Pump for Snowmelt System

Jamie_4

I will be filling my first snowmelt job with Kryotec at a 40% solution (60 % water). I will premix it in 5 gallon buckets. I need roughly 10 gallons glycol and 12 gallons water. I was planning on buying a sump/utility pump 1/4 hp and placing it in the buckets. The tubing is installed roughly 10' above my planned fill point.

Does anyone have any better suggestions? And, will the 1/4 hp pump be able to charge this bad boy?

Thanks.
Paul

hr

Sure

should be easy to fill while the fluid is warm You may not have enough fizz to purge all the loops simultaneously depending on loop lengths, tube size, and number of circuits (pressure drop.) I use a small submersible Little Giant sump pump for small systems fills. A 1/2 hp well pump for mid size, and a pool pump for large or geo-thermal loops that have lots of tube.

Does your manifold have ball valves to allow one loop at a time to be filled and purged?

You need to get a fairly good initial purge, with the sump pump, before you fire up the system pump, especially with high head pumps, or you may cavitate and ruin the pump.

Make sure you use a good blend water with that glycol, check the hardness, at least. Hard water over say 8 grains will use up some of the inhibitor package in the glycol from the get go. The bucket, or manufactures lit or webpage, will give specs for the blend water. If the on site water is bad, consider buying DM (de-minerlized) water, or buying glycol that comes diluted from the manufacture.

A glycol "pig" or fill system is another good idea as the system will burp some additional air when she fires for the first time. Some oversize the expansion tank for this purpose or build a small fill tank for temporary use.

Make sure the boiler has a low water cutoff and DO NOT connect any glycoled system to a fill valve with the potential of diluting the glycol!

Check the glycol yearly, protection rate and ph at least.

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Brad White_2

Have you tried

Axiom Industries? (www.axiomind.com) They are a Canadian firm that makes nice but not inexpensive automatic feeders with tanks ranging from 6 gallons, 17 gallons and up. What I like about them is that you set them and forget them. Good for topping off, limiting spills in a leak situation and with accessories, alarming if there is an unplanned drop in system pressure. They are not good for purging (low flow rate) so maybe this does not help you. But for injection, trimming and topping off, they are the way to go IMHO.