Hot water monitoring system

One of the main uses of geothermal water is for heating. About 98% of buildings in Iceland use geothermal water for heat. In residence buildings, a flow control frame distributes the water between the potable water and heating. In the entire flow control frame there are optical gauges that have to be read manually, which is not optimal way for the homeowner to check his usage. This project is to set up a way to monitor the hot water usage by implementing electronic sensors to measure temperature, flow and pressure. The sensors are connected to a microcontroller that send the values from the sensors to a database via the internet. A website will display the values that are stored in the database with charts and gauges. To test the concept of using electronic sensors and controller, a closed system was constructed, to have control of the flow, temperature and pressure. Simulated malfunctions were used to test the system. The system successfully detected the malfunctions and a led light lit up to indicate what type of problem occurred. A prototype of the monitoring system was installed into a real flow control frame in a residential house. The system runs autonomously by sending values at even intervals to a database that displays the readings on a website for the user of the system to monitor the hot water usag