Your Glycol Checkup: What to Check and Why it Matters

Do you remember the last time you gave your glycol systems a checkup?

Glycol is a vital piece of the manufacturing puzzle as it works both as a heat transfer fluid and a crucial tool to provide freeze and burst protection, preventing damage to your equipment.

Glycol can be used in a variety of applications including single fluid heating and cooling, closed loop water-based HVAC systems, heat recovery systems, and the winterization of water systems. They are essential for the production and operations of vehicles, breweries, storage units, ice rinks, and other crucial facets of daily life.

But it is not enough to simply install and then leave your glycol systems to sit, you must maintain regular testing and maintenance to ensure continued high-quality performance. One way to do this is by implementing checkups to test the fluid, pH, corrosion inhibitors, and concentration of your system.

How Often Should You Check Your Glycol Systems

Because of their unique vulnerabilities, glycol filled systems must be regularly tested to verify that the fluid quality is still sufficient to provide effective protection against both freezing and corrosion. We recommend two levels of testing to get the most effective results.

Basic Screening

Basic screening is helpful to pre-screen competitively treated systems and verify basic system conditions. It takes only minutes to perform this testing criterion but it will allow you to determine if rapid action is required to protect your operations. We recommend performing this screening every three months to ensure your process is uninterrupted by issues like freezing and corrosion.

One way to determine if the system has an appropriate amount of glycol is by using a refractometer. This tool can analyze the glycol concentration which can be compared to the desired freeze point target.

KEY INSIGHT: A refractometer is an instrument for determining the refractive index of a substance. The refractive index is a measure of how much light bends, or refracts, when it passes from one transparent medium to another.

Full Fluid Analysis

This more in-depth method of checking your glycol system quantifies the glycol strength as well as the levels of pH buffers, corrosion inhibitors, contaminants, and dissolved/dispersed metals. After receiving the results of the screening, adjustments and changes will need to be made to correct the out of bound numbers. Similarly to the basic screening, this analysis should be conducted every three months.

Out of Range Results

When you perform these tests and screenings, you might get results that fall out of the recommended range. When this happens, it is important to take the proper steps to remedy it.

For the basic screening, use the chart above to learn the recommended ranges of the various physical properties of your glycol. If the product falls within recommended ranges, no further action is required. If the results fall outside of the recommended ranges, your lab should receive a sample to perform a complete analysis and give remediation suggestions. Results that are significantly outside of the range should lead to a longer-term solution to address the issues in the system.

For the results of the full fluid analysis screening, there are several issues you may find in your reporting that you should be looking out for. Use the chart below to determine how to proceed when you run into out-of-range figures.

Conclusion

To keep your glycol system and other parts of your production in excellent condition, regular checking and maintenance of the system is a necessity. Not doing so can result in production slowdown, damaged equipment, and even full system shutdown. Full evaluation of your glycol system and processes, including a basic screening and full fluid analysis, should be conducted every quarter.