Water pipes at manufacturing facility protected against cold wintery weather.
For manufacturing facilities, cold weather conditions can cause significant disruption to their operations, with the prevention of frozen water pipes being a high priority.
Herrco Cosmetics Ltd has ensured their manufacturing facility is fully protected from the effects of freezing temperatures with the installation of frost protection trace heating. Working in conjunction with E&P Insulations, Diamond Controls, the parent company of Trace Heating Supplies provided a supply, design, installation and commissioning service for nine zones at their dedicated production facility.
Water is used throughout all stages of the manufacturing process and unheated, external pipe work is extremely vulnerable to the elements without adequate protection. Trace Heating replaces the heat lost through thermal insulation, offering freeze protection to pipes.
Energy Efficient Pipe Heating
Over 800 metres of self regulating 10XL Trace frost protection cables from nVent RAYCHEM were used alongside either ambient or line sensing thermostats depending on the water feed. Trace heating for water pipes is incredibly energy efficient as it is only triggered to gently heat when the temperature drops below a certain level, regulating the temperature of the water to prevent freezing.
Paul Davis, Senior Estimator and Project Manager, said “Frozen pipes would cause considerable damage, water wastage, and disruption to the plant so it was essential that Herrco Cosmetics had sufficient protection to their water supply pipework after new additions to the facility were built. There are various water supply channels and treatments so this informed our choice of thermostatic control – with raw, treated and softened water requiring ambient temperature monitoring, and chilled water pipework using a line sensing thermostat to determine when pipe temperatures drop below 50C.
The trace heating was installed directly to pipework with insulation contractors, E&P Insulations, completing the thermal covering to reduce heat loss. It’s the perfect combination for maximum protection against frozen pipes and cold weather conditions.”
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