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Module 6 · Hydronic Systems

Hydronic Systems: Pipe Sizing, Pumps, and Water-Side Design

Flow rate and head loss, pump and expansion-tank selection, chilled- and hot-water plant configurations, glycol, and the valves and balancing work that make design flow actually happen in the field.

Module 5 covered how conditioned air gets delivered to a space. This module covers the other way HVAC energy moves through a building — as water, in a closed piping loop — starting from the 500 x GPM x ΔT relationship every pump, pipe, and coil selection in this module traces back to, then working through pump curves, expansion tanks, and air management.

From there it covers chilled-water plant configurations (primary-secondary, primary-only variable flow, and the delta-T-syndrome problem that quietly undersizes so many real plants), hot-water and glycol systems, and the valves and balancing procedures that make a system's actual flow match its design flow in the field.

Free related reading in this studio
→ Hydronic Pipe Sizing Calculator→ Chiller Sizing Calculator→ Chiller Plant Simulator→ Boiler Sizing Calculator→ Chilled Water vs. Direct Expansion Cooling, Explained

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