Royal Northern College of Music
IHS adds another string to its bow
Independent Humidifier Services is providing service and maintenance for the humidification systems at the prestigious Royal Northern College of Music.
The famous conservatoire based in Manchester has a world-wide reputation for preparing gifted students for a professional career in music.
Students come from across the globe to study, taking a wide range of courses at both undergraduate and graduate level including, the Bachelor of Music, the GRNCM/MusB (‘Joint Course’) with The University of Manchester, and the BMus (Hons) Popular Music. Post graduate courses are offered in performance (including conducting), composition, musicology, music psychology, and music education.
Humidification is an essential part of the conservatoire’s building services. Correct levels of temperature and humidity are critical to protect instruments and wood from drying out and affecting the quality of the instruments’ resonance.
Vocal chords of students can also be affected – moisture is essential element of the voice if it is to perform to its maximum potential without any detrimental effects.
A total of 10 multi-vendor humidifiers are used throughout the building, including four de-humidifiers. Six humidifiers are situated in the roof top plant rooms, with a further four humidifiers and four de-humidifiers situated in the college’s museum.
The college aims for a temperature of 21⁰C with 50% RH controlled by a Building Management System and places a high emphasis on planned maintenance to ensure optimal performance and promote system longevity.
Independent Humidifier Services are experts when it comes to humidification and help customers to get the most from their investments.
The benefits of planned maintenance include:
- System reliability maximised
- Reduced emergency call outs
- Reduced maintenance bills
- Increased longevity of units
Independent Humidifier Services carries a wide range of spare parts, provides detailed service reports as well as telephone support to help customers like the Royal Northern College of Music maximise the benefits of their investment.
“Humidification is a key part of the building services infrastructure. By investing in a maintenance plan, customers can ensure that their humidification requirements are not being compromised,” says Michael Lillywhite, Director, Independent Humidifier Services.
“IHS can provide a wide range of packages, tailoring them to meet customers’ specific requirements, safe in the knowledge that IHS is fully accredited, Gas Safe registered and is a member of CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme).
About RNCM
The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a leading international conservatoire located in the heart of Manchester, with a reputation for attracting talented students, teachers, conductors and composers from all over the world.
Now in its fifth decade, the RNCM is relatively young but its rich history spans back to 1893 when Sir Charles Hallé founded the Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM). In 1973 this institution merged with the Northern School of Music (NSM), and the RNCM was born. Today, the College is a thriving conservatoire with around 320 teaching staff and over 800 students from 60 different countries.
Complementing this role, the RNCM is also a vibrant live music venue offering unparalleled opportunities for students to perform regularly to public audiences and to work alongside professional musicians and visiting artists. Housing four major performance spaces, including a professionally-staffed, fully-equipped Theatre and recently refurbished Concert Hall, the College presents in excess of 400 concerts each year ranging from RNCM orchestras and ensembles and large-scale opera productions, to a host of touring companies and external hires.
In 2014 the RNCM was rated the UK’s leading music college for research, and is the recipient of two Times Higher Education Awards: Excellence and Innovation in the Arts (2015) and Outstanding International Student Strategy (2016).
Visit www.rncm.ac.uk for more information
Reducing scale improves performance
Getting to grips with scale
It is well documented how beneficial humidification can be, from the preservation of artefacts improving manufacturing processes to enhancing the health and comfort of a building’s occupants. But if you don’t keep your systems clean and running optimally, you could be harbouring impurities and compromising indoor air quality.
Scale is the number one enemy in humidifiers. Just as your kettle can fur up with a load of gunk and take longer to boil, so can a humidifier. Scale or calcium carbonate naturally occurs in hard water and when it builds up inside the cylinder, it can adversely affect performance. If it goes unchecked the system will eventually fail costing you time and money.
As the water in your cylinder boils then cools, over a period of time, the elements can become calcified. It will then start to crack and fall off just as it does in your kettle. All manufacturers design a space under the elements to catch the scale, but the more scale that is produced, the more likely it is to become compacted to the point where the elements are encased in a solid lump of scale – just what you don’t need when running a critical process.
At this stage, you have no option but fit a replacement cylinder. A regular service contract will ensure that your humidifiers are maintained and scale is not allowed to build up to a level where it can cause you problems.
Talk to Independent Humidifier Services and we’ll help you keep scale at bay.
National Galleries Scotland
IHS designs bespoke humidifier for Scottish gallery
Humidification is critical in museum and art gallery environments to protect collections from denigrating whilst on display or is storage. When the National Galleries of Scotland looked to replace one of their humidifiers, they turned to art gallery humidification specialists, Independent Humidifier Services to design a customised solution that could maintain optimum humidity levels.
The National Galleries of Scotland has over 96,000 works in permanent collections across three galleries in Edinburgh, and two partner galleries in the North (Duff House, Banff) and South of Scotland (Paxton House, Berwickshire). At the Granton Centre for Art, it also has a purpose-built storage facility. The gallery’s collections contain some of the best fine art in the world.
Under the National Heritage (Scotland) Act 1985, The National Galleries of Scotland are required to care for and preserve objects in their collection and ensure that they are exhibited to the public. Humidification is a critical part of the infrastructure that ensures artefacts, paintings and sculptures are exhibited under the correct conditions and visitors can view them in a comfortable environment.
The environment in the galleries are maintained at 21⁰C with 50% RH all year-round and this is achieved using eight humidifiers.
Independent Humidifier Services maintains the systems, with regular service calls and maintain a spares list. One of the gallery’s aged units needed replacing, but space constraints and limited access ruled out a replacement with a standard unit.
“The museum is a critical application and it is imperative that all units function optimally to ensure that exhibits are not compromised,” explains Michael Lillywhite, Managing Director of Independent Humidifier Services.
The only option was to designed a bespoke solution. The unit was constructed, rigorously tested and delivered to site in four weeks.
Thanks to Independent Humidifier Services, National Galleries of Scotland now has a robust humidification system for many years to come.
The only option was to designed a bespoke solution. The unit was constructed, rigorously tested and delivered to site in four weeks.
Thanks to Independent Humidifier Services, National Galleries of Scotland now has a robust humidification system for many years to come.
Why it pays to maintain your humidifier
With winter coming and temperatures set to fall, now is the time to start thinking about maintaining your humidification system.
Proper upkeep of your systems and ensuring they operate within the parameters for which they were designed, will not only keep them running smoothly but will keep your units running at peak performance, promote longevity whilst delivering years of trouble free and reliable performance and save you money in the long term!
“Emergency site visits can often reveal a multitude of problems that would have been flagged up if customers had signed up with a regular service and maintenance contract,” says Michael Lillywhite, Director of Independent Humidifier Services.
“Plant managers can mistakenly regard humidifiers as problematic because they may not understand the affects variable water quality can have, but as with all plant, without regular maintenance humidifiers, like any other HVAC kit can develop faults,” adds Michael.
Some companies may ignore fault conditions or simply switch off units, compromising their environment of process. Humidifiers are complex devices and with regular maintenance by an engineer with the necessary skills and expertise, customers can save more than just money.
Preventative operation and maintenance can ensure an efficient system at all times. Electrode boilers are designed to use potable water of whatever quality that is supplied to the building.
Regularly measuring the conductivity will ensure the right cylinder is used to obtain the required capacity. Resistance heaters operation can be enhanced by supplying softened water at all times.
Regularly measuring the conductivity will ensure the right cylinder is used to obtain the required capacity. Resistance heaters operation can be enhanced by supplying softened water at all times.
Electrode boiler cylinders need regular attention to prevent the build-up of scale. A unit in a hard water area can scale up and the unit will work hard to keep producing steam and may cause arcing on to the cylinder body and eventually burn right through it.
Investing in a dedicated humidifier maintenance package provides the reassurance of a comprehensive service and maintenance carried out on a regular basis. Packages can be designed to address individual requirements, with the aim of optimising performance and longevity of humidifiers by skilled engineers who will take into account water quality, operational requirements, site conditions and the number of systems on site.
Cumbria Constabulary
Independent Humidifier Services has secured a service and maintenance contract with the Cumbria Constabulary.
The constabulary’s headquarters in Penrith has a number of Vapac units with a further unit at the police station in Barrow.
IHS is providing a planned, preventative contract to help ensure longevity and reliability of the units.
This contract is the latest in a number of new projects for IHS, a leading humidifier service and maintenance company based in Kent.
“We are very proud to have won the contract with the Cumbria Constabulary. A planned, preventative maintenance schedule ensures that they will benefit from optimal performance from their investment,” says Michael Lillywhite, Director of Independent Humidifier Services.
The Cumbria Constabulary covers the fifth-largest area in England and Wales and is one of the services with the fewest officers. The constabulary’s size and its population of just under 500,000 people makes it sparsely populated. Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness are the two major urban areas.
Dean Gallery
Edinburgh gallery benefits from the best possible maintenance
Humidifiers are well known for their reliability, but can still fail on occasion if not properly installed or maintained, which is why it can save money by investing in professional service and maintenance.
Edinburgh’s Dean Gallery is a multi-vendor site and when it faced problems with units wetting out, they called in the experts in gallery humidification, Independent Humidifier Services.
The Dean Gallery (part of the National Galleries of Scotland) is close to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. The Dean Gallery houses the Gallery of Modern Art’s extensive collection of Dada and Surrealism
It has eight humidifiers with the ultra-low conductivity cylinder happily running well on 240V and a further unit running on a PCD3L-3WA on 415V. There are also two resistive units on site, rated at 10 kg/hr and 20kg/hr and a further unit in the library that was locked off with a wetting out issue.
IHS quickly assessed the problem which involved moving the steam lance into the correct position and a higher limit stat was introduced.
All units receive the best PPM and there have been no reported faults since the last service.
Independent Humidifier Services excels in supplying, installing and maintaining all types of humidifiers across the UK. It provides full service packages and independent advice for applications in a wide range of industries from art galleries and museum to pharmaceutical and textiles. A comprehensive range of spare parts are stocked for all leading makes and models including, Vapac, Condair, Carel, Hygromatik, Neptronic and Defensor.
Three reasons why you should call Independent Humidifier Services for your Humidifier Repair?
- Independent Humidifier Services are experts in humidification with engineers who are up-to-date with training, allowing them to service all makes and models.
- Independent Humidifier Services is an independent business, so you’re supporting a service provider who takes pride in their work, values your business and provides great customer service.
- Independent Humidifier Services provides straightforward pricing – if you want the job done correctly, price is still a factor.
Contact Independent Humidifier Services today and discover why more and more businesses are trusting us to repair their humidifiers.