Barbour Guide

in association with
The Barbour Guides are intended to provide a short introduction to, or overview of, a given subject area. They should
not be viewed in any way as being complete or comprehensive. Barbour recommends further reading, starting with
the references listed in the Guide and other information held within the Barbour services.

PRIMARY/SECONDARY COOLING DISTRIBUTION

GUIDANCE
This covers includes equipment such as pumps, pressurisation plant, pipework, valves and
terminal.
Pressurisation:
Pressurisation plant can be useful in maintaining constant system conditions, and avoiding
the need for feed and expansion tanks and associated pipework.
Care must be taken in sizing the vessels to accommodate the system expansion throughout
the operating temperature range. Guidance can be found from CIBSE Guide B1. Also,
additional safety measures are required in closed or sealed systems to avoid excess pressure
building up.
If reliability is an important factor, then pressurisation plant should be selected with duty and
stand-by motors or pumps. They can also be provided with the facility to be controlled via a
BMS, and also to give remote fault reporting.
Pipework:
Select pipework that is suitable for the particular application being considered. For instance, if
the pipework is running through an area where it may be susceptible to mechanical damage,
then steel may be preferable to copper or plastic.
Copper or plastic may be more suitable for use in domestic applications, or within floor or
ceiling voids, where they are more flexible and easier to install.
When sizing pipework, keep pressure drops to manageable levels as high resistances result
in high pump heads and excessive energy consumption. Such systems can be noisy, and
also difficult to balance and commission properly.
Pipework must be adequately supported in both the vertical and horizontal applications, and
should not have its weight borne by plant or equipment.
When routing pipework, ensure that the pipes are laid to fall to facilitate filling and venting,
and adequate fittings are provided for draining down in suitable locations to avoid dead legs
and stagnant lines. Make sure that valves and other equipment are accessible once installed
for future commissioning or testing.
Terminal units:
Carefully consider the use of the space before selecting the terminal units. Factors such as
supply air or off-coil temperature, air velocity and mounting height of the unit all need to be
carefully considered so as to be suitable for the particular application.
Check the performance data produced by the manufacturer very carefully. The performance
figures quoted by them will have been tested at very specific conditions which may not be the
same as for the system under consideration, and correction factors must be applied to get
accurate output information
Commissioning:
Ensure that the division of responsibility between the designer and the commissioning

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specialist contractor is clearly defined to avoid duplication of work, and possible site
disagreements.
Select pipework components and layouts to ensure that the system is as inherently stable and
self-balancing as can be economically justified. This will reduce the time required to regulate
branch flow rates and will often make it unnecessary to balance flow rates through terminal
units.
Consider the requirements for two and three port valves, gauges and fittings for measuring
system performance.
Check that design pressure losses across terminal units fed from the same branch are not
significantly different, e.g. within around 20kPa of each other. Mixing low resistance terminal
units such as radiators with high resistance units such as fan coils should be avoided.
Where possible ensure that terminal unit design pressure losses on reverse return branches
are the same in order for flows to these terminal units fed from a reverse return branch to
achieve some degree of self-balancing.
Check that flow regulating and measurement valves are properly located. Usual locations
include risers, branches, sub-branches, terminal branches, by-passes from three way control
valves, pump sets, individual boiler and chiller circuits. Only where a degree of self-balancing
has been achieved might they be omitted.
Check that design flow rates are achievable with regulating valves more than 25% open.
Select regulating valves such that at their design flow rates the required pressure losses
across them can be achieved without the need to close below the 25% open position. Valves
closed beyond this point can be prone to dirt and air blockages. Low flow 15mm valves have
a minute orifice and should be considered with caution.
Check the accuracy of the specified flow measurement device is adequate to achieve the
required flow balance tolerance. Depending on the device selected, accuracy can vary
between +/-3% and +/-10%.
Flow measurement devices should be selected such that at design flow rates the pressure
signals across them are greater than 1kPa. Anything less than this becomes difficult to
measure with site instruments which affects accuracy.
Tolerances of final flow measurements should be assessed and specified, and the
commissioning specialist given a realistic flow rate tolerance within which to establish a flow
balance (see CIBSE Commissioning Codes and BSRIA Guides). Note that the total of
tolerances may affect pump selection.
Valve and flow measurement device locations should be indicated on design schematic
drawings and contractor installation drawings with commissioning data.
Units such as fan coils can be grouped together to reduce the number of commissioning
valves required.

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