The influence of heat loss from pipes in an unheated basement on the heating energy consumption of an entire typical apartment building

Abstract

The majority of old apartment buildings were designed with an unheated basement. Building service systems such as district heating heat exchangers and pipes for domestic hot water and for space heating are usually located in this unheated basement. In addition, these locations are connected with shafts. All these pipe’s heat losses increase air temperature in the basement. If these losses are included into the building energy balance, then they decrease heat loss through the basement ceiling. The basement’s heat balance is also dependent on heat loss from the basement envelope and outdoor air exchange in the basement. In early stages of design, designers and energy auditors need rough models to make decisions in limited information conditions. Once the effects of heat losses from pipes become apparent, they need to be factored into the buildings energy balance, and their effects on heat loss through the basement ceiling needs to be calculated. In this paper we analyse the effect these heat losses have on the service system’s heat gains and heat loss through an uninsulated basement ceiling at different basement insulation levels and with different thicknesses of pipe insulation. From our study we found that pipe losses in the basement increase the building energy performance value by at least 4 kWh/(m²∙a) and their impact on a renovated apartment building is very important.