15 Years of Trouble Free Flow Measurement

UK based Flowhire are, as the name suggests, specialists in flow measurement rental services for liquids, steam and gas. They support process industries as diverse as oil and gas, paper and pulp, brewing and engine development with a wide range of equipment, from mag flow meters through to more complex vortex and Coriolis installations. They also maintain a fleet of sixteen non-invasive Katronic clamp-on portable ultrasonic flow meters.

Flowhire director Matt Bancroft recalls meeting Katronic MD Andrew Sutton at a Flow Day in the early 2000’s; “We talked about the benefits of introducing a new range of ultrasonic clamp on meters, and following that chat we started looking seriously at Katronic equipment.” Flowhire bought their first KATFlow unit in 2003. Bancroft went on, “We have Katronic flowmeters that have racked up 150 hires and over 200 weeks of service. The control units and transducers are both very robust. We’ve continued to add to the fleet, and the only failure we’ve ever had was the one that was dropped from an oil rig into the North Sea. I think we can forgive that one!”

For Flowhire, though, the robust reliability of Katronic systems is only part of the story. According to Matt Bancroft, “We have a fleet of around 450 flow meters here, and they are being supplied to a vast range of sites with a real mix of experience. Where Katronic flowmeters really score is the straightforward and intuitive set up.” Flowhire take a consultative approach to their business, and have a permanent calibration rig to check pre-configured equipment before it is sent out.

KATFlow 200 hand-held flowmeters form the majority of the fleet, but they also supply KATFlow 230, which allow two transducers to be connected, and KATFlow 210 for remote applications needing an extended battery life. An interesting application for a twin transducer system is in HVAC and Facilities Management, where flow and return within a heating system is logged along with temperature to measure heat used and help optimise energy usage.