Author
PETER HORNE MENG(HONS)
Consulting Engineer, FairHeat
peter.horne@fairheat.com
Abstract
The economic feasibility of online water quality monitoring has been investigated to identify if there is scope for installation on future district heating schemes within the UK.
A lifecycle analysis of two online monitoring options has been conducted across small (80 flats), medium (235 flats) and large (484 flats) district heating schemes and found to be economically viable on large sized schemes. The selection of key water monitoring parameters has also been assessed to minimise cost of install and maintenance requires across system lifetime, without compromising water quality visibility.
Savings of up to 10% over 20 years have been shown achievable in large schemes if the correct online monitoring equipment is utilised to identify issues before substantial corrosion occurs on the system. Both monitoring systems analysed as part of this study still require some level of sampling (primarily for bacterial growth) however, data collection via online monitoring has considerable qualitative benefits over current sampling regimes.
