These factors have put a strain on many chillers originally installed to cope with the building’s initial loading. Moreover, many of these which still use R22 are themselves at least 10 years old, and performing less efficiently and more costly than they used to, especially with increasing fuel prices and the expense of having to conform to the latest F Gas Regulations.

In almost every case where a chiller replacement is being considered, dimensions have become a real issue. The space taken up by the original chiller plant is invariably not enough to accommodate the new higher capacity, more efficient one.

Last year, we were involved on one particular project in Central London where space was an especially challenging issue.  This six storey landmark building demanded a staggering 1mW of cooling from its two bespoke, well worn chillers, but their continued failure led to an approach to our Chillers4hire division to identify an immediate temporary cooling solution while the installed chillers were off-line.

However, these original water cooled chillers were assembled piece by piece within their own small plant room, leaving no room for temporary chillers to be installed alongside. The only other possible location for temporary chillers was the underground car park but here other issues arose since underground installation would have meant there was nowhere for the heat from the chillers to dissipate.

Our winning solution was installing temporary air cooled chillers above the down ramp to the car park. This entailed erecting a scaffolding platform and installing the chillers on top. Two 500kW air cooled chillers were installed each measuring 4.5m in width. The scaffolding platform therefore had to take the substantial weight of the chillers while the installation team had to carefully fit the chillers in the small space available which only allowed half a metre of space on either side. Not only did this solution solve space issues, but by installing the chillers on the ramp it also enabled the heat to dissipate to the outside and the car park to remain in full use.

Once a decision had been taken by the client to replace the old chillers, we were again tasked with a space-saving challenge to bring in new permanent chillers.  The original chillers had actually been assembled in the plant room leaving little space and restricted access. We decided the best solution was to break down one chiller at a time in the plant room and then bring the new chillers into the plant room in prefabricated sections.

To do this, we provided two Rhoss 908kW water cooled chillers which were assembled and tested in the Rhoss factory, then broken down into manageable sections which specialist machinery movers could deliver to the internal plant room. Two engineers from Rhoss assisted by our own, reassembled the chillers in situ in the plant room. The new replacement chillers were installed and commissioned in the knowledge that the the hire chillers were maintaining the air conditioning within the building whilst assembly and commissioning of the new ones was taking place.