Usually old buildings, churches present a unique challenge to any heating engineer looking to improve or install a heating system.
Robin Oakley reviews the most common – and successful – solutions.
There are many reasons why churches are difficult to heat effectively and economically. Churches can date back to medieval times when insulationand heating were not considered to be important, and even relatively modern churches from the Victorian times were built with a central heating system that relied on someone shovelling coal into a large sectional cast iron boiler. Fuel and labour were cheap and the possibility of waste energy was not a factor. Churches are usually tall, built of stone or brick with large stained-glass windows, have no structural insulation and often have clerestory windows at high level. Down-draughts abound and water distribution pipework – usually in floor ducts – gets covered in dust and grime, reducing the effect of the natural convection that is relied on to distribute the heat.
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