Professional Documents
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1 Traced Lines
The temperature of the process liquids being transferred through pipelines often must be
maintained to meet the requirements of a process, to prevent thickening and
solidification, or simply as an anti-frost measure. This is achieved by the use of jacketed
pipes; or by attaching to the product line one or more separate tracer lines carrying a
heating medium such as steam or hot water.
The steam usage may be relatively small but the tracing system is often a major part of
the steam installation, and the source of many of the problems. Many large users and
plant contractors have their own inhouse rules for tracer lines, but the following guide-
lines may be useful in other cases.
Where the product line is of a particular material to suit the fluid it is carrying, the
material for the tracer line must be chosen to avoid electrolytic corrosion at any contact
points.
For short runs of tracer, such as around short vertical pipes, or valves and fittings, small
bore copper pipes perhaps 6 mm (1/4") bore may be wound around the product lines as
in Figure 1.2. The layout should be arranged togive a continuous fall along the tracers as
in Figure 1.3 a rather than Figiure 1.3 b.
The tracer pipes can be literally wired on, but to maintain close contact it is better to use
either galvanised or stainless steel bands, about 15mm (1/2") wide and 1.25mm or
0.9mm (18 to 20 SEG) thickness. One very practical method is to use a packing case
banding machine. Where tracers are carried around bends particular care should be
taken to ensure that good contact is maintained by using three or more bands as in figure
1.4.
Where it is not possible to use bands as at valve bodies, soft annealed stainless steel wire
1.25mm (18SWG) thick is a useful alternative.
1.4 Welded Tracers
Where the temperature difference between the tracer and the product is low, the tracer
may be welded to the product line. This can be done either by short run welds as in
figure 1.5a or by a continuous weld as in figure 1.5b for maximum heat transfer.
Figure 1.5 Steam tracing elementary diagram
In these cases the tracer is sometimes laid along the top of the pipe rather than at the
bottom, which greatly simplifies the welding procedure.
1.5 Heat Conducting Paste
The product being carried in the line can be sensitive to temperature in some cases and it
is then important to avoid any local not spots on the pipe.
This is done by introducing a strip of insulating material between the tracer and the
product pipe using gals fibre or mineral wool or sometimes packing blocks of inert
material as distance pieces.
1.6 Insulation
The insulation must cover both the product line and the tracer but it is important that
the air space remains clear. This can be achieved in more than one ways.
1. The product line and tracer can first be wrapped with aluminum, foil, or by galvanized
steel sheet, held on by wiring and the insulation is then applied outside this sheet.
Alternatively, a small mesh galvanised wire netting can be used in the same way as metal
sheet figure 1.7a.
3. Preformed sectional insulation designed to cover both product line and tracer can be
used, as in figure 1.7C.
Remember that on some exposed sites, with an ambient still air temperature of say-18
deg. C (0 deg. F) the effect of a 24 km/h (15 mph) wind will be to lower the temperature
to an equivalent of-38 deg. C (36 deg. F).
Even 0 deg. C (32 deg. F) in still air can be lowered to an effective-16 deg. C (4 deg, F)
with a 30 km/h (20 mph) wind. Such circumstances which must be taken into full
consideration when studying the tracer line requirements. Most of the sizing of external
tracers is done by rule of thumb.
Rule of thumb practices are generally based on the experiences of a certain company on
a particular process and do not necessarily apply elsewhere. There are also widely
differing opinions on the layout: some say that multiple tracers should all be below the
centre line of the product line whilst other say with equal conviction that it is perfectly
satisfactory to space the tracers equally around the line.
Then there are those who will endeavour to size their tracers from 10 mm (3.8"), 15 mm
(1/2"), 20 mm (3/4") or 25mm (1") and even larger pipe: whilst another school of
thought says that as tracers have only minute contact with the product line it will give
much more even distribution of heat if all tracers are from15mm (1/2") pipe in multiples
to meet the requirements. This does have the added advantage of needing to hold a stock
of only one size of pipe and fittings rather than a variety of sizes.
Type A would suffice for most fuel oil requirements and would also meet the
requirement of those lines carrying acid, phenol, water and some other chemicals but in
some cases spacer tracing would be employed. The steam pressure is important and
must be chosen according to the product temperature required.
For Types A and B (Table 1.1) a steam pressure of 3.5 bar (50 psi) would generally be
suitable but for Type C higher pressure may be required.
Table 1.1 - Number of 15mm ½” tracers used with different product line
sizes
1.8 Jacketed Lines
Ideally jacketed lines should be constructed in no more than 6m, 20 ft lengths and the
condensate removed from each section.
Steam should enter at the highest end so that there is a natural fall to the condensate out
let.
Always avoid connecting solely through the bottom loop. This can only handle the
condensate and baulks the free of steam as.
It is generally considered preferable to fit one tracer on the bottom of the line as two
tracers at 30 Deg. as three tracers at 45 Deg.
The maximum permissible length of tracer will depend to some extent of the size and
initial steam pressure but following, Table 8.3, is a general guide.
Where it is essential to maintain the flow of heat to the product the tracer should be
taken up to the back of the flange and the coupling should always be on the centre line of
the flanged joint.
The same applies to an in line run where the tracer has to be jointed. This can be done in
two ways figure.
Notes :-
1. Provided A Slitted Spool Up Ward Or Down Ward The Branch On The Main Jacket.
2. Continuous weld Shall Be Done After Testing Or X-ray Of Process Line. If Required.
Each of these is preferable to which could produce a cold spot. Pumps shall be heated by
means of externally wrapping steam heating coils around the pump casing and sloping
continuously pump must be removable while the tracers supplying suction and discharge
piping remain intact.
In general, instruments shall be protected by separate tracers except for pressure gauges,
which may be protected by the pipeline of equipment tracer.
1.10 Expansion
Expansion in tracer lines is something which is often over looked. Naturally the steam
heated tracer will tend to expand more than the product line. Where the tracer has to
pass around flanges the bends are quite adequate to take care of the expansion.
But where this does not occur and there is a long run of uninterrupted tracer, it is
essential to provided for expansion which can be done by forming a complete loop.
1.11 Steam Distribution
It is important that the steam supply should always be taken from a source which is
continuously available even during a normal shut down period. All distribution or supply
lines should be installed at an elevation above the highest point of lines requiring steam
tracing, if possible the condensate – collection or return lines should be located at an
elevation low enough to permit gravity flow from all connected lines.
Tracer lines and jacketed pipe may have to work at any steam pressure (usually in the
range between 0.7 to 17 bar 10 to 250 psi) but always choose the lowest pressure to give
the required product temperature. Excessively high pressures cause much waste and
should only be used where a high product temperature is essential.
Note : It may be necessary to steam trace the valve body to stop the water freezing in the
diaphragm chamber.
A number of tracers can be supplied from one local distribution header. This header
should be adequately sized to meet the maximum load and drained at its low point by a
steam trap as. All branches should be taken off the top of this header, one branch to each
tracer line. These branches should be fitted with isolating valves.
The size of the header will, of course, depend upon the steam pressure and the total load
on the tracers but the following, Table – 1.4, is suggested as a general guide :
Even with multiple tracers on a single product line each tracer should be separately
trapped.
When branch tracers are taken to serve valves then each should be separately trapped.
1.13 Important – Getting Rid of the Muck
Pipes delivered to the site may contain mill scale, paint, preserving oils etc. and during
storage and erection will collect dirt, sand, weld splatter and other debris, so that on
completion the average tracer line contains considerable amount of ‘muck’.
Hydraulic testing will convert this ‘muck’ into a mobile sludge which is not adequately
washed out by simply draining down after testing.
It is most important that the lines are properly cleaned by blowing through with steam to
an open end before diverting to the steam traps.
Unless this is done the traps will almost certainly fail to operate correctly and more time
will be spent cleaning them out when the plant is commissioned. Almost any type of
steam trap could be used to drain tracer lines, but some lend themselves to this
application better than others. The trap should be physically small and light in weight,
and as they are often fitted in exposed positions they should be resistant to frost. The
temperature at which the condensate is discharged by the trap is perhaps the most
important consideration, in selection between types.
Thermodynamic traps are the simplest and most robust of all traps. They meet all the
above criteria and they discharge condensate at a temperature close to that of steam.
Thus they are especially suitable on those critical tracing applications where the holding
back of condensate in the tracer line until it has sub-cooled would be unacceptable.
Tracers or jackets on lines carrying sulphur or bitumen typify these applications where
the tracer must be at steam temperature along its whole length.
• In the above sample, the jacket elbow is a 3-piece mitre. Normally, jacketed elbow are
as follows :
Process Line : Long Radius (R=1.5D) E1bows
Jacket : Short Radius (R=D) Elbow/Mitre
Jacketed Piping
The old "spacer block" method was the best choice of the time to supply heat
transfer rates below the rates that could be provided by convection tracing. Varying
heat delivery requirements called for different spacing dimensions, and accuracy of
design in such a system was difficult at best. Although the old tracing systems were
not very sophisticated or efficient, they were made to work by the early pioneers in
the refining, chemical, pulp and paper and other industries.
One was to suspend a bare tracer above the pipeline and attempt to maintain an air
gap with spacer blocks. This system was problematic. The blocks were difficult to
keep in place during assembly and thus were tedious and time consuming to install.
They frequently slipped out of place in service because of the natural expansion and
contraction of the tracer tube. This system was plagued with unpredictable heat
transfer rates, hot spots, and high installation costs.