Plan the management of room heating, water and ancillary costs

This article describes the installation planning. For on-site implementation and equipment configuration on the Climkit platform, refer to the links at the end of the article.

1. Management of heating, water costs and ancillary costs - typical installation

Climkit's Management of heating costs and ancillary costs solution allows for the allocation of heating costs among building occupants in proportion to their individual thermal energy consumption, in accordance with the requirements of the Swiss Confederation's Individual billing of energy and water costs (DIFEE).

To do this, Climkit reads the following meters:

• One thermal meter (heating) per apartment
• One hot water meter per apartment
• One thermal meter at the boiler outlet to measure total consumption and deduct the share of common areas
• One thermal meter at the water heater inlet to measure the energy required for hot water production

To fairly distribute water supply and treatment costs, a cold water meter is installed in each apartment as well as for the common areas (laundry, watering, etc.).

Standard connection diagram

Here is the diagram defining the location of heating, hot water, and cold water meters in a standard residential building.

Full thermal metering (recommended by DIFEE)

To correctly distribute the heating costs of apartments and common areas, as well as energy costs related to domestic hot water production, the following installation is required:

• A main meter at the heat pump outlet
• A meter for domestic hot water production installed on the water heater connection
• One heating meter per apartment

This is the correct diagram as recommended by the DIFEE.

In this way:

• Apartment heating costs are assigned to each occupant proportionally to the consumption measured by their individual heating meter.
• Domestic hot water production costs are measured by the meter installed on the water heater connection, then distributed among occupants based on their individual hot water meter consumption.
• Common area heating costs are determined by taking the difference between the main meter and the sum of the other meters, then shared between occupants pro-rata to the surface area of their apartment.

Partial thermal metering

When certain meters are omitted, estimations become necessary. For example, with only one meter per apartment, not all consumptions are measured directly.

Consequences for allocation:

• Common area heating costs must be estimated.
• Domestic hot water production costs must be estimated.

If the main meter at the boiler outlet is omitted, it is strongly recommended to install at least one meter dedicated to domestic hot water production.

Without this meter, the usual estimation consists of assigning 25% of total costs to domestic hot water production.

Connection of electricity meters

When heating is provided by an electrically powered heat pump, it is recommended to install an electricity meter dedicated to the heat pump and a meter for common areas. This distinction allows for the correct distribution of energy costs related to heating and those related to common area consumption.

Communication via M-Bus

Meters are connected via M-Bus then linked to the Climkit Gateway using an M-Bus/RS485 converter.

M-Bus (Meter-Bus) is a European communication standard specifically designed for remote reading of energy and water meters. This protocol allows several meters (up to 250) to be connected on the same two-wire bus, in line or star topology, considerably simplifying the wiring. The cable used must be of the shielded U72 type.

Variant with Weblog 250

When an M-Bus control unit of the Weblog 250 type is already planned, it can be connected to the 4G Router via Ethernet to program a daily automatic transfer of meter readings, in CSV format, via FTP to the Climkit platform. This variant avoids the installation of an M-Bus/RS485 converter. The Weblog unit is generally provided by the heating or plumbing installer.

Heating meter

Thermal meters are installed directly on the closed heating circuit pipe. They measure the flow rate as well as the inlet and outlet temperatures of the circuit, which they then convert into energy (kWh).

Meters are generally provided and installed by a heating installer.

It is strongly recommended to position the underfloor heating manifold and the heating meter in an access hatch located at the entrance of the apartment, rather than at the back of a cupboard.

This configuration greatly facilitates access to the meter for maintenance.

Hot water and cold water meter

Water meters are installed directly on the pipe and measure the flow (m³) circulating through.

Domestic hot water (DHW) and cold water meters are the same devices but are distinguished by the flow they measure.

Climkit Offer

The standard Climkit offer includes the elements necessary for the system's operation: hardware (except meters), software functionalities, as well as services related to the setup.

All hardware is provided pre-configured to simplify installation and ensure correct communication with the meters.

• Equipment:
  • LAN router or 4G Router
  • Climkit Gateway
  • M-Bus / RS485 converter
• Software functionalities:
  • Reading and recording of heating and water meters
• Setup service:
  • Integration of meters into the platform based on commissioning protocols established by the heating and plumbing installer
  • Technical coordination and verification of meter reading
  • Administrative setup

All products are ordered directly from Climkit.

In most cases, the installation can be carried out by the installer without an on-site intervention from a Climkit technician.

Telephone assistance is available if necessary during commissioning.

Details of equipment provided by Climkit

4G Router

An internet connection is essential for the system to function. If no connection is available, Climkit can provide it via a 4G Router equipped with an active multi-operator SIM card.

Using Climkit's TRB140 4G Router offers several advantages:

• Simplified installation: the router installs easily inside the electrical panel, directly on the DIN rail
• Complete delivery: supplied with its DIN rail bracket and its 24V DC power supply
• Ready to use: delivered pre-configured with an activated SIM card
• Economical 4G subscription: low-cost internet connection

Climkit Gateway

The Climkit Gateway reads the meters connected to its RS485 port via the Modbus protocol and transmits the readings to the Climkit platform via the internet.

MBus-RS485 converter

The MBus-RS485 converter allows connecting M-Bus meters to the RS485 port of the Climkit Gateway.

It is installed on the same RS485 bus as the electricity meters and is supplied with a 24V DC DIN rail power supply.

It is provided in 2 models depending on the number of M-Bus meters connected:

• MBus60 for max 60 meters; width: 4 DIN modules
• MBus200 for max 200 meters; width: 8 DIN modules

Multiple converters can be connected to the same Gateway.

2. Next steps