Let's get public buildings ready for the heating season!

At the end of September, EECU together with Danfoss Ukraine experts held a webinar for local authorities to highlight the main points in the preparation of engineering networks (heating stations, heating systems) of public buildings for the heating season.

The webinar discussed 4 main components: maintenance of IHP, balancing of heating systems, temperature control of premises and restoration/modernisation of hot water supply.

Individual heating point (IHP)

It must be installed, connected and maintained! This should be done by a specialised organisation or a person with the appropriate qualifications.

Remember that: only 30% of the IHPs in Ukraine are properly maintained, 70% are either not maintained or not connected to the system at all!

Tips:

• The elevator unit (hydraulic elevator) does not allow to regulate the heating supply to the building in any way: if possible, replace the hydraulic elevator with an IHP.
• Do not save money on IHP maintenance.
• During power outages, it is best to install a backup power source on the IHP.
• Think of the possibility of remote control of the IHP, if it is in the building (this will allow you to control main parameters, take into account the outside temperature, and monitor internal parameters).

What happens if you do not maintain the IHP:

• Increased heat energy consumption.
• Failure to achieve the expected savings.
• Possible imbalance of the heating system.
• Failure of the main components of the IHP (pumps, heat exchangers, control valves).
• Additional costs for the repair of expensive equipment or the cost of its complete replacement.

Balancing heating systems

If you are reconstructing public buildings, we recommend switching to a two-pipe heating system. It is more difficult to do with residential buildings, but it is much easier with public ones.

1. If the heating system is one-pipe, we must ensure that the flow rate is limited for each riser so that both the first and last riser receive the required amount of flow.
2. If the heating system is two-pipe, a pair of automatic control valves should be installed on each branch to maintain a certain differential and, accordingly, balance the heating system.

Thermal control of premises

Remember that manual taps are prohibited by law!

Buildings should be equipped with two-part thermostats:

1. thermostatic valve (installed in the radiator)
2. thermostatic element (automatically maintains the temperature)

Modernisation of the rehabilitation of the hot water supply (HWS) system

It is best to restore or modernise HWS systems rather than cut it off and install electric boilers! What it gives:

• Increased efficiency.
• Possibility to use different sources for hot water preparation (sun, heating network, cogeneration units).
• Reducing the load on the power grid.
• The ability to use hot water when there is no electricity in the building.

You can watch the webinar on ‘Preparing Public Buildings for the Heating Season’ on our YouTube channel here.

Download the IHP maintenance checklist here.