Leading energy efficiency and renewables specialist Sentinel has launched three dedicated ‘direct contacts’ relating to renewable technologies, providing expert advice on technical issues for installers, specifiers, and developers on the new renewable range of products the company has launched and the problems they address – simply by emailing them!

Sentinel is introducing this new service in response to a requirement from the marketplace to fully understand the reason why the new products are required and the problems they address. Not surprisingly, manufacturers have concentrated on selling their products without acknowledging in detail the problems that can arise following their installation. Sentinel has been working very closely with a number of OEMs to understand the technologies and the help needed to ensure their installations deliver the headline benefits claimed by the manufacturers, not just immediately after installation, but over a reasonable time frame. They have also worked closely with them to deliver support, training and to share their expertise in cleaning the systems and maximising the longevity of the glycol mix selected. Sentinel’s new robust glycol mix products – R100 for solar thermal installations, R500 for Ground Source Heat Pumps and R600 for Air Source Heat Pumps – offer a much improved basis for running all these systems.

As you would expect, Sentinel has produced a range of helpful literature and included lots of information on its website but acknowledges there is no substitute for a personal response service such as this email based solution.

The three special email addresses to address concerns about renewable technology problems to, are GSHP@sentinel-solutions.net for concerns about ground source heat pump installations, ASHP@sentinel-solutions.net for concerns about air source heat pump installations and Solar@sentinel-solutions.net for concerns about solar thermal installations. You’ll get a response within 24 hours.

Sentinel has launched a dedicated range of products to clean and protect renewables systems to help installers comply with the new Part L of the building regulations, which come into force next April. These include a range of cleaners to ensure that the new installation, be it Heat Pump or Solar panel not only has any debris fully removed, but also is left free from bacteria, important in ensuring the long life of any subsequently added thermal fluid. An appropriate Thermal Fluid from Sentinel’s new range of products will complete the job. The range has been specifically designed to not only protect systems from freezing, but also to deliver system corrosion and deposition protection, vital to maintain high efficiency. The ‘R’ range of Sentinel Thermal Fluids are also designed to ensure a long system lifetime.

“Renewable systems needn’t be complex,” says Sentinel’s Neil Davies. “However, it has become increasingly apparent as the marketplace for these systems has grown over the past couple of years, in both the UK and continental Europe, that problems occur due to the progressive degradation of the glycol-based thermal fluid these systems rely on almost as their lifeblood. Glycols will slowly break down due to the chemical action of either heat or light and this degradation occurs much more quickly in solar thermal systems where temperatures of over 200⁰C occur regularly. If that wasn’t enough of a challenge to address, glycol can also be degraded in much cooler conditions by the action of bacteria, which use glycol as a welcome food source.”

Sentinel recognised that in order to ensure efficient, reliable and cost effective operation, a new range of bespoke products was required for each type of system, including more robust thermal fluids that would last for significantly longer than the current options, flushing liquids to help remove fluids from existing systems, a sanitiser and biocide that would address the bacterial growth and test kits to check the system was in good condition. Full details of these products can be found at www.sentinel-solutions.net.

Neil Davies again: “The problem with the currently available thermal fluids is their alarmingly rapid rate of degradation – usually requiring replacement after two to three years but sometimes in as little as a few months - leading to an increase in the freezing point and a reduction in frost protection, alarming colour changes, increased viscosity of the fluid, making it harder to pump, deposits and blockages and a reduction in heat transfer capability - which rather defeats the object of the system in the first place.

“We developed our new thermal fluids to offer excellent thermal stability, increased service life and increased cost effectiveness and we’re confident we have developed an impressive response to the problems that were occurring.”