Cheshire Fire and Rescue dehumidification in UK

Firefighters at the new training center of the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Services at Winsford are benefiting from a Condair dehumidifier to dry out their protective kit at the end of each wet training exercise. The equipment was specified by T Clarke, one of the UK’s leading building service companies, for the center’s drying room as part of the new build project.

Equipment ensuring the strict control of moisture in a drying room is essential to save firefighters’ gear from the effects of water damage after a call-out or a training exercise. It’s vital that they have access to a drying facility to prevent extensive damage and potentially significant replacement costs for the fire service. Condair supplied T Clarke with a Condair DC 50W wall-mounted unit that had to be in place at the Center within one day of arriving on site prior to handover to fire chiefs. This timescale proved no problem as the dehumidifier was tailor-made for the job and was easily installed by the contractor’s engineers.

More about Condair DC-W

T Clarke’s Project Engineer, Doug Lumb, explained: “A new build project like this is really quite exciting with the scope to start from scratch. The Condair DC 50W dehumidifier was actually chosen by our designers, as it fit the bill perfectly for the environment. The unit size was based on the quantities of kit hung in the room to dry when the firefighters return to the Center at the end of their training exercises. It’s a reliable product and currently operating at the station just as expected, plus installation was really simple and didn’t take long at all, so all very good. I would definitely specify Condair dehumidifiers for future projects.”

The Condair DC 50W is part of a range of condensing dehumidifiers that offer powerful drying performance. It is easy to install and has an attractive galvanized sheet metal cover with powder enamel finish. The wall-mounted versions can be supplied with steel feet for extra stability. As well as the built-in digital user interface, the dehumidifier has an optional remote wall controller, which can be located up to 164ft away. Remote mechanical hygrostats are also available.

The unit installed by T Clarke has a dehumidifying capacity of up to 13 gallons per day (@86°F/80% RH). Capacities in Condair’s wider condensing dehumidifier range from 13 to 246 gallons per day with airflows of up to 4,709ft³/min. They can provide dry air directly to a room or be connected to a building’s ducted ventilation system. Models are also available with an external condenser that can expel the heat generated during the drying process remotely and therefore manage temperature control as well as humidity.

Winsford’s fire training center offers the most up-to-date technology to ensure the best possible training for existing firefighters and new recruits, serving a large area of the North West Fire Services. After training the firefighters return to their allocated bases from where they operate a shift system of nine firefighters and officers crewing a fire engine, major rescue unit and incident response unit 24/7. The training center operates Monday to Friday with high numbers of staff and trainees, and potentially a lot of clothing that needs drying out on a daily basis, so reliability is essential.

The DC 50W rapidly extracts up to 49 liters of water per day from wet firefighter PPE, drying kits in hours instead of days. This prevents mold, material degradation and costly replacements while keeping gear ready for immediate reuse.