Measuring Hot Water Consumption in Shared Recirculation System

[lollino]

Hello everyone,

I'm facing a rather complex situation and I need your expert advice. My neighbor and I share a boiler for hot water, and we have a single recirculation pump serving both of our homes. However, after the pump, the recirculation circuit splits into two separate branches, each serving our respective dwellings.

We currently have meters installed on the cold water to track individual consumption, but we lack a system to measure hot water usage. Our plumber claims that we cannot install meters on the hot water due to flow disturbances caused by recirculation.

I'm looking for a solution to fairly and accurately measure hot water consumption in each home. One idea I had considered was to install two meters, one at the entrance and one at the exit of the recirculation circuit, but I am aware of the technical difficulties this might entail.

I would like to know if, given the configuration of our system, a solution could be to install two separate recirculation pumps, one for each branch, and whether this could facilitate a more accurate measurement of individual consumption. Alternatively, are there flow meters or other technologies that can be effectively used in a system with these characteristics?

I would be very grateful for any advice, suggestions, or shared experiences you can offer.

Thank you very much for your time and attention to my request.

Best regards,
Lorenzo

 

[Breplum]

That is a very unique system you have, so don't feel ignored if you get no answer.
The recirculation, of course, makes it impossible to measure consumption.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[John Gayewski]

You would have to measure every outlet. It's not going to happen.

You could each get holding tanks for your sewage and each have that pumped and measured every month. But that's just a moon shot never going to happen idea.

 

[Fitter30]

So u want dhw and boiler heat separate. How is the boiler controlled? Same number of people in each space? Having been a landlord and not a tennent getting payed every month good tennent. I'd move in a heartbeat.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

What exactly are you talking about??
Why would you need to meter the hot water usages??
You both have separate water meters to pay for the water, correct???

Their one boiler heating both of the homes correct??
Does the boiler have a heat exchanger on it to heat the POTABLE hot water for both sides of this unit?? yes?? No??

Are we talking just heating the homes or hot water to bathe in???

So , then Who exactly pays the gas bill for the boiler???
Do you both have separate gas meters or do you split the bill??

Do you both have separate water heaters???

Unless one person wants to keep the home like being in Cambodia and as hot as hell
and the other person just wants the temp to be normal their is very little reason to do this


Please explain what you are trying to accomplish here....

 

[Jeff H Young]

put a meter on the gas at connection to boiler and calculate the cost approxamate for total gas used on the boiler and divde by 2 or 45 percent for you and 55 percent for him . b ut what else are you using for gas ? a cook top or oven? why not just split the bill period?
There is some technology on metering going on now that wasent befor . you might have seperate pumps and time the circulating pump run times? A few Ideas