Project overview
AGM replaced a 14-year-old, end-of-life pressurisation unit at Windrush Medical Centre, a GP surgery in Oxfordshire, with a Mikrofill 3 PRO. This upgrade ensures long-term heating reliability and improved system visibility through advanced electronic pressure management, completed with minimal disruption to clinical services.
Background
Windrush Medical Practice is a large GP surgery in Witney, Oxfordshire. The practice provides comprehensive primary care services and also houses an urgent care hub, making reliable building heating a critical requirement.
The site’s existing Aquatech pressurisation unit had reached approximately 14 years of service and was now obsolete. Plant equipment specialists, AGM engineers, were called in to carry out a planned replacement, creating the opportunity to bring the system up to date with a modern pressurisation solution.
In a live healthcare environment, maintaining uninterrupted heating is essential to patient comfort, clinical operations, and safeguarding critical services.
Key Challenges
The end-of-life status of the existing unit made a straightforward like-for-like swap impractical. Specifying a current, actively supported product with improved diagnostics and serviceability was the more reliable long-term choice, ultimately reducing risk and protecting compliance for a healthcare building in continuous use.
AGM engineers needed to:
- Replace an obsolete pressurisation unit; no direct like-for-like equivalent available
- Specify a replacement unit reliable enough for a large primary care facility
- Improve fault visibility and service access for future maintenance work
- Minimise heating downtime during the replacement in an occupied GP surgery
Design Requirements
The solution would need to be able to maintain reliable sealed system pressurisation while improving the level of diagnostic visibility available during future maintenance and call-outs.
- Maintain correct pressure within the sealed heating system
- Automatically top up the system when pressure drops below the required level
- Support reliable circulation by helping prevent low-pressure conditions and air ingress
- Provide a clear fault indication to reduce investigation time during future call-outs
- Fit within the existing plant room arrangement with minimal installation complexity
- WRAS-approved product to meet current regulatory compliance
Project solution
System Selection and Replacement Strategy
AGM selected the Mikrofill 3 PRO for its advanced electronic management and ease of installation, offering a significant upgrade in reliability over the previous mechanical unit. The strategy focused on a direct hydraulic swap, utilising the unit’s compact design to ensure a seamless transition without requiring major pipework modifications.
6 Benefits of Mikrofill 3 PRO
1. Fully automatic sealed system filling
The unit maintains heating system pressure automatically, reducing the need for manual top-up and helping the system remain correctly charged during normal operation.
2. Comprehensive electronic pressure management
For AGM, this provides clearer control over system pressure and supports a more professional handover, as the unit gives better visibility of how the system is behaving after replacement.
3. Accurate flow rate monitoring and volume logging
The Mikrofill 3 PRO records fill activity, helping engineers identify repeated top-up patterns that may indicate a leak, pressure issue or wider system fault.
4. Smart fault logic and leak detection
The unit supports faster fault identification, helping engineers narrow down system issues quickly. Especially useful in a GP surgery, where extended investigation time can add unnecessary disruption.
5. Compact, wall-mountable design with easy set-up
The unit is designed for straightforward installation and ongoing access, helping AGM complete the replacement efficiently and supporting future servicing within the plant room.
6. WRAS-approved for regulatory compliance
The Mikrofill 3 PRO is WRAS approved, supporting a compliant connection to the water supply and giving AGM a clear specification advantage when replacing the obsolete unit.
Lean more about Mikrofill 3 Pro
These features make the Mikrofill 3 PRO the ideal fit for Windrush Medical Centre. It provides AGM engineers with a reliable, easy-to-install unit while giving the GP practice long-term peace of mind through intelligent system monitoring and reduced operational risk.
Pressurisation Unit Replacement
The replacement was completed by AGM with minimal disruption to the surgery’s daily operations. The Mikrofill 3 PRO integrated seamlessly into the existing heating circuit, providing the practice with a modern pressurisation solution that ensures uninterrupted patient care and simplified future maintenance.
The upgrade significantly improved system visibility, reducing diagnostic time and supporting faster fault identification during future maintenance visits.
