Meeting House switches from gas to infrared heating

The Quakers Meeting House in Redland, Bristol is a large building with meeting space across several rooms on the first floor and a foyer underneath. The Victorian building built in the 1880s to serve the expanding suburbs, used to be heated by a conventional gas-fired water central heating system. However, the boiler broke down at the end of 2021, and the group decided not to replace it with another gas boiler. With sustainability and efficiency in mind, they considered alternative solutions including an air source heat pump and infrared heaters.

After speaking with the treasurer of this Quakers Meeting House, Paul Whitehouse, he revealed that they went to two other locations that had Herschel Infrared heaters installed, these being Newquay Church in Cornwall and St Philip and St James Church in Bath. After hearing how pleased they were with their heating, in almost exactly the same circumstances, and also receiving an “exceedingly good” quote from Herschel on the cost of the full heating system they decided to switch from gas to infrared heating, using Herschel Infrared to heat the Quakers Meeting House.

Paul Whitehouse outlined that the Herschel Infrared heaters are producing exactly the result that they wanted; a heating solution that can be controlled remotely by people that are not in the building given that meeting rooms are let out to others in the week. They were keen to have the flexibility to ensure the heating was only switched on in certain rooms, as opposed to heating the entire building, with the select rooms to be ready and warm prior to their meetings. Paul comments that they have no trouble getting the rooms to a comfortable temperature with infrared, with fantastic feedback from  occupiers on comfort levels.

“We’ve got no hesitation at all in saying Herschel is a good firm to go to and you get some very good results.” Paul Whitehouse, Treasurer.

The meeting house was heated with a mixture of our heaters, these being the Summit White, Select XLS White panels, and Aspect XL. MD2 thermostats were installed throughout the building to control the range of heaters, allowing precise room by room control as well as App control to allow the team the flexibility to control the heating remotely. Different heaters were specified per room – the rooms varied in their respective ceiling height and size as well as insulation, with part of the building being a newer addition to the older and original site.

The building also benefits from a large solar array allowing the treasurer to benefit from self generation of electricity to offset against energy bills. Having switched from gas to infrared heating, the end result is a sustainable electric heating solution that not only meets their requirements for comfort and control, it also helps in reducing carbon emissions for the building and the UK.