Question: When bidding on a commercial solar water heating project such as an apartment building, hotel, or hospital, how do you accurately measure the current solar hot water usage so that you can design the most optimal solar thermal system?
Answer: Either you estimate the building’s usage based on number of factors, such as the number of residents, or … you can now utilize Free Hot Water’s new V15 Ultrasonic Flow Meter and measure the building’s real-time solar hot water usage.
Solar installers and their solar thermal design engineers typically estimate a building’s current hot water usage based on several factors. Depending on the type of facility, the factors can include the number of residents in an apartment building, the number and type of washing machines, dishwashers, etc. This data is then incorporated into an algorithm that approximates the building’s monthly hot water gas usage, but it’s only a rough guestimate.
The V15 Ultrasonic Flow Meter eliminates the need for guessing. Instead, the V15 tool provides solar system designers with a building’s actual hot water usage through flow sensors that clamp onto the outside of the cold water pipe and measures the flow into the existing hot water storage tank.
After a week or two of recording flow data, solar installers will have an accurate picture of the building’s weekly hot water usage and can design the most optimal solar thermal system that for the needs of the building.
The V15 technology is based on transit-time flow measurement principle, which measures the flow rate of a liquid in a closed pipe through a pair of clamp-on or wetted ultrasonic transducers.
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In addition to solar hot water applications, plumbing professionals and commercial contractors can use the V15 for a wide range of industrial pipe flow measurements.
Examples include:
- Water (hot water, chilled water, city water, sea water, waste water, etc.)
- Sewage with small particle content
- Oil (crude oil, lubricating oil, diesel oil, fuel oil, etc.
- Chemicals (alcohol, acids, etc.)
- Plant effluent
- Beverage or liquid food
- Ultra-pure liquids
- Solvents and other industrial liquids
An SD memory card inside the V15 automatically records the data, which can be exported to a computer via a USB output tool.
Visit shopfreehotwater.com for more V15 flowmeter specifications and to download a Free Hot Water quick start guide.
