This paper presents an approach to isolate flow meter faults in building central chilling systems. It mathematically explains the fault collinearity among the flow meters in central chilling systems and points out that the sensor validation index (SVI) used in principal component analysis (PCA) is incapable of isolating flow meter faults due to the fault collinearity. The wavelet transform is used to isolate the flow meter faults as a substitute for the SVI of PCA. This approach can identify various variations in measuring signals, such as ramp, step, discontinuity etc., due to the good property of the wavelet in local time-frequency. Some examples are given to demonstrate its ability of fault isolation for the flow meters. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.