When an Oxford University college needed to improve comfort levels in a hard-to-heat dining hall, Dimplex's commercial heating experts came up with an efficient solution to keep students warm all year-round.
By combining a fast warm-up from powerful fan heaters with air curtains to minimise heat loss from the doorways, the Dimplex solution quickly raises room temperature and easily retains the warmth for the duration of the hall's use.

The dining hall at St Antony's College was built in the late '60s with large single-glazed windows, low levels of insulation and a high ceiling. The hall is used daily for lunch and dinner and also in the evenings for a variety of other functions. It's a large facility and an important focus in the students' daily life, so vital that it remains in commission.

The original heating was a heat recovery system incorporating vents and low level radiators, innovative when the hall was built but it had been unable to provide adequate warmth for some time. There was some solar gain through south-facing windows, but instant, powerful heat was what was needed. St Antony's had been using portable gas turbine heaters but this was not a long-term solution.

The college consulted Oxford-based contractor RT Harris and Son with the aim of finding a more permanent and effective system. 'Reliability was a priority in this installation, because of the frequent use of this hall and the high numbers of people depending on it,' said David Sexton of RT Harris.

'After looking at the size of the space to be heated, we specified a couple of high output heaters, two freestanding units from the Dimplex Electricaire range. But when I spoke to Dimplex, it took a real interest in the installation rather than just taking my order.

'Two of the Dimplex team came with me to the customer's site to assess it, and we ended up specifying a system consisting of six CFH industrial fan heaters linked in two groups of three with separate controls and CAB 1.5m air curtains to create a barrier across the doorways to stop warm air escaping. We planned the solution jointly. I hadn't expected that level of involvement from Dimplex. It was a bonus.'

The electronic CFH fan heaters offer a fast airflow of 900 m3/h, with a throw of 10 m and air-off temperatures from 30 to 60ºC, plus a cool blow facility for air circulation and comfort year-round. The multi-directional wall mounting brackets minimise cold spots, while the sturdy design and powerful centrifugal fans will give years of trouble-free use.

The Dimplex CAB air curtains improve comfort levels while minimising energy costs by preventing draughts and heat escaping through the constantly-used doorway. They maintain two different temperature zones and keep warm or cooled air in and fumes, heat and dust out.

'We used to get complaints about the temperature in the hall in the winter months,' says Peter Robinson, domestic bursar at St Antony's. 'With no real heating system for the last few years, we'd been using industrial gas turbine heaters to warm the room before an event, but emissions and ventilation were a worry, as was the fuel storage.