A carbon neutral solution to protecting cars
This private client’s love of cars means he constantly has a collection of between 9 and 12, stored in a converted barn. However, having found the costs of maintaining such a collection mounting and also wanting to find a carbon-neutral solution to protecting them, he turned to Dehum.
When Peter sold the successful estate agency he’d created in London, it allowed him to indulge in his real passion – collecting cars. Some of the vehicles he chose with the intention of keeping them for life; others would come and go as he saw fit. In all, the collection remained fairly constant at between 9 and 12 cars, and while Peter was keen to use them all he found it was costing up to £6000 a year just to prevent them deteriorating, money mainly spent on underbody protection.
The eco challenge
The collection is kept at Peter’s private residence in West Sussex, in a specially converted, sustainably-powered barn. He’s very keen to be as environmentally-friendly as possible in storing and maintaining his vehicles – and some underbody sealants contain chemicals harmful to aquatic environments. Underseal only protects the underside of the car too, and Peter realised this wasn’t providing the protection he needed when he noticed mould and musty smells in his cars.
The building housing Peter’s collection – together with large garden machinery, ride-on mowers and tools – is a converted barn with a dwarf brick wall and oak cladding. It’s powered by Tesla Powerwalls, which are recharged by solar panels; so whatever solution was found would need to work with the existing carbon-neutral set-up.
The PROTECT solution
Peter wanted to be able to use his collection without compromise, with easy, constant access to each car – which was one of the reasons he chose PROTECT by Dehum. The installation had to be engineered around the existing space and constraints; a suspension system was needed for the ductwork to avoid compromising the barn’s foam roof insulation, and the single-phase power supply from the Tesla Powerwall meant two smaller units had to be deployed, with both controlled centrally via a single panel.
Peter’s delighted with the end result. As he says, “If you let them degenerate, then the investment and love I have for my cars is wasted. It’s a false economy to let your cars degenerate and then replace bits on them because bits for old cars are ridiculously expensive.”
Thanks to PROTECT, now he can drive, wash and cherish his cars, taking them out whenever he wishes knowing that they’re permanently protected from humidity – and all powered by renewable energy.
