Prevent Freezing Of Pipes And Maintain A Specific Material Temperature With The Help Of Heat Tracer

Heat tracer is primarily used to prevent freezing by keeping a liquid above 32 degrees (or whatever temperature necessary to keep the material flowing through the piping). It can be used to reduce viscosity of a fluid to allow for effective pumping. Heat trace may also be used to maintain a specific temperature for a material (process maintain). Other uses of heat tracer include compensation for heat loss, raising piping temperature to recover from outages, eliminate formation of liquids in gas or powder lines, and minimize the formation of solids in liquid pipes. As an example, cooling water lines usually have enough velocity to not freeze very often because there is enough flow through the line to prevent freezing. Steam lines have high potential to freeze because the condensation does not move. In a hot water application, lines maybe need to be kept warm so water does not have to be reheated for use in a process. Generally speaking, a freeze protection application is typically easier to engineer. A system to maintain a specific temperature to support a process is more critical and requires more complex engineering. 

Knowing the function of the trace is critical when selecting the type of trace, heat trace monitoring methods, and the control scenarios for the trace. Heat trace does not come in a one size fits all package. It is recommended that you consult with process designers and engineers that understand your process in order to size and design the heat trace system that is right for your needs.  There are multiple types of heat tracers, including steam trace and electric trace. Process lines, vessels, and tanks can be traced with either electric trace or steam trace. However, electric trace has become increasing popular over steam tracing for different reasons. Heat trace and insulation heat trace and insulation work hand in hand. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the insulation and the heat trace together as a system to determine the optimal combination. Too little insulation or the wrong type of insulation could result in a larger heat trace requirement and extra operating costs. Too much insulation may not generate the desired payback from saved operating costs. Tank and large vessel heating tank present unique challenges due to the size of the tank or vessel and potential for heat loss. Using electric trace requires multiple passes spaced equally (typically around 8” to 12”) on the lower 1/3 to ½ of the tank. Installing this trace is difficult and expensive. Further, once the tank is insulated, repairing or replacing a portion of the trace is both time consuming and expensive.