Performance
Louvres
Eaton-Williams - Humidification critical for art gallery
Vapac humidifiers are playing a critical role in the
preservation and presentation of displays at the Compton Verney
Art Gallery near Warwick.
The humidifiers along with the air handlers operate 24/7 all
year long providing precise ambient environment for all the
works of art and historical artefacts.
Compton Verney is a Grade-1 listed Robert Adam mansion house set
in 120 acres of parkland landscaped by ‘Capability’ Brown.
Following years of neglect, the Peter Moores Foundation
purchased the house and transformed it into a gallery of
international standards.
The gallery occupies three floors; a shop, café and a
purpose-built learning centre are also on site. Over 800 works
of art are permanently on display, these include Chinese,
Neapolitan and Germanic art and British Portraits in addition to
a British Folk Collection. The gallery also features visiting
exhibitions such as the Van Gogh & Britain: Pioneer Collectors,
hosted last year.
A constant supply of humidification is vital for all the
collections along with temperature control. Close control air
handlers supply conditioned air to the galleries, all equipped
with chilled water and heating coils plus seven Vapac electrode
boiler humidifiers allowing humidification, de-humidification,
heating and cooling. In addition to this three of the exhibition
galleries (V, W, X) have a total of five close control units to
give final trimming of temperature and RH levels to even finer
limits. An average set point of 21ºC and 50% +/- 5%RH is
attained.
SG Maintenance Services was initially hired as maintenance
contractors to oversee the heating and air conditioning plant
and closely monitor the humidification levels. The company soon
realised the existing humidifiers were overworked and after
assessing the galleries needs, it soon became apparent that
larger units were required.
Maintaining constant environment levels (humidity and
temperature) is a fundamental requirement for membership of the
Museums Association (MA), the industry professional body. The
need to demonstrate compliance with MA standards is crucial to
attracting exhibitions and loans from other galleries.
“To maintain temperature control and humidity levels, SGMS’
implemented a solution that created a positive air pressure
within the galleries and approached the humidification issues by
over sizing the humidifiers and upgrading some electrode boiler
models, controlled by Vapac’s own operating systems VOS-6,”
comments Nigel Barratt, Director SG Maintenance Services Ltd.
This had the significant advantage of boosting RH levels,
enabling closer control of the humidity condition in critical
areas. Furthermore, cost savings were achieved owing to the fact
that cylinders in over sized units were subsequently not
operating at full capacity, & hence needed to be replaced less
frequently, a benefit given the hard water area.
SGMS now has a resident engineer on site at Compton Verney who
is familiar with the galleries requirements and can pre-empt any
potential problems. The company also provides a 24/7 emergency
call-out.
“Compton Verney is a classic example of a critical
humidification application,” says Dave Mortimer, Vapac Humidity
Control’s National Sales Manager. “Without the right levels of
humidity supplied all year round many galleries simply couldn’t
exhibit.”
Email:
peter.dewdney@eaton-williams.com