Btu meter location

[tbedford]

Good morning,

If I am interested in overall energy consumption from the heating boilers in a building, is it more advantageous to locate the energy meter in the hot water supply line or the hot water return line?

Simple question but maybe not a simple answer!

Tom

 

[LittleInch]

Surely you want to measure the energy in? Like a gas meter?

Otherwise you will need to know the differential temp or energy if just trying to measure the enrgy use inside the building.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[PEDARRIN2]

We deal with this occasionally on the domestic side. You will need a btu meter on both the supply and the return.

https://www.onicon.com/application/d-energy-measurement/

 

[immsk]

@pedarrin2 is incorrect. A btu meter consists of a flow meter and two temperature sensors, one temp sensor goes on to supply and one on to return. Since both supply and return flow are identical it doesn't matter where you install the btu meter. Just make sure you understand where in your piping distribution you are installing it I.e. don't install the flow meter in the primary piping and the temp sensors in the secondary or vice versa. Also make sure you meet the minimum upstream and downstream requirements of the flow meter.

 

[georgeverghese]

The btu device is not a field device; it is an algorithm in your PLC or DCS to compute energy consumed

kW = Qx1000x4.2x(t1-t2)/3600
kW = kilowatts,
Q = m3/hr of hot water in circulation

To get cumulative kJ, pass on the kW output of this algorithm to an integrator block; kJ = ∫ kW. dT