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Plant Sizing – Pipe Sizing - Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

L.T.H.W. (Low Temperature Hot Water) Pipe Sizing

When sizing pipes for heating systems the water velocity should not exceed 1.0 m/s.
This reduces noise and wear.
CIBSE Guide B (1986) table B1.13 suggests that the velocity may go up to 1.5 m/s for pipe diameters
over 50mm.
The pressure drop should not exceed 300 Pascals per metre run of pipework to keep pumps down
to a reasonable size.
This means that for every metre of pipework the resistance to water flow should be no more than
300 Pa which is about 30 mm head.

Flow of Water in Pipes Table

The table below shows pipe sizes for 15mm to 76mm diameter copper pipe.
To find a suitable pipe size for a heating circuit the flow rate is used to find an appropriate
diameter.
If the flow rate of water is known then look down under any pipe diameter column to ascertain the
corresponding pressure drop and velocity.
If the pressure drop and velocity exceed the criteria in the previous section then try the next pipe
size up.
If the pressure drop and velocity are within the criteria then the pipe is sized correctly.

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