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Old 11-06-15, 09:56 PM   #6
jeff5may
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during a steamback event, only water steam is in the collector if it is plumbed so the fluid can easily be pushed out by the steam. Plumbing geometry for drainback designs will work for steamback. If the collector array is plumbed badly, some glycol will be trapped in low points and turn into nasty stuff when it boils. This is true for the classical drainback systems as well. You know the system is plumbed badly if it makes lots of rumbling sounds during a stagnation event for more than just a few seconds.

One example of this is evacuated U-tube collectors. No matter how the tubes drain, some fluid will be trapped in the bottom of the U and be forced to boil. Not a good choice for a glycol system at all. A much better choice would be heat pipes and header.
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