source: grainger.com

To answer the question of “why is a freeze protection valve needed”, We should see the arise problems without a freeze protection valve. One of the common problems is when the valve system suddenly freezes due to low temperature; when this happens, you might need a couple of hours and maybe days to solve the problem, depending on how wide the affected areas are involved. The frozen valve is caused by the Joule-Thomson effect, where the temperature decreases by 6 to 8 degrees. It is commonly happening in the factory, and when this happens, it is usually followed by downtime production, which is quite significant, which means that it will be hard to reach your daily target production when the problem occurs. 

Visible Signs Of Frozen Valve

You can see visible signs when the valve gets freezing. It is not hard to determine if the valve works appropriately because the frozen valve is usually covered with a thin layer of icy coating around the valve. It is really important to deal with the problem as soon as possible, so the downtime won’t worsen during production. It is why the Freeze Protection valve needs to be applied because no one wants to deal with the same problem repeatedly, as it will only waste your production time. 

A Common Practice To Deal With The Problem

To prevent the problem, the Freeze Protection valve is usually installed to maintain good performance and avoid any possible downtime which is caused by the frozen valve. The task of the protection valve is to maintain the temperature of the valve to avoid the freezing point. Several ways are commonly applied by the factory to control the valve temperature by applying insulation and heat tape, but this kind of approach is not the best solution to deal with the freezing valve because it is messy as well as difficult to deal with, especially when the valve maintenance is needed. Another type of Freeze Protection valve that is common is by injecting methanol; although this approach might seem efficient compared to the heated tape, the price for this treatment is quite expensive; you need to spend a lot of money to make this work. 

However, both heated strap and methanol injection is not the only solutions to deal with the frozen valve; modern technology has made it possible to find a more alternative solution that is more efficient and cost-friendly for the factory. Choosing the right valve product is still the best way to maintain your production time, as the products are guaranteed to perform better than the common valve. Some of them are equipped with a heating system so the temperature on the valve will be stable during the entire production time. Choosing the right valve is recommended to anticipate a freezing problem, as they are all well-equipped with other supporting devices; it is also available in many forms and functions, so you can choose the one you need for your factory.