Peak hourly flow rate?

[keithbrown53]

Hi,

Local sports clubhouse wants to install gas. Only has electric at the moment. Gas suppliers application form asks for the peak hourly flow of the proposed new supply. What should I put here? They used 17,000 kwh of electricity last year, if that's relevant.

Cheers.

 

[Dan Robinson]

So they don't use lighting then?


You should register for the combustion chamber where a couple of similar projects have been discussed recently.

 

[keithbrown53]

Tried to register for the Combustion Chamber, but seems to be closed to the public.

Lighting is in use, yes.

There's a hot water tank heated by electricity, 4 showers and lots of electric heaters and a couple of cookers.

Now talking about replacing the power source with gas throughout.

As stated, we used 17,000kwh last year, but I don't know what I'm supposed to put for the Peak Hourly Flow.

 

[Dan Robinson]

What has the installer suggested?


Of course the combustion chamber is closed to the public

 

[JohnD]

They want to know how much gas will you use at the times when you have the heating and the hot water running full blast. You can get an idea of your max energy demand by looking at the electricity meter on a cold winters day after a match when the showers and heating are going. Lighting uses very little power so it will almost all be heating. Possibly your electrical heating is inadequate and you need more heat.

Your yearly figure will not help because there are peaks and troughs.

You won't get an accurate figure by looking at the power of your proposed boiler because it (unless undersized) will not run at maximum output for a continuous hour. It will tend to run at high power when it is bringing the building up to temp on a cold day, then modulate down, and if a combi, will run at max power during showering times.

Dan wants you to get a gas installer to calculate it.

Preferably find one with experience of buildings with similar usage patterns to yours.