Membership of the Fan Coil Unit Group

Membership is open to any company or organization involved in the manufacture and supply of fan coil units.

The aim of the group

To represent and promote the effective use of Chilled Water Fan Coil Units within a buildings environmental system by supplying meaningful and definitive specifications from which engineers can make considered decisions.

  1. Provide Industry Guides on
    • – Application of Fan Coils Units
    • – Installation of Fan Coils Units
    • – Maintenance of Fan Coils Unit
  2. Act as a partner to Government departments to define any future standards specifications
  3. Provide Statistics to members of the Group to facilitate focused product development strategies
  4. The promotion of Fan Coils Units as one of the most effective air conditioning options

The membership can be relied upon to provide impartial guidance.

Fact Sheets

Other Publications

  • Acoustic guideFirst published in 2009, the revised September 2022 edition of the Fan Coil Unit Group good practice guide to acoustics for fan coils is now available. New content includes “Guide NR”, vertical fan coils, variable air volume operation and “In duct” v “Radiated” Sound Power Levels. In addition, it contains worked examples of installations and gives advice on system components, the effect they can have, and the associated pitfalls that can occur, especially in relation to small scale projects.
  • BS 8850:2020 Fan coil unit performance. Determination of specific fan powerTest method as referred to in Approved Document L was published on 27 August 2020. Available from BSI Shop
  • Why use Fan Coil Units? The FCU Group produced a short leaflet in 2011 and revised it in July 2020 to bring to your attention the many advantages of fan coil unit systems, which are summarised and compared with the attributes of alternative systems.
  • A Comparative Study of Active Chilled Beam and Fan Coil Unit Energy ConsumptionFollowing a previous study where fan-coil units (FCU) and active chilled beams (ACB) were compared under different operating conditions, the HEVAC Fan Coil Unit Group in FETA commissioned EDSL to compare their relative energy consumption under the same operating conditions. There is an article on the study in the Sept 14 CIBSE Journal
  • CIBSE TM43 - Fan Coil UnitsThis Technical Memorandum, which at Ecobuild in March 2011 was described by CIBSE as one of their "Best Sellers", sets out to describe all aspects of fan coil unit technology and provides manufacturers, designers, site personnel and operators a comprehensive guide. Please link to the CIBSE page where you can get this publication.
  • Product Data Template for Fan CoilsThe BIMHawk Toolkit is an online database and suite of software programs and utilities for creating, managing and integrating Product Data Templates (PDTs) & Product Data Sheets (PDS’s) with other digital systems (eg: native BIM authoring software applications). The toolkit has been developed by NG Bailey in collaboration with CIBSE and the CIBSE BIM Steering Group to enhance the production of PDTs and allow them to be easily integrated within BIM Authoring Applications. A Product Data Template is a collection of Parameters that describe and define a specific Product or Product type. CIBSE PDTs are developed in conjunction with Product Manufacturers, Designers and Specifiers. Each PDT is rigourously peer reveiwed and made available for Public Comment prior to being published.

Do FCU comply with the new Part L Building Regulations?

Yes they do. Members worked closely with the MHCLG when they developed the new Part L in 2021 and they all supply fan coil units that comply with the regulations. Some end users have had difficulty in understanding the requirements for Specific Fan Power (SFP) under the new Part L. To help, the FCU Group had prepared the following position statements:
Summary of current standards; current but under review; and withdrawn standards

Current

BS EN 1397: 2021 Heat exchangers — Hydronic room fan coil units — Test procedures for establishing the performance

BS EN 16583: 2020 Heat exchangers - Hydronic room fan coils - determination of their sound power level

BS 8850: 2020 Fan coil unit performance - Determination of specific fan power - Test method

Current, but under review

BS 4856-1: 1972 Testing and rating fan coil units, unit heaters and unit coolers Part 1: Thermal and volumetric performance for heating duties: without additional ducting

BS 4856-2: 1975 Testing and rating fan coil units, unit heaters and unit coolers Part 2: Thermal and volumetric performance for cooling duties: without additional ducting

BS 4856-3: 1975 Testing and rating fan coil units, unit heaters and unit coolers Part 3: Thermal and volumetric performance for heating and cooling duties: with additional ducting

BS 4856-4: 1997 Testing and rating fan coil units, unit heaters and unit coolers Part 4: Determination of sound power levels of fan coil units, unit heaters and unit coolers using reverberation rooms

Withdrawn

BS 4856-4: 1978 Testing and rating fan coil units, unit heaters and unit coolers Part 4: Determination of sound power levels of fan coil units, unit heaters and unit coolers using reverberation rooms

BS 4856-5: 1979 Methods for testing and rating fan coil units, unit heaters and unit coolers Part 5: Acoustic performance; without additional ducting

BS EN 1397: 1999 Heat exchangers — Hydronic room fan coil units — Test procedures for establishing the performance

BS EN 1397: 2015 Heat exchangers — Hydronic room fan coil units — Test procedures for establishing the performance

BS EN 16583: 2015 Heat exchangers - Hydronic room fan coils - determination of their sound power level