Water treatment is key to successful GSHP
The effective commissioning and operation of the 30 kW ground-source heat-pump system installed as part of the £3.5 million redevelopment of Vaillant’s UK and northern Europe region headquarters has been achieved with the help of Sentinel water-treatment chemicals. The geoTHERM system delivers most of the building’s heat requirement.
When the system had been filled with mains water, initial tests found that bacterial levels were above the ideal level for system performance — unsurprisingly, since the installation environment cannot be sterile; a gram of soil can contain over 100 million bacteria.
To remove the bacteria from the GSHP system, Sentinel Commercial’s R700 Sanitiser was added to each loop, and this fluid was then pumped through each subsequent loop, using the isolating valves in each section. Subsequent tests showed that the system has been completely sanitised. Other tests confirmed that the recirculating water was visually clean and contained no physical debris.
The ground loop was then filled with mains water and Sentinel Commercial’s R500C glycol-based thermal fluid specifically designed as a high-efficiency heat-transfer fluid. This product provides frost protection down to -22°C, as well as safeguarding against corrosion, micro-biological fouling, scale deposits and glycol degradation.
Ian Barnes, head of Sentinel Commercial, says, ‘Vaillant’s new headquarters building is a prime example of what can be achieved through intelligent building-services design and the highest standards of installation and commissioning.’
John Bailey, commercial-systems director with Vaillant, says, Because our systems are designed to the highest standards of efficiency and performance, there can be no compromises with the fluids circulating within them, otherwise optimum levels of efficiency and performance cannot be maintained. This is why we chose to work with Sentinel Commercial. The research and development that goes into their product range is exceptional, and the fact that they offer technology-specific fluids is key.’
