Pumps

For circulating our Dielectric Coolants through a cooling system, we recommend the use of an appropriately sized centrifugal pump with Viton® seals (also called FKM). The pump and motor should be sized so that the desired flow rate and head is well within the efficiency curve of the pump/motor combination. Explosion-proof equipment is not required.

One problem that you may experience is that you want to get the slowest rotation speed possible with the largest impeller. This reduces the chance of cavitation within the pump and introduces the least number of bubbles into the mix. All of the pump manufacturers offer a pump sizing software or will size the pump for you given the Dielectric Coolant characteristics that you’ll be using. All of the required fluid information is available right on our product technical datasheets for each Dielectric Coolant..

Grundfos is our go to pump manufacturer. In particular we like their CR series of vertical centrifugal pumps.

Here is the
Grundfos Standard Product Finder.

Another vendor we use for large pumps is Bell and Gosset:

They have a pump sizing tool (called ESP Systemsyzer)

You can use almost any centrifugal or gear pump with Viton (FKM) seals for your system. If you are going to use a pump made out of a resin or plastic material just make sure to check the Material Compatibility Guide for the materials its made from to ensure its compatible with our Dielectric Coolants. Be sure to check out the materials used for the seals, impeller, and the pump chamber itself as most pumps will use a mix of materials in construction. Our coolants also provide excellent lubrication for steel, carbon fiber and ceramic bearings.

Many smaller 12v and 24v pumps used for Biodiesel, diesel, and fuel oil also work well with our Dielectric Coolants.

When using any pump sizing tool, make sure to pay close attention to fluid characteristics that the tool is set for as most use water as the base fluid. You can use water to get a close approximation, however, our Coolants have a higher viscosity which can result in the pump operating above its optimal efficiency range. So we recommend derating the pump by about 20% if all you can get is water curves for a pump. (100gpm = 80gpm).

We definitely recommend that you use Schedule 80 Chlorinated PVC (cPVC) vs copper or steel. Do NOT use PVC, you must use Chlorinated PVC! There is a big difference, PVC will become brittle over time due to interaction with our Coolants and the heat.
Here is a quick comparison of the different materials:

PROs for cPVC
1. Very simple to cut and glue-up
2. Uses a simple glue-up process (you must use primer and then glue for all joints)
3. Easy to add new fittings anywhere required with saddles and cuts
4. There are more than 400+ fittings for cPVC. Make sure to get all fittings and valves with Viton/FKM gaskets and O-Rings.
5. cPVC is far cheaper that other options in both raw materials and cost to install
6. cPVC is rated up to 100C operating temperature – watch your pressure de-rating based on operating temp!
7. cPVC is electrically non-conductive
8. You can use Teflon Tape to seal threaded joints

CONs for cPVC
1. Operating temperature is limited based on pressure required and not more than 100C
2. Most cPVC fittings intended for use with water will use Buna O-rings and gaskets. You cannot use Buna with our Coolants, they will swell and your system will fail! You must use only Viton/FKM fittings with our Coolants. Almost all fittings are available in both Buna and FKM – so be sure you get FKM
3. Most flow limiting valves that rely on a floating ball will not work because the density of coolant is less water so the valve balls will not float in our Coolants. Make sure to do a test of the balls to ensure they will float in our Coolant before using them.
4. cPVC fittings cannot be removed once they are glued-on, if a fitting is not correctly glued up or it leaks you must cut out the bad joint and replace the fitting and pipe.
5. Please ensure you have good ventilation during the glue-up process as the glue and primer.

PROs for Copper and Steel
1. Higher pressure rating and not de-rated by temperature
2. Can easily be disconnected and reconnected and patched at a joint (make sure to clean off all the coolant or you will have a lot of smoke during the soldering)
3. You can use Teflon Tape or Hydraulic PTFE paste to seal threaded joints

CONs for Copper
1. Expensive
2. Requires extensive soldering expertise to get clean sealed joints
3. Conducts electricity – this is particularly bad with steel or aluminum tanks because if the device shorts to the tank it can be practically impossible to track down a short, and it can create a shock hazard across the entire system.
4. Most cPVC fittings intended for use with water will use Buna o-rings and gaskets. You cannot use Buna with our Coolants, they will swell and your system will fail! You must use only Viton/FKM fittings with our Coolants. Almost all fittings are available in both Buna and FKM – so be sure you get FKM
5. Most flow limiting valves that rely on a floating ball will not work because the density of coolant is less water so the valve balls will not float in our Coolants. Make sure to do a test of the balls to ensure they will float in our Coolant before using them.
6. Limited number of fittings, and copper fittings are all Buna seals, you must use Viton/FMK for gaskets and O-Rings.
5. Requires the use of open flame to solder and assemble

CONs for Steel
1. Conducts electricity – this is particularly bad with steel or aluminum tanks because if the device shorts to the tank it can be practically impossible to track down a short, and it can create a shock hazard across the entire system.
2. Use of steel requires complex jointing with threads or grooved pipe (Victaulic) type joints, these are expensive and require significant expertise execute. Also they are typically designed for significant pressure ratings which is typically not necessary with a SLIC system.
3. Steel is heavy and requires lots of equipment and manpower to set up.
4. Limited number of fittings, and copper fittings are all Buna seals, you must use Viton/FKM for gaskets and O-Rings
5. Most flow limiting valves that rely on a floating ball will not work because the density of coolant is less water so the valve balls will not float in our Coolants. Make sure to do a test of the balls to ensure they will float in our Coolant before using them.

Source

The good news is that you can use just about any centrifugal pump that has FMK / Viton O-Rings, this means that you do not have to use specialty chemical pumps. Our Coolants are very pump friendly in terms of lubrication and materials and most centrifugal water pumps will work fine as long as they have the correct gasket and O-ring materials.

Because SLIC open tank systems do not generally need high pressure, but rather high volume, you’ll want to use the largest impeller possible and have that impeller turn as slow as possible (1800 RPM is a common rotational speed we like to use), this creates less cavitation and provides greater overall flow.

We’ve had great success with Grundfos CR and CRE pumps.vertical multi-stage centrifugal pumps.

Other pumps we use are Bell and Gossett pumps, and March pumps.

In almost all cases we use a VFD – variable frequency drive, which enables a 3phase pump to change rotational speed based on user input or temperature feedback. We like this feature as it allows us to dial in the pump speed and thus coolant flow based on the the temperature of the devices and the coolant return temperature