Glycol Trunk line question

[delt266]

Hey guys, I am new here and cant seem to find my answer. I will be building a glycol trunk line for our upcoming bar. My question is, why does the glycol return line (from the beer tower) run together with the cooling line and beer lines? I would think that by doing this, it would keep whatever heat it is removing and put it right back in the trunk line. All the major manufacturers of trunk lines make them in this fashion, so I was just curious as to why its not run separately insulated back to the chiller. Thanks in advance!

 

[vbchrist]

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/glycol-pid-CDI652.html

More Draft Beer Trunk Line Features:
Food Quality barrier film prevents condensation from compromising insulation.
Aluminum foil wrap conducts cold transfer from glycol lines to product lines.

Probably cheaper to include it in the trunk than run a separate line. Also there can't be heat transfer back to the beer since its at most at equal temp to the product lines.

It, at most, is a loss of heat exchange efficiency that outweighs the cost of a separate line.

 

[heckels]

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/glycol-pid-cdi652.html

more draft beer trunk line features:
Food quality barrier film prevents condensation from compromising insulation.
Aluminum foil wrap conducts cold transfer from glycol lines to product lines.

Probably cheaper to include it in the trunk than run a separate line. Also there can't be heat transfer back to the beer since its at most at equal temp to the product lines.

It, at most, is a loss of heat exchange efficiency that outweighs the cost of a separate line.

+1

 

[audger]

with adequate flow rate, the difference in temperature between feed and return isnt more than a degree or two.

normally the glycol feed line is bundled at the very center, with beer lines surrounding it symetrically, and the return glycol line is off to the side of the bundle. probably doesnt make that big of a difference, but that is the optimal design.

 

[rvklein]

I have 100' of trunk line installed. The return glycol is still colder than the beer.