Heating of The United Reformed Church in Faversham

Eco Church Heating

Background

Faversham United reformed church had gas heating installed throughout the church. The problem they faced was with the combination of the high ceilings up in the sanctuary as well as a number of different rooms and spaces within the church to heat, they found it very difficult to keep it warm and found it inefficient heating the whole of the church especially when only one room was in use.

Solution

The church wanted to move completely away from gas heating and install all electric heating in the whole of the church and become an eco-church. Herschel Infrared was used to heat the kitchen, hall, entrance, stairway and sanctuary upstairs. Our specialist specification team worked out the heat output needed for each of the spaces and recommended our heaters accordingly. Herschel Colorado heaters were installed in the hall, entrance, stairway and sanctuary. The 2.5kw Colorado heaters, paired with our MD2 thermostats, were perfect for these spaces as they can be controlled remotely – providing the option to switch on the heating away from the church so they no longer have to arrive early before service to ensure the church is warm for when visitors arrive.

Zero light Herschel Summit heaters have also been used to heat the kitchen area.

Testimonial

“Well, it’s transformed the church really. We were in a situation that many churches find themselves in of our heating actually being condemned, the old gas heating that we had. Like many other churches, we decided that we wanted to become an eco-church, and like many other churches and the rest of society, we’re very mindful of climate change. We wanted to move away from gas heating, so we looked into electricity and electric heating. I, like many people who have been in church for a long period of their life, have got memories of sitting under electric heaters and getting frazzled and fried. I’m glad to say that is not the case with these Herschel heaters. The heat is very different, and it spreads throughout the whole of the church, and that’s been a real benefit to us.

We’ve got heaters upstairs in the sanctuary, but also in a hall that we let out, and in a side chapel, and also the toilets and kitchen as well. The best part is that we can then zone them, so we don’t have to have the heating on in the whole of the church, we can actually have it in the hall if we have a hall letting, or we can just have it in the sanctuary if we’re worshipping.

I would recommend Herschel Infrared to other churches, the system works! As they say. The heat they give out takes a bit of learning to know what fits your building best, but once you’ve done that, it’s a real winner. Unfortunately like most old church buildings, we do get leaks sometimes and we actually managed to use the heating system we’ve got to dry out the wet carpet from the leak.

The benefits I like are that it’s modular, I like that I can control the heating when I’m at home, so if you suddenly need it on for something, I don’t need to rush all the way here. We would like to see some savings in terms of finance, and it’s really low maintenance too. ”

Minister Martin Belgrove , United Reformed Church, Faversham