Owens Corning

Thermal insulation solutions for heat traced piping and equipment operating at above ambient temperatures.

Sometimes temperature maintenance can be accomplished by simply installing thermal insulation. In other cases, temperature maintenance must be provided by the addition of heat in the form of electrical heaters, steam tubes, or hydronic fluids.

The purpose of heat traced lines consists of achieving accurate temperature control of the line or equipment, despite the heat loss by introducing a heat source in the line. It can be necessary for process control, to avoid freezing of the liquid, or solidification of material that could result in problems. The heat can be delivered by electric tracing or by a tube carrying a high temperature fluid. Electric tracing is spirally wound or linear, i.e. parallel to the line. Tube tracings are usually linear. The heat traced lines must comply with the normal requirements corresponding to the applications and to the specific requirements of accurate temperature control.

Heat traced piping and equipment

FOAMGLAS® cellular glass insulation helps ensure that the temperature inside the pipes is controlled and isn’t impacted by outside influences, helping to achieve process control.

It’s important to prevent water or water vapor from entering the system. The tracers often cannot generate sufficient heat to drive the water from the system. Prolonged contact between the tracers (especially electrical versions) and water is dangerous. If water intrusion occurs and cannot be removed, solidification within the system becomes probable, since insulation efficiency has been impacted. This may result in the total loss of the system. For this reason, heat tracer pipes are often insulated with impermeable FOAMGLAS® cellular glass insulation. Using a closed cell insulation material will help to limit water or water vapor penetrating the system.

FOAMGLAS® insulation can be manually adapted on site, ordered with a prefabricated gutter, or an oversized dimension can be used that accounts for the extra space that the heat tracing takes up on the pipe.

Pipe with Terostat and electrical tracing