Kidd Boiler in renovation of large house in Tandridge, Surrey
September 24th, 2008
The Kidd boiler was very popular in the early years (1982 onwards) with people in the music industry, many of whom were pioneers of environmental awareness. Abba, Peter Gabriel and the Alan Parsons Project are some notable customers of Kidd Boilers over the years.
Inside a Kidd Model 260 – stripped down, preparing for lifting
In a recently completed installation in Oxted, Surrey, we had to lower a Kidd Model 260 into an internal boiler room of a large private house.
There was no space for a conventional crane, and to install a lifting hoist would have required some quite complex scaffolding.
So we used a Genie tower lift, more often used in the rock and roll event lighting industry (where I used to work, many years ago), to lower the 350kg boiler into the cellar and lift the old boilersout. There were three old boilers in the cellar, two operational and one from a bygone era which was obviously to heavy to remove when it died.
Going down! the Kidd Boiler is winched into the cellar through a very tight opening (stairs removed)
The boiler flue will emit large quantities of plume and steam, being a high efficiency condensing boiler. A new Kidd alumimium flue liner was inserted into the boiler room chimney.
Going up -one of the old boilers being lifted out
This installation also involved HWCH in the removal and refurbishment of 26 cast iron radiators, which were shotblasted and reconfigured in new sizes by our contractor. Finished in a mixture of white and metallic bronze, they look truly stunning.
refurbished School radiator and custom coloured Hometronic valve
refurbished School radiator and custom coloured Hometronic valve
The house was completely replumbed in a mixture of steel barrel and copper tubing.
Interestingly, only one electrical pump is used for the whole installation. HWCH and Kidd Boilers believe that pumps waste heat and electrical energy, and many larger houses can have 4 or 5 pumps all working to raise the electricity bill and contribute heat losses.
The Kidd Boiler uses an internal Grundfos pump, inside all the boiler insulation. Any heat losses from the pump (both from electrical and latent heat) are thus recycled back into the boier jacket proper. As Mr Kidd says, it is foolish to waste heat. Mr Kidd always expects a Kidd Boiler room to be a cool one.
Finally, we fitted the Honeywell Hometronic building management system to the house, enabling 16 homeowner-configured heating zones to be controlled completely separately.
Each radiator was fitted with a Honeywell radio linked motorised valve (those fitted to the bronze radiators were specially colour matched), 42 in total.
School radiator fitted with Hometronic valve
Another example, this time with a bronze Hometronic valve (special order from Hot Water & Central Heating)
The house is also equipped with two DualStream accumulator pressurised hot/cold water systems. One covers the main house, the other, the guest bathrooms.
The Honeywell Hometronic energy management system is furnished with 10 configurable ‘Lifestyle’ buttons. When our customer has guests staying, they simply press the corresponding button and the heating adapts to encompass guest bedrooms, upper hallway temperatures rise, reception rooms are heating for longer periods, and the second DualStream hot water system is energised.
All clever stuff, but with an end game. With an older house, there is a limit to how much you can insulate against heat loss. Although we fitted one of the most efficient boilers available, further savings can be achieved by using your heat more productively, when and where it is needed. Hometronic takes it to the next level.
With oil pushing 60p a litre, you simply can’t afford to waste it.
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