Air Management in Hydronic Piping Loops - This is a secondary chilled water pump in a large pump room designated for pumps and piping in a data center. After a few minor tweaks and corrections, these pumps all operated flawlessly. There were very few issues with the secondary pump start-ups.

Unlike the primary pumps where cavitation was encountered on the primary chilled water pumps and the condenser water pumps for the chiller. The diagnosis for the cavitation of the primary pumps and the condenser water pumps was that the loops were not properly purged. This caused those pumps to cavitate.

The secondary pumps, pictured here, did not have that problem. Kudos to the team that purged the loops on this side of the chilled water system.

That was an initial installation issue. It was also a lesson in priming the system to ensure all the air purged from the loop. After all, cavitation in the pumps can cause damage to the pumps. Even after the initial installation purge, it is important to ensure air does not build up in the water piping loop. To do this we need a few devices to help purge the air before it becomes a problem. This will prevent nuisance problems such as hydronic air block in branch circuits of the loop. It will also prevent any damage that may be caused by pump cavitation as a result of too much air in the system.