A liquid system has a safety advantage over a system filled with a gas, or a
liquid that will easily flash to vapor if there's a leak.
A hot liquid that stays liquid when pressure is let off will only spurt through
a leak for a short time as the pressure drops. It may spray into a mist but it
won't (as easily) fill a large volume with scalding hot material. (If it's
flammable when sprayed into a mist in air and there's an ignition source, then
you have a bigger problem.)
Pressurized hot water will flash to steam (dry steam if it's hot enough) and
will keep going until the whole system is emptied, and the burning hot steam
will fill the whole room.
That's why pressure systems for air or other gasses or hot water get hydro
tested at low temperatures, to pressures higher than they'll experience under
normal operation. If something breaks, it spurts for a short time. If it's a
large break, it spews a lot of water but it's over quickly.
Pump it up to failure with a gas or heated water and it explodes with shrapnel
and possible injuries and deaths.
From: andy pugh <[email protected]>
To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 8, 2017 1:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] OT: Need some guidance on high temp/pressure water
circuit
On 8 February 2017 at 19:45, Jim Craig <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dowtherm is used in thermal solar power plants.
That sounds a lot less trouble than my molten salt idea. Those are
super-stable at high temp (and relatively inexpensive) but if allowed
to freeze would be very troublesome.
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