Thanks for the replies.
What causes an ice plug to form at the warm to cold interface of a mechanical system?
Is it moisture or oxygen that causes the condensation to form, or is it both?
Is a dry air pack that dries the air as good as a system that dries the air but also filters out the oxygen...
The nitrogen generator produces up to 99% purity of nitrogen, N2, from a compressed air source and supplies the nitrogen into the dry fire protection sprinkler system; additionally the generator is equiped with filter kits and dryers to dry the air before it enters into the system.
The nitrogen...
I believe the concept is that if you can eliminate oxygen from the piping system, you can prevent condensation from forming and dramatically reducing the chances of an ice plug forming in cold storage applications.
In another application in fire protection, by eliminating the oxygen in the...
Dear Inspectorx2: Thanks for the repsonse. We have been using nitrogen generators in fire protection successfully for some time. When you say listed for use for fire protection, who's listing would you be referring to? I assume UL? The generators themselves do not carry a UL Approval but they...
Dear FFP1: Thank you for taking the time to explain this problem in detail. It was exactly the info that I was looking for. I am trying to determine if nitrogen and specifically, a nitorgen generator could be a potential solution to this problem and your explanation was very helpful.
Many people...
Guys: I am told that the "easily removed pieces of pipe" section is very rarely used by fire protection contractors although you can easily see why it should. If there is no visual inspection of an ice plug, will there be differential pressure between the two air gauges that would indicate a...
Two last questions concerning ice plugs if possible:
1. Are the majority of ice plugs in cold storage applications seen at the interface of the cold/warm temperature or are they seen primarily at the drum drip location?
2. When there is an ice plug present, is there a drop in pressure that would...
I have received two very insightful responses to my question concerning the use of nitrogen in dry systems protection cold storgae applications. I am wondering if we can answer one more?
I have been told that if nitorgen is used as the supervisory pressure as opposed to air, that the nitrogen...
Travis: Thank you for the response. I will check with NFPA 13 as I find it difficult to understand how contractors or AHJ's can ignore this possibility.
We have seen fairly large usage of nitrogen as a response to corrosion issues in fire protection systems. With the elimination of oxygen, the corrosion process is inhibited.
I am wondering about ice plugs in cold storage applications. I have come to find that these dry systems protecting cold...
We distribute nitrogen generators that filter the oxygen out of air to leave nitrogen present as a supervisory pressure for dry fire protection systems. The main market for this product is the prevention of corrosion in dry fire protection systems. There may be an important market we are missing...
