district heating

[ambrosia]

ex council flat, has the heating and hot water provided as part of the service charge, theres 2 returns and 2 flows coming into the property one for the heating and one for the hot water

everything in the flat is in a state, customer wants me to rip out hot water and cold water storage and put in an unvented system with zone valve and controls (wont be touching the heating)

however i've never worked on district heating so any tips, advice, heads-up etc would be greatfully received

 

[kris]

Hi ambrosia , until you wrote that post id never once heard of it, so im keen to see posts , must be a central heat source with each flat acting like a zone i would think, one way for councils to save on boilers although if it breaks down then a whole lota folks without heating ,

 

[Neil K]

I work on district heating every day, it's my full time job. Assuming you're G3 and do everything by the book, I don't forsee a problem. How and ever you say ex council flat but it's still on the district heating so in my experience, even though your customer has bought the flat (leaseholder or freeholder?), they pay an annual service charge (which also pays for their heating and Hw) and the heating system will still belong to the council. What sort of isolation valves are on the incoming flow and return coming into the flat?

 

[ambrosia]

so the system still belongs to the council, i was assuming their reponsibility finishes after the pipes enter the property, but i was just guessing

i'll have to go back and check the valve types, it was one of those jobs when you quote high hoping not to get the job, plus the customer has taken 3 months to get back to us and say he wants the work done

but the valves are my biggest worry, if theyre letting by i'm in trouble

 

[Neil K]

No in my experience the system ( including whats in the flat) still belongs to the council even after the person has bought the property. We've had to replace burst rads, leaking cylinders etc inside leaseholders/freeholders properties at no cost to them because it's all included in the yearly service charge they pay (which is usually a couple of grand at least).
To be covered properly I would advise your client to engage with the council and notify them of their intentions because if you are going to put in an unvented HW cylinder then it is my understanding that it has to be certified/notified etc.
All that said, I've seen people go ahead and do what they want once they've bought their flat and not bother telling the council.
Regarding the isolation valves, you could close them, let the pressure off at a rad vent, if still not holding up, give them another squeeze and see if that works, if only letting by a tiny bit then you could stick a pair of lever valves after them.
If letting by badly then it's stop work, do not pass go. Tell property owner to notify the council who will have to change them, it's their responsibility. I'd get this tested before doing anything.

 

[Ermintrude]

I work on district heating every day, it's my full time job. Assuming you're G3 and do everything by the book, I don't forsee a problem. How and ever you say ex council flat but it's still on the district heating so in my experience, even though your customer has bought the flat (leaseholder or freeholder?), they pay an annual service charge (which also pays for their heating and Hw) and the heating system will still belong to the council. What sort of isolation valves are on the incoming flow and return coming into the flat?

Nothing quite like removing a rad on district system and struggle to get iron fitting off then ****ssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[Neil K]

Hell yeah. When it goes, boy does it go

 

[doitmyself]

The first district heating system in the UK was at Churchill Gardens, London, which is located on the north bank of the Thames almost opposite Battersea Power Station. It is a 1600 homes council estate. Heat and hot water generated on site using the waste heat from the power station. It commenced operation in 1950

When Battersea Power Station closed in 1983, a coal fired boiler house was built within the grounds to continue supplying heat to PDHU. This boiler house had an output of 30 megawatts (MW). In 1989 the boiler house was converted to gas and with the conversion to a cleaner fuel it was possible to change over to a fully automatic operation. In 2006 PDHU underwent a major upgrade with the
construction of a new energy centre which included two 1.55MW electrical output combined heat and power (CHP) and three 8MW gas fired boilers. The energy centre uses the CHP engines to supply the system base heat load. Any additional heat requirement is
supplied by the boilers. In this way the maximum electrical generation and income from sales of electricity is achieved whilst satisfying the demand for heat. PDHU generates up to 16GWh of electricity annually. Reinvesting all profits from sales helps to reduce energy
bills for local residents. (Quote)

It now supplies over 3,200 homes, 50 commercial premises and three schools.

 

[Ermintrude]

Servicing still £70 and takes 15 mins though.

 

[jase158]

We have a property with this system in our town, proper council estate, troubled youths etc. no valves on rads, no valves in flats, been there twice,
1st time custard had no idea how i got into the boiler room or how anything worked
2nd time, custard asked me to do the work, did it,, went to van to get invoice pad and he wouldn't let me back in!!

Hate that area!!

are they pressurised systems?? what happens when you fill system up again? whole block of flats without heating?