Methods of BHE flushing, charging and purging in Sweden

Abstract

In Sweden, there are more than 500 000 small and about 500 relatively large ground source heat pumps (GSHP) having a total installed capacity of about 5.6 GW delivering approximately 15 TWh . yr-1 of heating and cooling energy in Sweden. The operational lifetime and reliability of any GSHP depends heavily on the way the system is designed, installed and operated. In order to provide a good system performance after installation, aspects such as borehole heat exchanger (BHE) system flushing, charging and purging, among others, should be taken into consideration. The aim of this work has been to review some existing methods of system flushing, charging and purging in order and make observations that may be applicable for the GSHP industry. Two Swedish case studies have been followed up and compared to existing strategies suggested by IGSHPA.
The results show that there is a lack of specific recommendations regarding the flushing and purging procedures for BHEs in Sweden. A well-defined range or adaptation of similar IGSHPA standards could help in defining the minimum flush velocity. The two case studies showed different practices, with flushing velocities being significantly higher than the minimum flushing velocity recommended by IGSHPA. Flushing flow rates based on this standard are presented in this work for some typical BHE pipe sizes used in Europe.