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ESSENTIAL FOR MODERN BUILDING SERVICES
Hydronic balancing – the core area of expertise of Taconova – is part of the modern standard and is indispensable in the building service solutions of today. Hydronic balancing is promoted in different countries with subsidies. It is often legally prescribed for new buildings and refurbishment.
OPTIMUM SUPPLY IS THE TARGET
In order to achieve equally distributed heat appropriate to the surrounding conditions, the calculated volume flows are limited to the flow values that correspond to the relevant rated heat requirement. As a result, radiators, surface heating systems and other consumers in the building can be supplied as required.
NON-BALANCED SYSTEM
The example of a water heating system with radiators shows that a non-balanced heating system can be directly felt due to the indoor temperatures: while radiators closer to the central heating system are overly supplied, the radiators located further away receive inadequate flow volumes. This means that the radiators on higher floor levels are not supplied enough hot water: they are too cool or respond only slowly. This deficiency is often compensated in practise with greater pump power, but this leads to flow noises in the system and inefficiently operated energy generators. The result is increased energy consumption for pumps and energy generation.
HYDRONICALLY BALANCED SYSTEM
Balanced hydraulics are necessary to optimally use energy to obtain the specified flow and return temperatures. As a consequence of the static hydronic balancing, the required flow volumes are adjusted in such a way that all consumers in the building are supplied as desired. In this way, the heat is equally distributed and the lower activity of the burner saves energy. The interaction between a hydronically balanced system and the requirementbased configuration of the consumers enables economic operation of the heat generator, particularly in regard to condensing heating technology and heat pumps.
BALANCING OF EXISTING HEATING SYSTEMS
The optimised distribution of heat in existing heating systems can save a large amount of energy. And that is an ecological and economic demand of our time. National specifications apply to the hydronic balancing of existing heating systems. In some cases there are also financial incentives.
STRAND BALANCING OF HEATING SYSTEMS WITH RADIATORS OR UNDERFLOOR HEATING
To perform hydronic balancing, the corresponding rated volume flows of the system and the individual piping sections must be known. While the calculation results of pipe dimensioning for new systems provide this data for adjustment, this information is usually unavailable for existing systems. For this reason, the rated volume flows must first be calculated on the basis of the rated heat requirement or thermal output of the available heating surfaces and on the temperature difference (between the flow and return water) of the heating system.
The required rated volume flows can be determined by means of a heating requirement calculation (DIN EN 12831).
DETERMINING VOLUME FLOWS ON THE BASIS OF THE CALCULATION OF HEATING REQUIREMENTS (DIN EN 12831)
The rated heating requirements of the individual rooms is obtained from the precise calculation of heat requirement. If this data is not available, the available heating surfaces (radiators or underfloor heating) can be included with the formulae from Taconova (download from taconova.com). The exact thermal output of the heating surfaces included in this way can be determined using manufacturers’ documentation. The required volume flows are calculated on the basis of the temperature difference, the calculated specific heating requirement and the specific heating capacity of the carrier medium (typically water).
Formulae for radiator and underfloor heating systems are available, along with empirical values, for the specific heating requirement can be found here.
FAQ
You can find further information about hydronic balancing here.