Maintaining Comfort Levels & Saving on Energy costs - It's a Balancing Act!
Challenge
Suffering from a high level of cold air ingress through a large loading bay door, the client wanted to assess whether they could maintain the internal comfort level of the building and reduce costs. The frequency of the door opening and closing meant the heating system would struggle to maintain the temperature within its set parameters. When the door opened, the internal temperature would drop below an acceptable level. Additionally, the thermostat control activated the gas-fed heaters and they would continue to operate until the temperature reached the setpoint, driving up energy consumption.
Solution
A detailed site survey was carried out and the installation of an Enershield air barrier over the doorway was proposed. Air barrier technology works by re-circulating ambient internal air in a laminar flow and therefore creating a ‘virtual door’ effectively and efficiently separating the two atmospheres.
For comparison, a post-installation study was carried out and was formed of two tests. The run time of the tests was 60 mins, and the set point of the building was +21°C. The first test was with the air barrier running. The data logger report showed that the temperature immediately inside the door did not drop below +13°C during that hour. After the door was closed and the air barrier turned off, it took just 31 minutes in total for the building to return to the +21°C set point.
The second test was with the air barrier turned off. This time, the report revealed that when the door was open the temperature dropped down to freezing levels at the door. It would be only +2°C in the centre and took a total of 110 minutes for the building to reach back to the setpoint temperature.
Results
The tests and subsequent reports showed that not only did the Enershield air barrier maintain a comfortable working temperature, it also dramatically reduced the amount of gas consumed to reheat the space. Consequently saving the company, a substantial amount of energy and helping them reduce their carbon footprint.
Additionally, a separate gas consumption study took place. It was performed by an independent gas company and showed an 18% overall reduction, equating to a saving of appx £3000/year. A saving that could now be invested elsewhere.T
