Balancing Valve

[apandi]

Dear All,


For who knows the water-chiller piping system,
please explain about balancing valve,
what the actual function, when it is needed and where to position its correct placement ?



Thank you
Apandi

[Brian_UK]

If you have more than one water circuit or branch then balancing valves should be fitted.

The purpose of the valve is to allow you to set the correct water flow to each circuit/branch to ensure the correct performance.

Assume that you have two cooling coils in two items of plant. Without and balancing or flow regulation then most of the chilled water will go around the coil with the least resistance, normally the nearest the pump. The coil further away will not have enough water passing through it and its performance will suffer.

With a balancing valve fitted you can increase the resistance of the first coil and thereby "balance" the system to have the correct flow through each coil.

A balancing valve is also known as a double regulating valve in that you can set the flow rate with a lockable adjuster on the valve but still maintain simple on/off using the primary valve handle.

You should also fit them in the bypass line of a 3 port control or diverting valve to balance the resistance of the bypass to the resistance of the coil that it serves.