Bolton schools heating up

Keeping classrooms heated is an essential part of any school's make up, but with many facilities now ageing, a need to replace boiler systems is becoming commonplace. Bolton Council's Corporate Property Services department took a new tack to this problem having recognised the time-critical issues involved.

Any maintenance work needs to be completed outside of school term times for minimal interference. A programme to replace systems in schools throughout Bolton has used pre-packaged, skid-mounted boilers constructed off site by Plant Energy Systems. This has reduced the time required for installing a new boiler room from around six weeks to ten days.

The packages are based on Potterton's Slimline 2000 gas-fired lthw boiler system. They are fully assembled and tested before delivery – final installation only needs connections to mains water, heating flow and return pipework and electrical supply. The system was trialled in one school around 18 months ago and two further schools have since had the system installed. They are being used alongside constant temperature heating circuits running fan convectors where the boiler rooms are at ground level. After stripping out the existing system the fully commissioned package can be slid into position and connected.