with reassurance OKEL arranged for a Calor UK representative to complete a site survey to assess the feasibility of the storage tank and to ensure compliance with oil storage and airport regulations.
On completion of the survey, Calor UK was able to produce a detailed report providing confirmation that they were able to proceed with an LPG solution.
In addition to the heater’s integral fans, OKEL’s designs introduced standalone destratification fans to be evenly distributed at height to provide an even spread of heat throughout the premises.
The majority of our client’s sites benefited from an existing natural gas supply and gas meters which enabled OKEL to propose gas-fuelled solutions.
Upon project completion, our lead engineer arranged a handover with Medstrom’s staff to ensure they were confident with the capabilities of the heaters and able to maximise the efficiencies by effective use of the intelligent thermostatic controls.
Absolutely first-class service and workmanship and we have been very happy since choosing OKEL to fit heating and cooling at several of our sites up and down the country.
The team at OKEL have been responsive, and very accommodating with us too, having opened multiple sites in the past year and without giving them much notice.
They have provided cost effective solutions to both large and small premises, and all very neatly installed. I would not hesitate to use OKEL again.
