District Heating Leak Detection By Polygon

District heating is a system that distributes heat generated in a central location to multiple buildings within a district or community. This heat can be produced using various energy sources such as natural gas, biomass, or even waste heat from industrial processes. The heat is transported through a network of insulated pipes to provide space heating and hot water to residential, commercial, and industrial buildings.

Although these centralised pump rooms are an environmentally friendly way of providing the heat source for boilers in multiple properties, the physical risk of water loss via a hidden underground pipe network under paths, gardens, buildings, carparks, roads, etc, is more catastrophic than traditional systems. Many factors make leak detection a complex solution for the District Heating.

Locating the source of a leak can result in unnecessary and costly searches. This is made more complicated by the fact that the hot water, which is normally lost under the ground, can manifest itself rising through grates, drains, etc, in the form of steam that is not actually local to escape of water.

The insulation around the pipework underground can also make finding leaks more difficult due to the water, as it tends to follow the path of least resistance, which can be far away from the point of escape.

This is where Polygon's expertise, technical solutions and experience can provide a positive, timely and cost-effective solution. Ultimately, the risks of long-term downtime for multiple properties, affecting various people, are a huge financial, safety, and reputational risk.