The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, June 1997. © Copyright 1997 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers,
Inc. It is presented for educational purposes only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE.
T
Return Temp., F 52.4 54.3 +4
here has been widespread disagreement on the use of Diff. Temp., F 7.4 8.9 +20
balance valves on cooling coils in chilled water systems. Secondary Pump 67 58 -13
Traditionally, balance valves are used on all heating and cool- Dis. Pr., PSIG
ing coils when three-way coil control valves are used. The Pump Speed, RPM 1232 1032 -16
advent of variable volume systems with two-way control Pump Power, KW 18 16 -11
valves on these coils creates new considerations for the use of
Pump KW/Ton 0.083 0.058 -30
balance valves.
Source: From Ben. L. Kincaid and Andrew Spradley, Removing Manual Balancing in a High
One of the great concerns for determining the correct use of School, 1995.
balance valves is the energy consumption of these valves.
Every pump brake horsepower consumed by balance valves Table 1: Energy data for an existing high school.
results in a loss of 2,544 Btu/hr (0.746 kW) and adds approx-
imately one-fifth of a ton of cooling to the chiller load. zontal dimension is used to separate the various elements of
Recently, an analysis was made at Wichita State University the system to clarify the use of pump head in that system. Pres-
where an analysis of pressure losses revealed a pressure drop sure losses in various components of a water system in feet of
of 50 to 56 psi (344.8 to 379.2 kPa) across balance valves head are plotted vertically downward or diagonally. Typical
installed on the discharge of the secondary pumps. This pressure gradient diagrams are shown in Figures 3, 4, 5, 7, and
resulted in an energy loss of over 900,000 KWH per year. 9 for the systems and flow conditions discussed herein. This
This information was received from Michael Walker, P.E., diagram is very useful in the evaluation of the use of various
of Mid-Kansas Engineering Consultants in Wichita. This is balance valves on particular types of chilled water systems.
why it is imperative that balance valves are used properly on The actual loss for each valve is shown clearly. There should
chilled water systems. be no question as to the effect of control or balance valves on
There have been field tests that demonstrate that energy can each system that is being considered.
be saved on variable volume systems by eliminating the effect The pressure gradient diagram demonstrates the use of pump
of balance valves. This is typified in tests at a high school that head and the control of pressures in chilled water systems under
showed significant energy can be saved by fully opening exist- different load conditions. The nodes, A through F and M
ing balance valves. through R, in the included gradient diagrams are used to identify
The data in Table 1 represents the test results at this high various points in the system drawings and those diagrams.
school. Not only was energy conserved, but additional cooling For example, in Figure 3, the pump head is 100 ft* (plotted
capacity was made available for a proposed addition. The vertically), the loss in the pumping system is 5 ft (Nodes A to B),
increase in load with the balance valves opened was due to a the loss in the supply header from the pumping system to coil 1
load change on the chilled water system.
Does this mean that balance valves should be banned from
all chilled water systems? Of course not. It does mean that cer- About the Author
tain types of chilled water systems should use balance valves
while others do not require them. How do we discern the dif- James B. (Burt) Rishel, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, Life Member, is
ference between these different systems? The pressure gradi- chairman of Systecon, a company that manufactures pumping sys-
ent diagram demonstrates easily which chilled water systems tems. He is a graduate of University of Nebraska with a degree in
should use balance valves. mechanical engineering. A Life Member and ASHRAE Fellow,
This diagram is constructed by plotting the pump head ver- he is a member of Technical Committee (TC) 6.1 Hydronic and
tically in feet of head. There is no horizontal scale. The hori- Steam Equipment and Systems, TC 8.10 Pumps and Hydronic
Piping, and TC 9.1 Large Building Air-Conditioning Systems.
* Multiply feet by 0.3048 to obtain meters.
Figure 7: The pressure gradient for the system with a full Figure 8: The reverse return system with two-position con-
load on all coils with two-position control valves and auto- trol valves on coils with balance valves.
matic balance valves.
Rishel, From Page 49 Variable Volume Systems under various design conditions. Nor-
1. Direct return type: mally, these diagrams are developed with
Balancing Chilled Water Systems a. With modulating type, coil con- the system at full-load condition and at
trol valves: None. specific part-load conditions.
Often, the argument is raised that the The great energy waste caused by
balance valve is necessary to prove b. With two position coil control
valves: Automatic balance valves improper use of balance valves on
design flow through a cooling coil. Most pumps and cooling coils must be elimi-
balance valves are equipped with two on all coils.
2. Reverse return type: nated to demonstrate that we are striving
ports to verify the flow rate. The use of to achieve energy efficient, chilled water
balance valves for this purpose is to con- a. With modulating coil control
valves: None. systems.
demn the system forever to an unneces-
sary friction loss and the resulting b. With on-off coil control valves:
Manual balance valves. Acknowledgments
energy consumption.
A simpler and more energy effective Constant Volume Systems with Three- The assistance offered by the reviewers
procedure is to measure the pressure drop way Coil Control Valves who have made this article easier to read is
across the coil itself. The pressure loss in These systems are not recommended indeed appreciated. In particular, the
the coil is at least as precise as that of a for most new installations. author wishes to acknowledge the help
balance valve, and there is no continuous a. Direct Return Systems: Manual provided by Gil Avery of Memphis, Tenn.
loss of energy. The cooling coil loss balance valves.
included in these applications is 12.5 ft b. Reverse Return Systems: Man-
which is more than ample pressure drop ual balance valves.
to prove that design flow exists in a coil. Please circle the appropriate number
Conclusions on the Reader Service Card at the back
Summary of Systems It is necessary for the designer of a of the publication.
Following is a review of the various chilled water system to understand 1) Extremely Helpful ........................ 458
types of chilled water systems as to the when to use balancing valves, and 2) what Helpful ....................................... 459
use of balance valves. These suggested type of balance valve is applicable. He or Somewhat Helpful ....................... 460
uses are those that will be applicable in she can do this by developing a pressure Not Helpful................................. 461
most cases. gradient diagram for the proposed system