Electrical Heat Tracing
A system for maintaining or raising the temperature of pipes and vessels is known as electric heat tracing, heat tape, or surface heating. To offer trace heating, an electrical heating element is run in physical contact down the length of a pipe. To prevent heat loss from the pipe, it must be wrapped with thermal insulation. The pipe's temperature is then maintained by the heat created by the element. Electrical trace heating is the best option to keep pipes away from freezing, by providing a constant set temperature for piping that transports compounds that generally freezes at room temperature. Wherever steam is unavailable or undesirable, electric trace heating wires is an alternative to steam trace heating.
Types of Heat Tracing Systems
Heat tracing can be done in a variety of ways, including with electricity, steam, glycol, and even hot oil. The bulk of applications, however, require either electric or steam tracing.
Electrical heat tracing is a technique that uses electrical heating cables that are attached to the product pipe or the surface of the equipment. The resistive type heater is used in the majority of commercial electric heat tracing systems, and heat is produced in proportion to the square of the current (I) and the resistance (R) of the components (I2R). Impedance, induction, and skin conduction effects are used in other specialised electric tracing systems to generate and transport heat.
Steam tracing is attached to a carbon steel, copper or stainless steel tubing containing low pressure saturated steam to the product pipe. The two pipes are then insulated and, if necessary, jacketed. For winterization or instrumentation tracing, the tracer tube diameter ranges from 14 to 12 inches, and for process pipe tracing, it ranges from 3/8 to 1 inch.
Other possibilities include
1) cemented steam tracing, which employs conductive cement cased over steam tracer tubes, and
2) The condensate produced is extracted at strategic positions using energy efficient steam traps and returned to the boiler in all of these ways (steam generator).
Electric or Steam Heat Tracing
The initial investment in equipment, installation, and operating costs are the most important factors in selecting whether to use steam or electric tracing. These expenses are determined by factors such as energy supply availability and reliability, labour prices, and local tracing practises. Generally speaking: Steam tracing is commonly employed in factories where steam is readily available as a by-product of condensation ("flash"), or where steam is created from waste heat, or where surplus capacity must be used or lost. In such conditions, the motivation to use steam will be strong. It's unlikely that anyone would invest in a steam boiler and related equipment only for the purpose of heat tracing.
Electric tracing is easier to install and provides superior temperature control and energy efficiency. Because no auxiliary equipment is required, the overall operating costs are limited to the cost of electricity for the electric heat tracing and control system. When contemplating its use, however, the power's reliability for uninterrupted transmission, accessible voltages, and the repercussions of outages must all be considered.