Glycol Line Material

[Nate-O]

Calling all MA brewers!

I was talking with a plumber who I've worked with at a previous job. He told me that there's a new regulation in the commercial code for process piping that states that due to fire codes, etc. that PVC or ABS are no longer allowed in the plumbing of a glycol system. Is there any truth to this? Any advice, links, etc., would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Ted Briggs]

Sounds like he wants to sell you a lot of copper. Id call the township/county myself and check on this- Ive never heard of it.

[beerguy1]

Installing schedule 40 right now PVC. I think he wants a new motorcycle

[DowneastCider]

Schedule 40 PVC is a bad idea. Schedule 80 is supposed to be better with the cold temps (even though it is not rated for below 40 F). We had a schedule 40 fitting crack on us and drain the glycol reservoir overnight. It was on a stainless threaded nipple so that also did not help. But the rest of our schedule 80 piping has had 0 leaks in close to 3 years of use.

If you do a search on probrewer I think you will find some others that have had issues with schedule 40.

And as for the original topic of this thread, I never heard about this but it has been almost 3 years since our plumber installed the original glycol lines. I assume you can call the inspector and ask. Although I seem to recall not needing to a permit or inspections for the glycol since it is process piping and not connected to the city water in any way.

[BDL]

From MA, currently working on a major build out and have definitely never heard of any such thing. Not to say he's definitely wrong, but I'd call the city and ask the building inspector about that.

Also I recommend against using PVC as a glycol process pipe, especially sched 40. Propylene Glycol in the concentrations and purity generally used in breweries, can chemically change the PVC causing it to become brittle over time. I have seen PVC manifolds rupture from glycol exposure... more then once. The potential cost of losing all of that glycol in the event of a failure (not to mention down time, clean up, and emergency repair) far outweighs the potential cost savings of PVC to me. Additionally if you use solenoid valves to control glycol flow to your tanks I've seen PVC start to chip and flake internal clogging up the solenoid, leading to tanks crashing early and potential lost product. I worked at a place with PVC just as the header, had been in place for about 12 years, with 40 tanks, and I was opening up and cleaning out a solenoid a week. Serious pain in the ass. Until it ruptured... for the second time. Fortunately we were in the process of moving to a new facility anyways.

Good luck, I sure hope you're plumber is wrong, we are hoping to move forward with a pre-insulated ABS system, would hate to hear that we'd have to do copper...

[TGTimm]

Not knowing what the codes are in MA are, this could be true. Still sounds ridiculous to me.

But don't ask a plumber--ask a local refrigeration systems expert. Or maybe a food processing engineer.

[Nate-O]

Thanks for your replies, everyone. After doing some more research, we are in the clear to use ABS for our glycol lines.

[ChesterBrew]

Insulated PEX may also be an option... if I had to do our install again I'd seriously consider it.

[Nate-O]

That's one thing we're looking at; using ABS as our main glycol line and insulated PEX on the drops to the tanks.

Not knowing what the codes are in MA are, this could be true. Still sounds ridiculous to me.

But don't ask a plumber--ask a local refrigeration systems expert. Or maybe a food processing engineer.

Insulated PEX may also be an option... if I had to do our install again I'd seriously consider it.

[Homesteader82]

ABS follow up

Did you go with ABS? Nobody seems to carry ABS for any pressure or have any idea about using it for glycol.

Calling all MA brewers!

I was talking with a plumber who I've worked with at a previous job. He told me that there's a new regulation in the commercial code for process piping that states that due to fire codes, etc. that PVC or ABS are no longer allowed in the plumbing of a glycol system. Is there any truth to this? Any advice, links, etc., would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!