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Calculating Water Expansion Tanks
Water expansion volume in open, closed and diaphragm expansion tanks
Expansion tanks are required in heating, cooling or air condition system to avoid unacceptable increases of system pressures when water expands during heatup.
Explosive Power of Superheated Water
1 lb (0.45 kg) of nitroglycerin > 2 000 000 ft lbf (2 700 000 J)
1 lb (0.45 kg) of water flashed into steam > 750 000 ft lbf (100 000 J)
Expansion tanks are in general designed as
open tanks
closed compression tanks
diaphragm tanks
Net expansion volume of water when heated can be expressed as
Vnet = (v1 / v0) 1 (1)
Vnet = expansion volume of water (ft 3, m3)
v0 = specific volume of water at initial (cold) temperature (ft 3/lb, m3/kg)
v1 = specific volume of water at operating (hot) temperature (ft 3/lb, m3/kg)
Open Expansion Tanks
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Required volume of an open expansion tank can be expressed as
Vet = k Vw [(v1 / v0) 1] (2)
Vet = required expansion tank volume (gallon, liter)
k = safety factor (approximately 2 is common)
Vw = water volume in the system (gallon, liter)
v0 = specific volume of water at initial (cold) temperature (ft 3/lb, m3/kg)
v1 = specific volume of water at operating (hot) temperature (ft 3/lb, m3/kg)
Note that in an open expansion tank fresh air is constantly absorbed in the water and tends to corrode the system. Open expansion tanks must also be located above
the highest heating element, in general on the top of buildings, where they may be exposed to freezing.
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Closed Compression Expansion Tanks
Closed compression tanks can be designed as
adjustable expansion tanks air is evacuated or injected by automatic valves to the tanks to control system pressures when temperature and expansion of
water rises or falls
pumppressured cushion tanks water is evacuated or injected to the systems to compensate for temperature rise or fall
compression tanks with closed gas volumes the tanks contains specific volumes of gas which is compressed when temperatures and system volumes
increase
Required volume in a closed expansion tank
Vet = k Vw [( v1 / v0 ) 1] / [( pa / p0 ) ( pa / p1 )] (3)
where
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pa = atmospheric pressure 14.7 (psia)
p0 = system initial pressure cold pressure (psia)
p1 = system operating pressure hot pressure (psia)
initial temperature 50oF
initial pressure 10 psig
maximum operating pressure 30 psig
Diaphragm Expansion Tanks
Required volume in a diaphragm expansion tank
Vet = k Vw [( v1 / v0 ) 1] / [1 ( p0 / p1 )] (4)
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o
initial temperature 50 F
initial pressure 10 psig
maximum operating pressure 30 psig
safety factor aprox. 2
acceptance factor aprox. 0.5
Example Volume in Open Expansion Tank
A system with 1000 gallons of water is heated from 68 oF to 176 oF.
Minimum expansion volume in an open expansion tank with a safety factor 2 can be calculated as
= 57 (gallons)
Related Topics
Heating Heating systems capacity and design of boilers, pipelines, heat exchangers, expansion systems and more
Related Documents
Flow Temperatures in HotWater Heating Systems Seasonal effects on flow temperatures in hotwater heating systems
Hot Water Heating Systems a Design Procedure A hot water heating system design procedure heat loss, boiler rating, heater units and more
Sizing of Closed Expansion Tanks Sizing of low temperature closed expansion tanks
Flow Rates in Heating Systems Calculate flow rates in heating systems
Sizing of Diaphragm Expansion Tanks Low temperature diaphragm expansion tank sizing calculate tank volume and acceptance volume
Safety Relief Valves Capacities Safety valves and maximum free air relief capacities
Volumetric Cubic Thermal Expansion Cubical temperature expansion online volumetric expansion calculator
Heat Loss from Buildings Overall heat transfer loss from buildings transmission, ventilation and infiltration
Tag Search
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