A community sports centre in Stockport is believed to be among the first in the country to install specialist renewable heating technology in its club house, after it was awarded £70,000 in grants.

Burnage Rugby Football Club, in Heaton Mersey, will have heated changing rooms for the first time after installing an Ecodan® PUHZ 14kW air to water monobloc heat pump, and the hot water for showers is now provided by an Ecodan CAHV 43kW air to water monobloc heat pump. Both air source heat pumps will be partly powered by photovoltaic cells from the Low Carbon Energy Company, which have been fitted to the roof. 

As well as an increase in comfort inside the clubhouse in the last six weeks, the club is already reporting a dramatic drop in fuel bills.

Club member Stuart Hogg explained: “We had an electric hot air system before and it wasn’t very effective. Our bills had reached £15,000 a year, and they were only going in one direction. 

"We looked at the options and although they did require some capital investment, we knew they would prove their worth in the long-term so we applied for grants.

“We were looking for a solution that reduced our carbon footprint, but our primary objective was to reduce our bills because we want to make our club as affordable as possible to the 10,000 people who come through the doors each year.”

The Ecodan CAHV system, which has been approved by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme, uses advanced air source heat pump technology to provide a building’s heating and hot water. As the Ecodan is a factory-sealed unit, installation is straightforward without the need for any refrigeration work on site. Built-in weather compensation enables better control and increases the efficiency to deliver year-round high performance.

Funding for the project comprised £50,000 from the government’s Community Sustainable Energy Programme and £20,000 from the Veolia Environment Trust. The club has also borrowed £20,000 from the Triodos bank, an organisation which lends money to projects which offer positive social, environmental and cultural change.

Specialist installers from Temperature Control Limited spent six weeks at the site, fitting work in around the club’s busy fixture list. Now the venue, which celebrates its 75^th anniversary this year, has indoor facilities to match the rest of its 25-acre site which includes the north west’s only all-weather rugby pitch, two grass rugby pitches and a nine hole golf course.

Steve Grundy, Deputy Managing Director of Temperature Control Limited, said: “We offered the Ecodan units as they are ideally suited to large scale heating applications such as this, and relatively easy to retrofit.

“We gained the client’s confidence in our design and technical abilities and also provided accurate running costs and payback calculations.   

“We also ensured that the system we fitted works for the current set-up and if the club extends its facilities in the future.”

He added: “The high levels of efficiency Mitsubishi Electric technology provides will help Burnage Rugby Football Club achieve its objectives of lowering fuel bills and reducing its carbon footprint.”

An impressive number of enquiries from both residential and commercial developers and specifiers at this year’s Ecobuild exhibition, is an encouraging sign for the building services industry, according to Mitsubishi Electric.

The manufacturer showcased its full range of heating and air conditioning heat pumps at the event, and was delighted with the interest received.

“We were impressed with the quality of enquiries we received this year, especially the level of interest in both commercial heat pumps and air conditioning,” said marketing communications manager for the company’s air conditioning division, Sharon Oliver.

“That is so encouraging for us as we know that our technology can have a significant impact on many different types of buildings, old and new, in each case lowering carbon emissions and fuel bills.”

Mitsubishi Electric’s stand exhibits included the market-leading Ecodan® range of air source heat pumps, and state-of-the-art air conditioning systems that can simultaneously heat and cool, but can also transfer heat around a building supplying all the hot water a business needs. 

And visitors were also shown the company’s range of advanced control systems, which can link heating and air conditioning units to other building systems to offer advanced, energy saving control.

In addition, members of the team held a special CPD-accredited seminar focusing on the application of heat pumps in community heating schemes and domestic situations, and a seminar on the specification and performance monitoring of air source heat pumps.

Oliver said: “Taking time to attend trade shows in today’s market is more difficult these days, both for visitors and manufacturers who are understandably focused on their day jobs. But heat pumps offer long-term financial benefits by reducing running costs, so it makes financial sense for businesses to seriously consider them.

“We firmly believe those visitors who came to our stand at Ecobuild appreciated the level of expertise and personal service our team was able to offer.”

Mitsubishi Electric has launched a comprehensive video guide for its range of Ecodan® air source heat pumps to ensure consumers achieve maximum benefits from the system.

The Homeowner Portal features several short films which explain the science behind the technology, detail the information required for initial set-up, demonstrate quickly and simply how settings can be changed when needed, and provide answers to frequently asked questions.

“Getting to grips with new technology can be tough, and we’re all used to receiving printed instruction manuals. At Mitsubishi Electric we wanted to go one step further than that,” said John Kellett, Heating General Manager.

“We’re providing state-of-the-art heating technology designed and built in the UK, specifically for UK homes. Now we have matched that with a much more modern way of providing guidance on maximising the benefits of the system for our UK consumers.”

Accredited Ecodan installers will always programme the system to suit a homeowner’s needs in the first instance. The new video portal ensures consumers will be easily able to change those settings at any time to guarantee their home has precisely the level of heat and hot water required.

Kellett added: “The videos are free and very easily accessible. They will help new users become accustomed to the Ecodan system, and provide a useful refresher to existing consumers.”

Mitsubishi Electric’s Ecodan will reliably provide a home’s heating and hot water, all year round and is suitable for a wide range of existing and new-built properties. Further details on the range are available at heating.mitsubishielectric.co.uk.  

In a move that demonstrates his complete confidence in Mitsubishi Electric’s air source heat pump technology, renewables specialist Warren Gray has installed an Ecodan® and Hydrobox heating system in his own home.

Mr Gray, owner of Northumberland-based Northburn Solar, a company specialising in renewable technology has chosen an 8.5kW Ecodan unit to provide heating and hot water to his three bedroom home in Cramlington, Northumberland.

The house was previously fitted with a 10-year-old gas system which was proving to be both inefficient and costly to run.  With many years’ experience in the industry Mr Gray had a wealth of knowledge to draw on to select the best product for the job.

“I’ve worked with renewables for a long time and know a thing or two about how they perform,” he said.  “I didn’t want to compromise on efficiency or performance and certainly didn’t want to incur prohibitive running costs. 

“Fitting it was very straightforward with my existing solar thermal hot water cylinder.  The 8.5kW Ecodan and Hydrobox do the job beautifully and have helped to reduce my carbon output too.”

The Ecodan unit is fitted to the outside wall of the property from where it harvests renewable, low grade energy from the outdoor air.  This energy is upgraded and used to heat water supplied for Mr Gray’s domestic use and to the radiators within his home.

The Ecodan packaged Hydrobox is designed specifically to integrate with a third party cylinder. It is highly adaptable and works equally well whether installed as a retrofit, or in new builds. 

The system comes pre-wired and pre-plumbed which made fitting both quick and easy for Mr Gray, who carried out the installation himself.

The new system is controlled by a Mitsubishi Electric FTC-3 controller which makes operating the system extremely simple.  Included as standard, the intelligent, self-learning room temperature control has a simplified graphical user interface that allows homeowners to check a room temperature at a glance.

The inclusion of advanced weather compensation also ensures that the heat pump delivers a consistent, ambient room temperature all year round, regardless of the season.

“I’m really happy with the new system; my house is always at a comfortable temperature and we have plenty of hot water, and if energy bills rise as much as they are predicted to do, my pocket will be very happy too,” said Mr Gray.

Mitsubishi Electric’s heating team has just returned from a challenging 500km bike ride from Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City to the stunning Angkor Wat Temple in Cambodia, as part of an on-going campaign to raise £150,000 for Save The Children.

The group spent eight days travelling an average of between 65km and 100km a day and took in stunning scenery as they traversed narrow dirt tracks through coconut groves, paddy fields, mountain tracks and main roads on the journey.

“The highlight of the whole trip was how friendly everyone was and wherever we went we were surrounded by smiling, happy children which helped lift the spirits,” explained John Nock, General Manager for the Commercial Heating Systems Division, who arranged the visit.

The trip was not all peddling though and the group took in floating markets, hidden temples and an historic 12^th Century bridge, as well as visiting the sombre Cambodian Killing Fields. The group also visited Skun in Cambodia, which is known as Spiderville because of its association with tarantulas and its culinary speciality of fried spider.

"It was all worth it though as we are well on the way to reaching our target of £150,000 for Save the Children,” added Nock.

“We all owe a lot to Mitsubishi Electric, our families and the fantastic guides in Cambodia and Vietnam, who helped us complete the tour without any major incidents, apart from some scraped knees and some very sore posteriors,” said Nock. “At the end of the eight days we were all fairly exhausted but we have an enormous amount of respect for the work Save the Children do around the world and wanted to help them with their work.”

When disaster strikes anywhere in the world, there is no time to lose and Save the Children responds quickly to help wherever and whenever needed. In 2011 they responded to 45 emergencies in 38 different countries and helped over 3 million children.

“They help children in poverty in some of the poorest and most dangerous places worldwide and are always ready to respond,” added Nock. “Donations go directly to help children around the world and whatever support people can give can make a real difference.”

Save the Children’s Emergency Fund focuses its resources on inspiring the greatest positive impact for children and over the next seven months, the team will be trying to raise as much money as possible. 

Although the team has finished the cycling, the fundraising goes on. To make a donation visit: www.justgiving.com/mitsubishielectric55.