Trace heating fault

[Boyler]

Hi, haven't had time to get out to test anything, but i've been shown a video of a safety emergency shower system at a remote station, which has trace heating applied to the pipework. When the shower was activated, red hot steam and water was produced before the cold water got through the pipework, and is therefore very dangerous. This must be a fault in the trace heating, but what kind? is there a short of some sort?

regards

 

[JFletcher]

Welcome to The Forum. It sounds to me like the heat Trace thermostat is bad.

 

[GoldDigger]

Welcome to The Forum. It sounds to me like the heat Trace thermostat is bad.

Or, if it is "self-regulating" semiconductor type trace, the tape is far too high a nominal wattage for the length and size of pipe involved.

 

[gadfly56]

I'd say JFletcher and GoldDigger have covered your options.

 

[DrSparks]

It's also possible that someone may have cut the wire shorter thus reducing the resistance of the entire run and increasing the wattage output

Sent from my A574BL using Tapatalk

 

[MrJLH]

Sounds like you may need a line sensing thermostat. You need to do some calculations to determine the maximum heat output for your tracing given your watts/ft on your heat trace. There is a program from Pentair called Trace Calc Pro. Plug in your site conditions and your pipe size and insulation thickness, and you may find your problem.

Not sure what the standard is in the UK, but we have a ANZI standard which defines the water as tepid which is between 60-100°F