IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v180y2019icp163-174.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Faults in district heating customer installations and ways to approach them: Experiences from Swedish utilities

Author

Listed:
  • Månsson, Sara
  • Johansson Kallioniemi, Per-Olof
  • Thern, Marcus
  • Van Oevelen, Tijs
  • Sernhed, Kerstin

Abstract

The district heating (DH) customer installations in current DH systems contain a variety of different faults that cause the return temperatures of the systems to increase. This is a major problem, since the focus in the DH sector is to decrease the system temperatures in order to utilize more low-temperature heat. Therefore, this study has focused on how utilities are currently working to keep their temperatures low, how they involve their customers in this work, and what faults are most common today. This was done by conducting a combined interview and survey study, where Swedish DH utilities participated. The results showed that the two most important elements to obtain low return temperatures were to have physical access to and mandate of the customer installations, and to maintain a good and close customer relationship. The results also showed that many faults occur in the customers’ internal heating systems, or were due to leakages somewhere in the installation. Overall, the results showed that it is indeed possible to work close to and affect the customers to obtain lower return temperatures from the customer installations. It was also clear that the most common faults were rather easy to eliminate as long as the utilities gained physical access to the entire customer installation.

Suggested Citation

  • Månsson, Sara & Johansson Kallioniemi, Per-Olof & Thern, Marcus & Van Oevelen, Tijs & Sernhed, Kerstin, 2019. "Faults in district heating customer installations and ways to approach them: Experiences from Swedish utilities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 163-174.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:180:y:2019:i:c:p:163-174
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.04.220
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544219308606
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2019.04.220?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xue, Puning & Zhou, Zhigang & Fang, Xiumu & Chen, Xin & Liu, Lin & Liu, Yaowen & Liu, Jing, 2017. "Fault detection and operation optimization in district heating substations based on data mining techniques," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 926-940.
    2. Sara Månsson & Kristin Davidsson & Patrick Lauenburg & Marcus Thern, 2018. "Automated Statistical Methods for Fault Detection in District Heating Customer Installations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Lund, Henrik & Andersen, Anders N. & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Connolly, David, 2012. "From electricity smart grids to smart energy systems – A market operation based approach and understanding," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 96-102.
    4. Li, Hailong & Sun, Qie & Zhang, Qi & Wallin, Fredrik, 2015. "A review of the pricing mechanisms for district heating systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 56-65.
    5. Gadd, Henrik & Werner, Sven, 2014. "Achieving low return temperatures from district heating substations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 59-67.
    6. Gadd, Henrik & Werner, Sven, 2015. "Fault detection in district heating substations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 51-59.
    7. Lund, Henrik & Werner, Sven & Wiltshire, Robin & Svendsen, Svend & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Hvelplund, Frede & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2014. "4th Generation District Heating (4GDH)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-11.
    8. Bühler, Fabian & Petrović, Stefan & Karlsson, Kenneth & Elmegaard, Brian, 2017. "Industrial excess heat for district heating in Denmark," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 991-1001.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Benakopoulos, Theofanis & Tunzi, Michele & Salenbien, Robbe & Hansen, Kasper Klan & Svendsen, Svend, 2022. "Implementation of a strategy for low-temperature operation of radiator systems using data from existing digital heat cost allocators," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    2. Costanza Saletti & Mirko Morini & Agostino Gambarotta, 2020. "The Status of Research and Innovation on Heating and Cooling Networks as Smart Energy Systems within Horizon 2020," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-27, June.
    3. Benakopoulos, Theofanis & Tunzi, Michele & Salenbien, Robbe & Svendsen, Svend, 2021. "Strategy for low-temperature operation of radiator systems using data from existing digital heat cost allocators," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    4. Gorroño-Albizu, Leire & de Godoy, Jaqueline, 2021. "Getting fair institutional conditions for district heating consumers: Insights from Denmark and Sweden," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    5. Bode, Gerrit & Thul, Simon & Baranski, Marc & Müller, Dirk, 2020. "Real-world application of machine-learning-based fault detection trained with experimental data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    6. Anna Grzegórska & Piotr Rybarczyk & Valdas Lukoševičius & Joanna Sobczak & Andrzej Rogala, 2021. "Smart Asset Management for District Heating Systems in the Baltic Sea Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-25, January.
    7. Østergaard, Dorte Skaarup & Smith, Kevin Michael & Tunzi, Michele & Svendsen, Svend, 2022. "Low-temperature operation of heating systems to enable 4th generation district heating: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    8. Nielsen, Tore Bach & Lund, Henrik & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Duic, Neven & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2021. "Perspectives on energy efficiency and smart energy systems from the 5th SESAAU2019 conference," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    9. Leoni, Paolo & Geyer, Roman & Schmidt, Ralf-Roman, 2020. "Developing innovative business models for reducing return temperatures in district heating systems: Approach and first results," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    10. Neumayer, Martin & Stecher, Dominik & Grimm, Sebastian & Maier, Andreas & Bücker, Dominikus & Schmidt, Jochen, 2023. "Fault and anomaly detection in district heating substations: A survey on methodology and data sets," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    11. Averfalk, Helge & Werner, Sven, 2020. "Economic benefits of fourth generation district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    12. Sarran, Lucile & Smith, Kevin M. & Hviid, Christian A. & Rode, Carsten, 2022. "Grey-box modelling and virtual sensors enabling continuous commissioning of hydronic floor heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    13. Tunzi, Michele & Benakopoulos, Theofanis & Yang, Qinjiang & Svendsen, Svend, 2023. "Demand side digitalisation: A methodology using heat cost allocators and energy meters to secure low-temperature operations in existing buildings connected to district heating networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    14. Lygnerud, Kristina & Yang, Ying, 2024. "Capturing flexibility gains by price models for district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    15. Østergaard, Dorte Skaarup & Tunzi, Michele & Svendsen, Svend, 2021. "What does a well-functioning heating system look like? Investigation of ten Danish buildings that utilize district heating efficiently," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    16. Søndergaard, Henrik Alexander Nissen & Shaker, Hamid Reza & Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard, 2024. "Contextual operational energy performance indexing of district heating consumers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    17. Sara Månsson & Marcus Thern & Per-Olof Johansson Kallioniemi & Kerstin Sernhed, 2021. "A Fault Handling Process for Faults in District Heating Customer Installations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-18, May.
    18. Manservigi, Lucrezia & Bahlawan, Hilal & Losi, Enzo & Morini, Mirko & Spina, Pier Ruggero & Venturini, Mauro, 2022. "A diagnostic approach for fault detection and identification in district heating networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Østergaard, Dorte Skaarup & Smith, Kevin Michael & Tunzi, Michele & Svendsen, Svend, 2022. "Low-temperature operation of heating systems to enable 4th generation district heating: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    2. Sara Månsson & Kristin Davidsson & Patrick Lauenburg & Marcus Thern, 2018. "Automated Statistical Methods for Fault Detection in District Heating Customer Installations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Sarran, Lucile & Smith, Kevin M. & Hviid, Christian A. & Rode, Carsten, 2022. "Grey-box modelling and virtual sensors enabling continuous commissioning of hydronic floor heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    4. Guelpa, Elisa & Verda, Vittorio, 2020. "Automatic fouling detection in district heating substations: Methodology and tests," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    5. Li, Yu & Rezgui, Yacine & Zhu, Hanxing, 2017. "District heating and cooling optimization and enhancement – Towards integration of renewables, storage and smart grid," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 281-294.
    6. Sara Månsson & Marcus Thern & Per-Olof Johansson Kallioniemi & Kerstin Sernhed, 2021. "A Fault Handling Process for Faults in District Heating Customer Installations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-18, May.
    7. Sayegh, M.A. & Danielewicz, J. & Nannou, T. & Miniewicz, M. & Jadwiszczak, P. & Piekarska, K. & Jouhara, H., 2017. "Trends of European research and development in district heating technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1183-1192.
    8. Michael-Allan Millar & Bruce Elrick & Greg Jones & Zhibin Yu & Neil M. Burnside, 2020. "Roadblocks to Low Temperature District Heating," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-21, November.
    9. Xue, Puning & Zhou, Zhigang & Fang, Xiumu & Chen, Xin & Liu, Lin & Liu, Yaowen & Liu, Jing, 2017. "Fault detection and operation optimization in district heating substations based on data mining techniques," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 926-940.
    10. Yan, Jingjing & Zhang, Huan & Wang, Yaran & Zhu, Zhaozhe & Bai, He & Li, Qicheng & Zheng, Lijun & Gao, Xinyong & You, Shijun, 2023. "Difference analysis and recognition of hydraulic oscillation by two types of sudden faults on long-distance district heating pipeline," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    11. Danica Djurić Ilić, 2020. "Classification of Measures for Dealing with District Heating Load Variations—A Systematic Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-27, December.
    12. Theofanis Benakopoulos & Robbe Salenbien & Dirk Vanhoudt & Svend Svendsen, 2019. "Improved Control of Radiator Heating Systems with Thermostatic Radiator Valves without Pre-Setting Function," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-24, August.
    13. Millar, Michael-Allan & Yu, Zhibin & Burnside, Neil & Jones, Greg & Elrick, Bruce, 2021. "Identification of key performance indicators and complimentary load profiles for 5th generation district energy networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    14. Kavvadias, Konstantinos C. & Quoilin, Sylvain, 2018. "Exploiting waste heat potential by long distance heat transmission: Design considerations and techno-economic assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 452-465.
    15. Nord, Natasa & Shakerin, Mohammad & Tereshchenko, Tymofii & Verda, Vittorio & Borchiellini, Romano, 2021. "Data informed physical models for district heating grids with distributed heat sources to understand thermal and hydraulic aspects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    16. Alessandro Guzzini & Marco Pellegrini & Edoardo Pelliconi & Cesare Saccani, 2020. "Low Temperature District Heating: An Expert Opinion Survey," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-34, February.
    17. Gerald Schweiger & Fabian Kuttin & Alfred Posch, 2019. "District Heating Systems: An Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of the 4GDH," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-15, December.
    18. Hong, Yejin & Yoon, Sungmin, 2022. "Holistic Operational Signatures for an energy-efficient district heating substation in buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    19. Sernhed, Kerstin & Lygnerud, Kristina & Werner, Sven, 2018. "Synthesis of recent Swedish district heating research," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 126-132.
    20. Calikus, Ece & Nowaczyk, Sławomir & Sant'Anna, Anita & Gadd, Henrik & Werner, Sven, 2019. "A data-driven approach for discovering heat load patterns in district heating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:180:y:2019:i:c:p:163-174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.