Tips to optimise your heating system

"I’m glad that I took time out to attend this workshop, it really helped my understanding of why it is important to make sure our heating systems are well maintained. It also gave me some useful ideas to implement on our site", said one of the attendees at the recently held “Optimise your heating system” events at Lovania Nurseries in Lancashire and Roundstone Nurseries in West Sussex, UK.

Jon Swain and Tim Pratt from Farm Energy Centre, together with Matt Blood from Ebtech Solutions presented these events with a focus on energy-related set-up and maintenance issues that need to be considered in order to be ready for winter.

During the two days several useful tips were shared, here are few examples:

Service the whole of your heating system regularly - boilers are often serviced once a year but the rest of the system usually gets ignored until something goes wrong. Servicing your heating system regularly can pick up small problems before they turn into big issues and will save money in the long term.

Pay attention to all the components in your heating systems - ensure measuring boxes are clean and calibrated, system valves can open and close freely, automatic air vents work and pumps deliver required flow rates.

Simple, relatively cheap improvements can give considerable savings - for example, every valve and pump without an insulated jacket loses heat equivalent to a 1m length of uninsulated pipe of similar diameter. This equates to a loss of £32 at 100mm diameter.

For more information:
The GrowSave Team
C/O Farm Energy Centre
Stoneleigh Park
Kenilworth
Warwickshire
CV8 2LS
Phone: 024 7669 6512
Email: growsave@farmenergy.com
www.growsave.co.uk