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Quotes - Engineering - SalesHot Water & Glycol Heating
Closed Loop Liquid Heating
Hot water and glycol loops isolate a process from a primary heat source, carry freeze protection into equipment exposed to ambient, and distribute heat around a plant from one central source.
Glycol is not water with antifreeze in it. It is more viscous, less conductive and has lower specific heat. All three work against you at once, and a loop converted from water to glycol without resizing will fall short of duty by more than most people expect.
Size for the cold start. Glycol viscosity rises steeply as temperature falls. A loop comfortably turbulent at operating temperature can be laminar on a cold morning, and once flow goes laminar the coefficient collapses.
Concentration costs performance. Every point of glycol above what the freeze protection needs costs heat transfer and pumping power. Set it to the protection temperature you actually require and monitor it, because it drifts with make-up.
Common FAQs
Enough to matter. A fifty percent solution has substantially higher viscosity and lower conductivity than water, reducing the film coefficient and raising pressure drop simultaneously. An exchanger sized for water will not make its duty on glycol.
Propylene wherever food or potable contact is possible, since it is far less toxic. Ethylene otherwise, because it is less viscous and performs better thermally at equal concentration.
Almost always oxygen ingress and an exhausted inhibitor package, producing corrosion products that deposit on the plates. A properly sealed and treated loop should stay clean for years.
In a well-treated closed loop, often not necessary. Where treatment is unreliable or the loop is opened frequently, stainless is the safer purchase.
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