Forensic Engineers and Consultants

Tag Archive: freeze failure

  1. How Long Before the Pipes Freeze?

    Leave a Comment

    An unexpected severe winter freeze will remind many people and businesses that when water in a pipe freezes, the ice will expand and burst the pipe or pipe fitting.  Large losses will result from flooding when the temperatures rise.  Insulation will help, but not prevent freezing.  Insulation simply slows down the rate of heat loss.  The time of exposure to subfreezing temperature is an important factor.

    The American Society of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Handbook of Fundamentals has a short entry on the topic (Chapter 23, page 23.5-6), which gives an equation for estimating the time that it will take an insulated pipe to freeze, (more…)

  2. Heat Exchanger Failures Will Shut Your Process Down

    Leave a Comment

    Heat exchangers, as the name implies, are used to bring a process stream to a desired temperature.  They can heat or cool either gases or liquids. They are fairly intricate in their construction, therefore not the cheapest piece of equipment to purchase.  For that reason, facilities don’t keep “spare” exchangers lying around, so when they fail catastrophically, the entire manufacturing process goes down with them… and stays down until they are fixed or replaced. Ow!

    (more…)

  3. How Long Before The Pipes Freeze?

    Leave a Comment

    The unusually severe 2014 winter in the eastern United States has reminded many people and businesses that when water in a pipe freezes, the ice will expand and burst the pipe or pipe fitting.  Large losses will result from flooding when the temperatures rise.  Insulation will help, but not prevent freezing.  Insulation simply slows down the rate of heat loss.  The time of exposure to subfreezing temperature is an important factor. (more…)

Type ofLoss

Not sure what you're looking for?
Browse All

Select Loss Category
Select Sub-Category (choose category first)
View Now