In an age where super-efficient heating and cooling systems are at the heart of modern building design, it is remarkable that many ingenious, state-of-the-art systems, from the day they're installed, begin to fail for the simplest of reasons; they use water which over time gets dirty and clogs up the system's arteries.  Steve Cupples, Managing Director of IPS explains how industry is losing millions through lack of investment and energy efficiency.

Eventually, all water-based heating systems become highly inefficient, or can even fail altogether, and in the case of large public access buildings like Shopping Malls, Hospitals or office blocks where this type of system is common, the remedial costs can be vast. Often, repair is impossible, leaving replacement as the only option, and all because the water in the system over time picks up suspended solids which are deposited as a permanent film that acts as an insulator coating the inner surfaces of the system's pipe-work (see photograph).

Illustrated is a section of pipe from a typical H&V system which had to be replaced at a cost of over half a million pounds in 2005 after only 5 years in service. A coating like this, thinner than a human hair, can reduce the whole system's efficiency by ten to fifteen percent, and increase energy costs accordingly, and since European legislation will this year begin to force all public buildings to openly display their energy efficiency, it's a problem that can't be sidestepped.

It can, however, be inexpensively avoided by the introduction of a remarkably efficient side stream filtration system which effectively removes more than 95% of contaminants right down to particles as small as 0.5 micron. This kind of system can be included at the design and installation stage or even fitted retrospectively, once the whole heating system is up and running. And so long as it hasn't been too many years since commissioning, most systems can be saved from any further decline in efficiency in the same way.

If a system has been fitted with traditional strainer filter technology, it may consequently be protected from large pipe scale and agglomerated solids, but it will still be at significant risk, since it's necessary for filters to be efficient to less than 2.0 micron to ensure sustained and efficient operation.

"An average-sized side stream filtration system might cost around £10k, which, when measured against the annual savings in energy alongside the added longevity of the heating/cooling system, is a drop in the ocean," says Steve Cupples, Managing Director of IPS Ltd. "It's incredible that the most obvious flaw in even the most hi-tech design is the fact that the water in the system begins to decrease the efficiency of the system from day one unless it is properly filtered. Whilst the process of failure might take place over several years, it's just a matter of time before things fail altogether."