Heating/cooling jacket air elimination

[CheemaJ]

Hi,

I've two jacketed pressure vessels which are serviced by both cooling water and low pressure steam. There is a compressed air blowdown inbetween cooling/heating duties.

I need to be able to eliminate air from the jacket when heating and cooling.

At the moment there is a thermostatic air eliminator which works well when the jacket is on steam. This type of eliminator does not work with cooling water however and water ends up being discharged constantly.

The obvious solution is to install a valve between the device and the jacket, which opens during steaming only.

I wouldn't have thought air would be a problem when cooling water is being cycled as this would be pushed out to the return leg under positive pressure, does this make sense?

The nozzle is located at the top of the jacket.

Thanks

 

[quark]

Thermostatic Traps are good for venting air even in chilled/cooling water applications. I have been using them in headers. You can get rid of air in limpets, to some extent, but can be a problem in full jackets. Flowing water can't get rid of air itself. Alternately, once you start circulating water, stop the pump after sometime and vent air manually. Then it will be ok.