Chapel in Namest nad Oslavou heating with Ecosun S high-temperature panels
High-temperature and low-temperature ECOSUN panels operate on the principle of infrared radiant heating. The heat, in the form of infrared radiation, doesn’t heat the air but passes through it freely and heats only the surface of the objects which it hits. This method of heating is ideal for large-area objects, like halls, workshops, warehouses, production plants etc. where the operation of traditional convection heating is demanding, uneconomical and hard to regulate, due to the large volume of interior space. The advantages of radiant heating are used in other constructions as well - one of the objects is e.g. the chapel of the original ‘Spitálek’ (small hospital) in Zerotinova street in Namest nad Oslavou.
This building was originally used as a hospice; now it is under the administration of the town. It is gradually undergoing reconstruction and is used mainly for various cultural-commercial activities – there is a tea room, a costume hire shop and an aero-modellers’ clubroom there. The chapel itself is used mainly for various concert performances, thanks to its good acoustics. Originally, the chapel was heated by four electric storage radiators. The total installed wattage was 19kW (3 x 5 kW, 1 x 4 kW).
As the electric storage radiators were already obsolete and in an unsuitable state, the decision was made to reconstruct the heating system. Due to the irregular, one could say highly fluctuating use of the chapel, these radiators did not offer the required operational parameters – their use was inflexible, uneconomical and in fact, it was a problem to achieve the required temperature in a set time. Therefore, the town looked for a different alternative to electric heating.
Normally, low-temperature ECOSUN K panels are used for the heating of churches, installed in church benches and warming church visitors directly. This method was not useable here because the chapel doesn’t have fixed, immovable benches, the inner arrangement of the seating changing operatively according to the organisational requirements of individual cultural events. Therefore, ECOSUN S high-temperature panels were chosen for the installation.
Four 3 kW panels are installed there – the total installed wattage is 12 kW, which is over 30% less than that of the original electric storage radiators! The panels are placed in such a way that their lower edge is 5m above floor level. The installation was carried out in November 2006 and they have already undergone trial operation during the winter months, mainly during the period of Advent concerts and Christmas holidays. This trial operation demonstrated very good operational parameters which were also expressed in the statement by the town representative (simplified version): ‘…it has never been so warm here before.’
At present, the panels are operated only in the on/off regime; in the future, a regulatory system will be added, enabling the gradual switching on of the heating rods in the individual panels. It will be possible to regulate the output of the heating according to the temperature in the chapel, in 4/8/12 kW steps.
Administrator of the object:
Town cultural centre, Masarykovo nám.100, 675 71 Namest nad Oslavou
Tel. 568 620 493
Installation company:
Bohuslav Karel, Electrical installations - repairs,
Ke Kristalovu 878, 675 71 Namest nad Oslavou
Tel. 724 765 045, 606 448 189
e-mail : elektrobohuslav@seznam.cz