Installing a Flow Meter…

Walking into any building’s mechanical room for the first time is always a bit confusing, especially if your job is to try and make sense out of the rat’s nest of piping that usually constitutes the water heating system. My recent trip to a county detention center in eastern North Carolina was no different, of course. My mission was to install an ultrasonic flow meter on the hot water line. Getting a precise measurement of hot water consumption is a critical first step in the proper design of a solar hot water system. It took a little while to find the perfect place to mount my meter, but once the best spot was identified, installing the sensor was a snap. We will need several days worth of data to get a solid usage profile.  Since a jail, prison, or hospital has a pretty constant load that doesn’t change over weekends and holidays, a few days testing should be good enough.

If you have any questions about this process, feel free to leave it below.

Dr. Ben