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Glycol Piping Wall Mount Behind or Overhead

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  • Glycol Piping Wall Mount Behind or Overhead

    Our FVs will be installed against the wall. We are self installing Coolfit and looking to Dave on install and to make it easier to install. We are going to be in a new building with 20' ceilings and the wall is concrete masonry units 12' up then switches to drywall to the ceiling.

    We are wondering if we could install the glycol headers behind the tanks on the concrete wall. This would be lower than the tank height.

    We are starting with 10 BBL vessels, but hope to up size in the future.

    Are we going to cause problems now or in the future to put the headers behind the tanks?


    Thank you

    Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

  • #2
    As long as you have easy access for future work, you should be fine.
    Timm Turrentine

    Brewerywright,
    Terminal Gravity Brewing,
    Enterprise. Oregon.

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    • #3
      think about air bubbles.

      if you run your header lines above where the top jacket outlets are, then the air bubbles will tend to migrate up. You need to have a strategy to bleed the headers of air, but it is easier to do than individual jackets.

      if they are below and go up into the jackets then there is the possibility you will have an air pocket in the jacket and it may not work properly.

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      • #4
        use uni-strut and hang above - header needs to be above the tanks. Also "against the wall" Keep a minimum of 18" between tanks and walls so you can work on them and clean behind them. 24"+ is better.
        Brewmaster, Minocqua Brewing Company
        tbriggs@minocquabrewingcompany.com
        "Your results may vary"

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        • #5
          Good answers- both critical points have been made already- allow service access to the piping and try to avoid trapping air within the system.

          Generally we see, and suggest, the glycol headers are located at point above the highest cooling jacket, if they are installed at height below the highest jacket, the concern (mentioned previously) is that you could trap air in the system causing a loss of heat exchange and flow issues. To prevent air getting trapped within the glycol loop, air bleeds should be installed at the highest points, with having your headers mounted behind the tanks, at point lower than your tank jackets, may require additional air bleeds than is required with a single header located at the high spot.

          Keep in mind that once all air is purged from your loop, its difficult for air to be reintroduced- so the key is getting the air purged initially from the system.

          We have had customers fighting an inefficient, or inconsistent, cooling on a few specific vessels for extended periods of time- only to find that an air pocket had been entrapped within the jacket (could be just one of three jackets in a vessel) from the time it was installed. I've actually carefully opened up threaded pipe unions located at high points in a system, with the process pump running, and was able to vent off air from the system resulting in almost immediate increase in heat exchange.

          Hope this helps, and good luck with your project.

          Jim

          Jim VanderGiessen, CEO
          Pro Chiller Systems
          jimvgjr@prorefrigeration.com
          prochiller.com

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          • #6
            I have seen successful wall headers in breweries before. The secret is to plumb the header drops from the bottom side and lay the header with an 1/8-1/4 bubble slope. If the outlet is plumbed down (TTTT) then any air bubbles have a hard time finding their way to tank jackets. They run the header and get bled at the chiller.

            I still prefer a ceiling installation myself.

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