District heating – better service, lower costs
June 01st 2005 … thanks to Council’s investment in in-house thermography The New Harmood Estate in the London Borough of Camden is a typical public housing development. Built in the 1980s, the site comprises more than 200 dwellings that receive communal hot water and heating via a vast network of pipes connecting the properties to a remote, central boiler house.
Mechanical Services Manager for the Housing Department, John Stow, decided to test-drive his new FLIR Systems ThermaCAM thermal imaging camera on this estate. Readings from the pressurisation unit water meter in the boiler house told him the New Harmood system was leaking substantial volumes of water. He scanned the estate and within half an hour had found the problem.
“I didn’t trust it at first,” John explained. “I thought I might have simply discovered a buried, unlagged pipe. But when the contractor started digging, the major leak was evident. I couldn’t believe it had been so simple to find. The crosshair in the viewer made it easy to pinpoint the problem.” The purchase of the thermal imaging camera made a lot financial sense as the Council is responsible for no less than 35,000 properties including 200 district heating systems serving 400+ properties ranging from bedsits to five bedroom houses.
Whilst good service delivery to its residents is clearly an important commitment for the London Borough of Camden, so too is the reduction in green house gases and making sure that best value is achieved from investment. Reducing energy loss is another key reason for purchasing the thermal imaging camera.
A typical district heating boiler house comprises three or four boilers and associated plant including a pressurisation unit. If there is a leak anywhere in the piping network on an estate, this unit will continue to pump-in a corresponding top-up to maintain the required pressure.
This in-fill is metered making it immediately obvious there is a leak. If left unchecked, the continual top-up of raw water promotes scale build-up in the boiler, plate heat exchangers and calorifiers. This build-up not only leads to increased energy consumption but may result in premature failure of key plant. More energy has to be used to maintain the temperature. Finding leaks fast is therefore of critical importance in cutting these costs and the fundamental reason why the Council purchased a ThermaCAM® thermal imaging camera.
Although I have concentrated on thermal imaging of pipework, the camera has great potential for wider use,”John Stow explains. Indeed, the FLIR Systems’ ThermaCAM® is ideal for air tightness testing, detecting areas prone to mould, assessing flood damage and finding leaks in flat roofs as well as detecting traditional electrical and mechanical hotspots. More articles from Flir Systems Ltd: | 
