Optimum Heating

This is typically underground connecting pipe work from the boiler to other buildings. Boilers that burn woodfuels such as logs, wood chips and pellets tends to be physically larger and more expensive than equivalent gas or oil boilers. This is partly as a result of the physical requirements for a high temperature combustion environment and transporting the solid fuel.

District heating makes effective use of larger boilers to enable efficient distribution of heat to a number of buildings as well as the administrative benefits of using a single boiler installation to provide heat to a number of buildings.

These might be a number of individual houses, blocks of social housing, a group of holiday cottages or simply an outbuilding supplying living accommodation.

District heating is much more common in some European countries than in the UK. In Denmark for instance district heating provides around 60% of heating. However there are now a number of successful district heating schemes in the UK, both using fossil fuels and biomass.

Optimum has installed many systems throughout the South West.

• A typical district heating installation consists of a highly insulated "heat main" of flow and return pipes distributing hot water to all buildings which might be connected.
• A junction point allows easy connection to each building, from which hot water can be taken from the main to a heat exchanger within each building.
• The heating circuit within the building is thus isolated from the heat main.
• Temperature measurement of the flow and return lines, plus a flow meter (together forming a heat meter), allow the actual heat usage within each building, or even apartment, to be separately measured, and the delivered heat billed for accordingly.
• Remote meter reading by modem, secure web interface or drive-by are all possible, as are remote diagnostics to ensure reliable system operation.