Ice building insulation issues

[fazerman]

I was wondering if anyone has had this problem before....my pipe insulation for my chilled water system continues to show water stains & even leak in certain area's. Keep in mind my chilled water temp gets down to 29 degrees when building ice. Anyone have any ideas or remeadies for this, all this piping was insulated by a commercial contractor 7 years ago, is there a better way....

Thanks

Dan

:toetap:

[Shophound]

I was wondering if anyone has had this problem before....my pipe insulation for my chilled water system continues to show water stains & even leak in certain area's. Keep in mind my chilled water temp gets down to 29 degrees when building ice. Anyone have any ideas or remeadies for this, all this piping was insulated by a commercial contractor 7 years ago, is there a better way....

Thanks

Dan

:toetap:

Look for any fittings on the piping that emerge from the insulation that are either thinly insulated, or not insulated at all. Pipe hangers, valves, strainers, Pete's plugs, gauge stems, etc...they can all sweat and lead to water appearing elsewhere on the insulation, causing you to think the insulation itself has a problem.

[flange]

do you have open or closed cell insulation? open cell will allow tremendous condensation running that cold. for ice rinks running 15 degrees leaving we use only closed cell with no drippies. open cell is fiberglass or equivalent, closed is armaflex or other more expensive similiar products

[fazerman]

The entire loop is insulated with fiberglass, I think the problem is in the summer I am not able to build much ice due to high ambient temps, unfortunitly the are trying to cool a two story building as well as a few server rooms...the system tries to build ice for 10 to 12 hours a night..
Thanks for all the input

[flange]

yup, you are condensing inside the insulation.