Checking Gas Rates and Heat Inputs – Natural Gas

November 3, 2009 by carl 

CHECKING GAS RATES AND HEAT INPUTS (M3)

NATURAL GAS

Where the gas meter records the gas consumption in cubic metres the following procedure should be used.

Gas Rate Procedure Meter Measuring in m3

The following procedure is just one method of calculating gas rate: -

  • Turn all the appliances OFF.
  • Record the meter reading. (example shows a reading of 00048.104m3)

  • Turn the appliance under test to FULL ON.
  • At the same time as turning the appliance on start recording the time
  • When exactly two minutes have elapsed record the meter reading. (example shows a reading   of 00048.188m3)

  • Subtract the first reading from the second reading. This will give you the volume of gas passed in m3.

Gas rate over two minutes: -

= 48.188
-48.104
= 00.084 m3

Therefore the Gas Rate over 1 minute

= 00.084 m3 ÷ 2
= 0.042m3

So to calculate the hourly consumption, the gas rate for 1 minute is multiplied by the number of minutes in an hour.

Therefore Gas Rate/hour

= 0.042 x 60
= 2.52m3/hr

We can convert this figure to cubic feet by multiplying the figure by 35.37.

Therefore                2.52 x 35.37 = 89.1324ft3/hr

Gross Heat Input = 89.1324 x 1040 = 92697 Btu/hr (27.16 KW)

To assist in the process, the chart below has been configured to provide an easy reference. It is based on a GROSS CV of 38.79MJ/m3 (1040 Btu/ft3). So in our example over a two minute period 0.084m3 is used, look at the table below for 0.080 = 2.40 m3/hr (25.8KW) and 0.004 = 0.12m3/hr (1.3KW). Add the two together 2.40 + 0.12 = 2.52m3/hr and a gross input of

25.8 + 1.3 = 27.1KW

GAS USED in

2 Minutes

HOURLY RATE

EQUIVALENT

EQUIVALENT HEAT INPUT

M3

M3

Ft3

kW

Btu/hr

0.001

0.03

1.06

0.3

1100

0.002

0.06

2.12

0.6

2200

0.003

0.09

3.18

1.0

3300

0.004

0.12

4.24

1.3

4400

0.005

0.15

5.31

1.6

5500

0.006

0.18

6.37

1.9

6600

0.007

0.21

7.43

2.3

7700

0.008

0.24

8.49

2.6

8800

0.009

0.27

9.55

2.9

9900

0.010

0.30

10.61

3.2

11000

0.020

0.60

21.22

6.4

22000

0.030

0.90

31.83

9.7

33000

0.040

1.20

42.44

12.9

44000

0.050

1.50

53.06

16.1

55000

0.060

1.80

63.67

19.3

65900

0.070

2.10

74.28

22.5

76900

0.080

2.40

84.89

25.8

87900

0.090

2.70

95.50

29.0

98900

0.100

3.00

106.11

32.3

109800

0.200

6.00

212.22

64.4

219700

Note: – Essex Heating Services accepts no liability for the accuracy of this table and the figures that it contains. You should check the data before using it to carry out any adjustments. (Please refer to the Gas Regulations before implementation – this is your responsibility).

Comments

9 Responses to “Checking Gas Rates and Heat Inputs – Natural Gas”

  1. Heating and Air Service on November 24th, 2009 11:53 am

    nice explanation and its very detailed with graphs on it.. thank you, i like your post!

  2. carl on December 10th, 2009 11:07 am

    Thank you for your comment. I have been away for a little while due to the volume of work etc. I will be making a few more posts.

    Regards

  3. Alan Thomas on December 19th, 2009 9:40 am

    Well done Essex Heating on your technical data.

    Regards

    Alan Thomas Corgi registered commercial gas engineer ( RETIRED)

  4. carl on January 12th, 2010 1:13 pm

    Hi Alan,
    Thank you for your comment. Are there any other subjects that you feel could be added to the Blog for discussion?

  5. Mark on August 25th, 2010 5:29 pm

    How would you do it with other meters i.e the U6 or the E6,

  6. carl on September 28th, 2010 7:28 pm

    The easiest way to Gas Rate would be to turn on the boiler and either run the hot water or central heating. Go to the Gas Meter and note the reading. Time the gas usage for 2 mins and then take a note of the reading. Take the first reading from the second and look this number up on a Gas Rating Table (these are easily available from most plumbers merchants). Just be careful to make sure that you apply the correct size to the table you are using – Cubic Metres to the Cubic Metres table – I hope this helps/

  7. Peter on May 26th, 2011 9:38 am

    I enjoyed your comments and I thought your description were helpful

  8. jasone on September 17th, 2011 8:00 pm

    Take the first reading then after 2 min at full rate take second reading. Take the first reading from the second and then multiply by 321 gives you kw

  9. rozaqrcr on December 2nd, 2011 11:04 pm

    Magnificent goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely wonderful. I actually like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what you are saying and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still care for to keep it wise. I can not wait to read much more from you. This is actually a terrific site.

Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.