Heat Tracing Fire Sprinkler Systems Using Thermon Heat Trace

VMS Heat Tracing Supplies heat trace for fire sprinkler systems across New Zealand. These are especially needed in the South Island and the Central North Island where the water has the potential to freeze.

In the South Island it is becoming mandatory for water filled systems to have some form of frost protection on them.

Recently we supplied Thermon heat tracing for a fire sprinkler system in the Mount Cook region where the water was freezing in the piping and popping the sprinkler heads off. In this application we used the CSR-620 heat trace cable which is easy to use flexible, and has all accessories available off the shelf.

Heat tracing fire sprinklers usually requires a low watts output Thermon heat trace cable. Types of cable include the Thermon FLX which is a listed heat tracing cable for fire sprinkler systems. Another option is our CSR cable.

To apply this we run the heat trace cable parallel along the pipe. For larger pipes a small loop can be added to the sprinkler heads as these are typically not insulated. Some insulation should be added to the piping or any heat applied through heat tracing will escape to the atmosphere.

The heat trace should be controlled so that the cable is not on all the time wasting energy (money) and only runs as necessary. To control the heat trace you can either use an ambient sensing thermostat such as the Thermon (TC ambient) which will turn the heat tracing on when the outside temperature drops below freezing. Or you can use a pipe sensing thermostat

VMS heat tracing would typically recommend a pipe sensing thermostat (TC1-1-60CU) and this would maintain the pipe at a set temperature such as 5-10 degrees and this would be placed on the coldest area of the fire sprinkler system.

Normally there are multiple runs and this would mean switching the Thermon heat tracing circuits from contactors so that you only need to use one controller (rather than multiple controllers).

For more information call Vaughan Skiffington 021 401 444