Overview
Not every system that needs attention is new. A significant share of ProMech's work is remediation: heating, chilled water and process circuits that were signed off years ago and no longer perform to design. The building is occupied, the plant is running, and something is quietly wrong.
The symptoms are familiar to any estates team. Zones that never reach setpoint while others overheat. Pumps running at full duty to achieve what they once managed at half. Strainers that block within weeks of being cleaned. Heat exchangers losing capacity season on season. Rising energy cost with no change in occupancy. Each of those is a symptom, not a diagnosis, and replacing plant on the strength of a symptom is how money gets spent without the problem going away.
ProMech delivers diagnostic led remediation across Northern Ireland, Dublin and London. We establish the cause before proposing the cure, and we correct systems rather than replace them wherever the asset still has life in it.
Our Process
- 1
Symptom capture and system review
We start with what the building is actually doing wrong: cold zones, short cycling, nuisance tripping, rising energy use. Then we review drawings, schematics and any commissioning records to understand what the system was designed to do in the first place.
- 2
Water sampling and analysis
Samples are drawn from representative points and analysed for suspended and dissolved iron, inhibitor concentration, pH, conductivity and microbiological activity. The chemistry tells you whether you are looking at corrosion, contamination, biological fouling or simple inhibitor depletion.
- 3
Thermal and flow diagnostics
Thermal imaging across emitters, coils and heat exchangers shows where heat is and is not reaching. Flow measurement at index and near circuits identifies whether the problem is blockage, balancing, or a pump no longer meeting duty.
- 4
Root cause report
Before anything is dosed or dismantled you get a written finding: what is wrong, what caused it, what happens if it is left, and what the correction involves. Remediation without diagnosis is guesswork that gets repeated.
- 5
Chemical clean and debris removal
Where fouling is confirmed, a cleaning programme matched to the system metallurgy is applied, circulated, monitored and then fully rinsed. Side stream filtration and magnetic separation capture what is mobilised so it leaves the system rather than settling somewhere new.
- 6
Mechanical correction
Blocked strainers, seized valves, air locks, failed automatic air vents, reversed differential pressure valves and cavitating pumps are corrected. Many underperforming systems are chemically fine and mechanically wrong.
- 7
Re dose, rebalance and verify
Inhibitor and biocide are brought back to specification, circuits rebalanced against design flow rates, and the system resampled to confirm stability rather than a temporary improvement.
- 8
Handover and ongoing sampling plan
You receive the before and after chemistry, the thermal evidence, the work carried out and a recommended monitoring interval so the system does not quietly drift back.
Common Faults We Find
Magnetite and corrosion debris
Black iron oxide loading in the water, fouling plate heat exchangers and blocking strainers. Usually a sign of oxygen ingress and inhibitor depletion rather than a one off event.
Inhibitor depletion
Corrosion protection consumed or diluted by repeated make up water. The system looks fine until the chemistry is tested, by which point corrosion has already started.
Air locking and poor venting
Trapped air in high points and emitters starving circuits of flow. Frequently misdiagnosed as an undersized pump, leading to replacements that do not fix it.
Hydraulic imbalance
Index circuits starved while near circuits over deliver. Common after alterations, extensions or fit outs where the original balance was never revisited.
Microbiological fouling
Bacterial and biofilm growth producing slimes that reduce heat transfer and accelerate under deposit corrosion, often alongside low or absent biocide.
Pump cavitation and wear
Damaged impellers and noisy operation caused by insufficient net positive suction head or debris, degrading flow well before the pump actually fails.
Standards & Compliance
- BSRIA BG 50/2021, water treatment for closed heating and cooling systems
- BS 8552, sampling and monitoring of water from building services systems
- CIBSE Guide M, maintenance engineering and management
- CIBSE Commissioning Code W, water distribution systems
- CDM 2015 site safety protocols
Industries We Serve
- Healthcare estates, live systems in occupied buildings
- Data centres, chilled water and condenser circuits
- Commercial offices, LTHW and chilled water
- Industrial sites, process and utility pipework