Hydronic Equip. Piping Hook-up Rules of Thumb

[tvcad]

Looking for logic behind the ORDER of piping hook-ups to centrifugal pumps, chillers, heat exchangers, towers, etc., to name a few. I've seen many diverse configurations, which leads me to think; A: It doesn't really matter or B: Many get it wrong...

Talking about reducers, flex, thermometers, gauges, test wells, pressure and flow switches, elbows, valves, etc.

Ex's(not inclusive): Flex at pump, then reducer? Why? Or is it better to get to system size right away? Why?
Elbows before or after reducers? Why?
Should isolation valves be on the equipment or system side of accessories? Upstream or downstream? Why?

Only looking for fundamentals, from the perspective of design AND maintenance, and reasons for them.

 

[Shmulik]

Hi,
I would suggest you look over the “Piping Guide” by David R. Sherwood and Dennis J. Whistance (published by Syentek Inc.)
To my opinion – any designer of pipe systems should own this book.

 

[TBP]

Bell & Gossett has some very good information specifically on building heating/cooling piping and system components.

http://www.bellogssett.com/

Most piping systems have the same blessing/curse. It's pretty hard to go so far wrong that the system flat-out won't work at all. It's also not difficult to design & install a system that kinda-sorta works...most of the time. Then you're stuck with band-aids, attempting to deal with symptoms, rather than solutions that correct the root cause of problems. The problems can almost always be identified, and corrective action outlined. However, these retro-fits are often very expensive & disruptive, and the most common response tends to be "We can't afford to do THAT!"

It's always SO-O-O much easier and cheaper to do it right the first time.