The summer holiday
is a time for students and teachers to relax but if you are responsible for
managing the school then it can actually be the busiest part of the year.
It is
important to get the school completely prepared for when the new term begins
and the whole academic year starts again. You might need to complete safety
checks, test security systems, and complete jobs that cannot be completed
during term time. Amongst other things, you might want to think about what
heating and freeze protection systems you have in place.
Although the
summer has only just begun, you should prepare your building for the winter months
in advance to avoid the hassle of having to close your school due to safety, and
parents becoming annoyed by the costs ensued from childcare.
At Cross
Electrical we specialise in trace
heating systems which are designed to prevent pipes from becoming frozen
during the winter by reducing the amount of heat that they lose via their surface.
Electrical trace heating is a method of raising the temperatures of pipes in a
freezing climate so that water inside them does not freeze.
It is a safe
and maintenance-free system; once it has been put in place you no longer need
to worry about pipes freezing during the winter.
In addition
to preventing pipes from freezing, trace heating can also be used to maintain a
constant
temperature in hot water systems. It is particularly useful for containing substances
that would otherwise solidify in ambient temperatures.
A thermostat
is usually used to boost heat if a substance within a pipe falls below or rises
above certain temperatures, these temperatures are referred to as the
“setpoints”.
Heat tracing
cables can be situated on the roof of a building or in the gutters during the
winter to melt any ice that builds up there. When tracing cables are put into
gutters it does not mean that no ice occurs in the gutter at all. Instead the aim
is to provide a path for melted water to fall from the roof and down the
piping.
Combining
trace heating with the right thermal insulation creates a balance whereby the
heat output from the trace heating matches the heat loss from the pipe so that
a perfect, consistent temperature is maintained.
This type of
piping is used in many industrial applications such as oil refineries or food
factories where a certain material solidifies below 50◦C for example, which is much hotter
than the surrounding air. The pipeline must have additional external heating to
prevent the pipe and what it is carrying from cooling down – which is where
trace heating comes in.
Essentially
trace heating is a cost-efficient, reliable method of preventing ice from
harming a building. If you would like to find out more about the trace heating
systems and other methods of protecting your building from extreme weather
condition, contact us on 01159 375 121 or make
an enquiry via our website.
