.   

Where water storage is likely to be subject to temperatures below freezing, lagging and heating maybe required.

In areas that, under normal circumstances, have ambient temperatures well above freezing then lagging and trace heating will not be required. In these instances it is the responsibility of the occupier to ensure that the ambient temperature within the building is always kept above freezing.

This is particularly important if the property is left unattended for a long period of time in the winter and we would advise that the heating is left on a ‘frost' setting whilst unoccupied.

A similar principle can be applied to process piping carrying fluids which may congeal at low temperatures, for example, tars or molten sulfur. Hit-temperature trace heating elements can prevent blockage of pipes.

Industrial applications for trace heating range from chemical industry, oil refineries, nuclear power plants, food factories. For example, wax is a material which starts to solidify below 70 °C which is usually far above the temperature of the surrounding air. Therefore, the pipeline must be provided with an external source of heat to prevent the pipe and the material inside it from cooling down. Trace heating can also be done with steam, but this requires a source of steam and may be inconvenient to install and operate.