Cruitfly staffs mechanical insulators for data center chilled-water piping and for the hot exhaust and process piping of on-site power plants. Chilled-water insulation is cold-system work: the vapor seal has to be continuous at every joint, elbow, valve and fitting, or the pipe sweats inside the insulation. Every Cruitfly worker is a W2 Cruitfly employee covered by Cruitfly's workers' compensation, and typical fill time is 48 to 72 hours. Cruitfly does not supply electricians.
Chilled-water pipe runs colder than the air around it, so without insulation and a sealed vapor retarder, water condenses on the pipe and drips onto whatever is below it.
The National Insulation Association puts it plainly: when a system operates below the dew point of the surrounding air, condensation will occur on the cold surface. The Insulation Institute's guide to chilled-water systems lists what wet insulation leads to: shorter insulation life, corrosion of the pipes, valves and fittings inside it, and mold and water damage around it. In a data center, the room below the pipe is full of electronics.
Wet insulation also stops doing its job. The National Insulation Association cites a 7.5% loss in thermal efficiency for every 1% of moisture the insulation takes on, and a cellular glass manufacturer's chilled-water guide puts the cost of removing and replacing a failed system at three to five times the original installation.
On cold piping the vapor retarder decides whether the system works, and it has to be continuous at every seam, joint, elbow, valve and fitting.
That is why an insulator who has mostly worked on hot piping is not automatically right for a chilled-water scope.
The project engineer specifies the system. These are common on below-ambient piping:
| Insulation system | Notes |
|---|---|
| Polyisocyanurate (PIR) | Used on pipe, tanks and duct operating below ambient, including commercial chilled water |
| Phenolic | Used on pipe and equipment, especially where it operates below ambient |
| Cellular glass | Impermeable to water and water vapor |
| Fiberglass (mineral fiber) with an all-service jacket | The all-service jacket provides the vapor seal |
| Flexible elastomeric | Closed-cell foam used on chilled-water and refrigeration lines |
Sources: National Insulation Association design guide, the Insulation Institute guide and the cellular glass guide above.
ASHRAE Standard 90.1 and the International Energy Conservation Code set minimum pipe insulation thickness by the pipe's operating temperature and size, and on chilled water that minimum is generally half an inch or one inch.
Armacell's summary of the energy codes points to Tables 6.8.3-1 and 7.4-2 in ASHRAE 90.1 and section C403.12.3 of the IECC. Those minimums are set for energy, not for condensation: the Insulation Institute guide notes they are not intended to prevent condensation, so the engineer sizes a cold system to the room's design conditions as well.
On a chilled-water data center, a central plant chills the water and computer room air handlers use it to cool the data halls, so the insulated piping runs from the plant to every hall.
The US Department of Energy's data center design guide recommends water-cooled chillers in a central chilled-water plant, and a medium-temperature loop with a supply temperature of 55°F or higher. The Uptime Institute describes the computer room air handler as the unit whose cooling fluid is chilled water. A campus that also generates its own power adds a second insulation scope: the high-temperature exhaust and process piping of the power plant.
Before you staff insulators for a data center chilled-water scope, check these six things:
Cruitfly supplies mechanical insulators, fireproofers and coatings applicators to insulation contractors and general contractors on commercial and industrial projects, and it is a member of the Midwest Insulation Contractors Association (MICA).
See Cruitfly's insulation staffing page, and the data center projects Cruitfly tracks on its data center construction staffing page.
Yes. Cruitfly supplies mechanical insulators for chilled-water and power plant piping, plus fireproofers and coatings applicators. Every worker is a W2 Cruitfly employee, and typical fill time is 48 to 72 hours. Cruitfly does not supply electricians.
Because the pipe runs below the dew point of the surrounding air. Without a continuous vapor retarder, moisture reaches the cold pipe, condenses inside the insulation, and leads to corrosion, mold, water damage and lost insulating performance.
Common systems include polyisocyanurate, phenolic, cellular glass, fiberglass with an all-service jacket, and flexible elastomeric. The project engineer specifies the system.
ASHRAE Standard 90.1 and the IECC set minimum thickness by operating temperature and pipe size, generally half an inch or one inch on chilled water. Those minimums are for energy, not condensation, so cold lines are also sized to the room's design conditions.
Yes. Cruitfly has staffed long-term contracts at plants that require TWIC cards and has placed workers at US government facilities.
Yes. For a Northeast insulation contractor, Cruitfly scaled a mechanical insulation crew from three to six in two weeks and kept the second wave available in between.
Tell us the scope, the insulation system and the start date, and we will tell you who we can put on site. Request a crew or call 317-426-7703.
Need a certified crew on site? Tell us the project, the start date and the certifications you need. Typical fill is 48 to 72 hours, and every worker is a W2 Cruitfly employee covered by our workers' compensation. Prefer to talk? Call 317-426-7703.