DirtMag ?

SV9_9

Does any one happen to know the pull strength of the magnets that are held in the plastic collar of a DirtMag dirt separator?

hot_rod

https://www.caleffi.com/sites/default/files/file/01240_en_1.pdf

Here is the technical info. Also the design of the separator itself has a lot to do with the magnetic particle removal, not just the power of the magnets. The flow test data and particle removal testing tells the story.

SV9_9

Thanks for the link hot rod.

bob eck

Hot Rod are they now making a 1 1/4” dirt magnet? What is the GPM flow rate through the 1 1/4” size unit?

hot_rod

The composite body goes to 1", 10 gpm,
brass to 2" welded steel 2-14"

1-1/4 brass is rated to 15 gpm, a whopping 56Cv

SV9_9

Hot Rod, I understand your point about the DirtMag overall design. However I would still like to know the pull strength of the magnets. I don't see any spec for the magnets in the Caleffi tech docs.
Thanks J

hot_rod

Which rating are you looking for, quite a bit of science in magnets and selection.
https://www.kjmagnetics.com/glossary.asp

SV9_9

"Pull force", about two thirds of the way down in the glossary. I am not trying to get any proprietary info. I am just curious.

hot_rod

The term I see thrown around in mag separation products is gauss.

Reading through that magnet data you see it in more involved than just the strength of the magnet, I'll try and find out more.

Maybe the less effective designs tend to overcome performance shortfalls by throwing more "horsepower" at the problem.

Effective dirt or particulate removal has a lot to do with fluid speed, aka velocity, usually shown in FPS. We test at 2 and 4 fps and 50 passages.

So the size and design of the vessel or chamber is one of the important components, slow the fluid and you have a better chance to grab air and or dirt.

Drive the fluid through an engineered collision media and you get more opportunity to remove particles.

Any well designed media type hydronic separator should be able to remove down to a 5 micron particle, about the thickness of human hair.

The addition of the magnets improves particle removal down to .05 which is a particle size you might expect to see in system with magnetite.

Magnetite presents as inky colored water when drained from a system, tough to even realize there are particles in the fluid.

SV9_9

Thanks Hot Rod.

hot_rod

As I suspected, engineering does not release the data on the magnets.

Keep in mind, large amounts of magnetite in a system need to be flushed out when it is determined you are slugged up. Contractors have flushed gallons and gallons of magnetite from old non-barrier tube systems. Talk to Richard "Heatmeister" out in Colorado, this is his speciality. He flushes into a55 gallon drum on some jobs!

The mag seps added to a new or retro fit job should be to protect against any random amounts the could develop and cause problems with ECM type circs. A few return trips after installation will indicate how much or how little work it has to do.

If you know the system has non barrier tube, or a constant leak causing fresh oxygenated fill water, that needs to be addressed. But not with a mag sep. Flush and separate that system with a plate HX and all non-ferrous components.

It may take something like a carwash pump to blast out a slugged system, possibly hours or days. Richard has walked away from some loops that were plugged solid, like black concrete in the tube.

I think there may be some over kill in the amount or strength of the magnets in some brands of mag seps.

Some look like they could hang off a crane at the scrap yard with the amount of magnets they use. It may pull magnetite from the neighbors system

It's not about the strength, but how you the magnetic field and design the media and chamber.

SV9_9

I don't think I have a big problem with magnetite. All that is left of the original system are the CI rads. Thanks for your response.

BigRob

We installed a the Caleffi SEP4 in our system and it pulled out a lot of crud - happy with the purchase.