Barbour Guide

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the references listed in the Guide and other information held within the Barbour services.

FAN COIL AIR CONDITIONING

GUIDANCE
This describes air conditioning systems serving a variety of spaces using pre-conditioned
primary or re-circulatory air, and passing it, by fan, over heating and cooling coils to adjust the
final temperature. The fan coil units are supplied with water from the plant room for
temperature control purposes. The units may be wall, window or ceiling mounted. The air
distribution is usually medium or high pressure.
If the system is to be a balanced one i.e. not positive or negative pressure in the space, then
produce an air flow diagram to make sure that all air paths balance. If there is an extract from
an area but no source of air to make up or replace that being extracted, then the system will
not perform adequately.
Consider free cooling. Also consider omitting humidification, unless close environmental
control is required.
FIRE
When passing through fire barriers or compartments, ensure that adequate protection
measures are put in place, e.g. fire and/or smoke dampers. Details of the fire
compartmentation should be shown on the architects drawings, as well as in the
specification. The proposed measures need to be discussed with the local authority,
particularly in Section 20 buildings.
Make sure that any such dampers are accessible for maintenance and testing. Should a
damper fail, it may need to be replaced with minimum disruption to the occupants. Adequate
maintenance should be discussed and agreed with the architect at the design stage.
PRESSURISATION
Some tall buildings, or those with internal escape stairs, may require pressurisation. This is
intended to provide a protected route for fire fighters to access the building to fight a fire.
Pressurisation provides positive pressure in the fire lobbies so that smoke cannot get in. It
should be designed in accordance with BSEN 12101-6 Smoke and heat control systems
specification for pressure differential systems kits. The local authority will ultimately decide
on whether you have to provide pressurisation at all, so check with them at an early stage.
Make sure that upon activation of the pressurisation system, any other ventilation systems
that may possibly have an affect on the pressurisation system are isolated.
PLANT
Air handling units and separate supply and extract fans can be heavy consumers of electrical
energy, so choose fans that operate at the maximum possible efficiency. Some designs of fan
are inherently more efficient than others, so try to select these wherever possible.
When specifying air-handling units, make sure that the quality of construction is adequately
described. A lower quality unit may save money but result in poor performance through
excessive leakage, reduced operating life or poor reliability.

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Terminal devices
The correct selection of terminal devices is vital for successful air distribution. Factors to be
considered include:
volume of air
distance the air is to be thrown
temperature of the air
height of the terminal device above the ground
location relative to surrounding surfaces
The performance of the terminal device may vary considerably as the volume of the air
passing through it changes. This may be very important if an air supply temperature changes
to provide cooling and heating at different times of the year.
Coils
When selecting air-handling units, the face velocity across the various coils is an important
factor. Excessive velocity across cooling coils may result in moisture carry-over into the air
stream, and ultimately into the space. Typical velocities across coils are:
Heating coil: 3.5m/s
Cooling coil: 2.5m/s
Filters
Choose the grade of filtration appropriate for the application. Some specialist systems or
facilities will have very particular requirements designed to address life safety issues. If in
doubt, check if the client has any particular filtration requirements necessary for their business
operations. Examples of businesses that are particularly sensitive to filtration levels include
the nuclear, medical and pharmaceutical industries and some manufacturing processes.
The inclusion of panel filters will provide a relatively coarse filtration, which may be used on
their own in many situations. They may also extend the life of bag filters, when used together,
to provide a higher level of air cleanliness. Panel filters are also less expensive to replace
than bag filters.
Fan coil units
Be aware of noise levels when selecting fan coil units. Normally select a low speed if serving
office areas, or select additional attenuation or acoustic lining. Specify the maximum noise
levels that are required downstream of the unit.
When selecting fan coil units, make sure that adequate space is available around them for
maintenance. Access will be needed to filters, fan decks, control valves and electrical
services and controls wiring. Be aware of the handing of the unit and specify this clearly in the
schedule - whether the valves, controls, etc. are on the left-hand side of the unit, or the right.
This may be crucial in providing adequate maintenance clearance or co-ordination with other
services.
Ensure that adequate height is available for the condensate drainage. If it is not sufficient,
specify local condensate pumps where needed, either in horizontal runs or at risers.
Fan coil units cannot generally generate large pressures on the discharge side, being typically
capable of around 25-40Pa. Therefore flexible ductwork between the discharge plenum and
the supply grilles or diffusers should be kept to a minimum, as the pressure drop through
flexible ductwork can be considerable. In many cases the low volume flow readings from
grilles or diffusers during commissioning is down to excessive pressure drop in the discharge
ductwork.
Specify the exact discharge arrangement required on the unit. Units can be supplied with
single or multiple discharge spigots incorporated onto the discharge plenum.
If the fresh air supply is to be connected directly onto the fan coil unit, be sure to specify this
clearly, as units do not generally come with intake plenums.
When detailing the controls, specify if the units are to be air-side or water-side control.

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Intake/discharge positions
The location of intake and discharge air streams is very important to avoid recycling vitiated
discharged air back into the system intake, and bringing contaminated air from other sources
into the system, such as boiler flues and factory chimneys.
High air velocities across intake and discharge grilles or louvres can generate excessive
noise levels. In the case of intake applications, it can also pull moisture and other air borne
detritus such as leaves and dust into the ductwork system.
In areas that experience particularly gusty wind conditions, intakes facing into the oncoming
wind can cause excessive positive/negative system pressurisation problems. Check the local
prevailing wind direction and locate the intakes away from any strong air currents.
COMMISSIONING
Ensure that the division of responsibilities between the designer and the commissioning
contractor/specialist is clearly defined in the specification and other contract documents.
Select ductwork components and layouts to ensure that the system is as inherently stable and
self-balancing as possible. This will reduce the time taken to regulate branch flow rates and
will often make it unnecessary to balance flows through terminal units.
Check that static pressure at the inlets to terminal branches are within acceptable limits.
Large variations between the static pressures at branch inlets will result in large pressure
losses across flow regulating dampers, thereby encouraging noise. Static regain duct sizing
can minimise this problem.
Design pressure losses for terminal branches fed from the same main branch should ideally
have similar resistances to aid system balancing. For example, mixing ceiling diffusers with
combined air/light fittings should be avoided.
Check that the fan is selected to operate under the stable region of its curve. The fan duty
point must be well away from reverse slopes or stall points.
Where applicable, check that the fan has been selected on total pressure, including both inlet
and outlet paths.
Ensure that straight lengths of ductwork are provided at key flow measurement points. The
equivalent of 10 duct diameters of straight duct length may be required upstream of flow
measurement points.
Provide flow-regulating dampers at key positions such as the discharge from the fan and in all
branches, sub-branches and terminal branches. Select these to achieve design flow rate
without the need to close the device below the 25% open position.
Terminals and their associated dampers should be located as close together as possible to
facilitate simultaneous flow measurement and regulation. Assess whether this would create a
noise problem.
Flow measurement locations should be indicated on schematic design drawings and on
installed drawings produced by the contractor, with commissioning data identified. In-duct flow
measurements may be required at all main branches and sub-branches serving multiple
outlets.
Check that the accuracy of the specified flow measurement is adequate to achieve the
required flow balance tolerance. Depending on the method used, accuracy can vary between
+/-5% and +/-20%.
Ensure damper positions are clearly marked.

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REFERENCE DOCUMENTS
The following documents provide further guidance:
BS 4856 Methods for testing and rating fan coil units, unit heaters and unit coolers Parts 1-4:
1972-1997
BS EN 12101: 2005 Smoke and heat control systems specification for pressure differential
systems kits
BSRIA Application Guide 95/20 Commissioning of pipework systems design
considerations 1996
Butterworth Heinemann Air conditioning engineering 2001
Butterworth Heinemann Faber and Kells heating and air-conditioning of buildings 2002
CIBSE Guide B Heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and refrigeration 2005

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