Quick change maintains production at Glanbia Meats

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 10, 2002

Spirax Sarco's EasiHeat heat exchange packages are so simple to install, they enabled Glanbia Meats to replace its old hot water system without losing a single hour of production.

Spirax Sarco's EasiHeat heat exchange packages are so simple to install, they enabled Glanbia Meats to replace its old hot water system without losing a single hour of production.

The new installation has also put an end to recurring production delays caused by failures in the old hot water system.

Glanbia's Edenderry facility in Ireland slaughters and processes 9000 pigs a week.

Extensive handwashing facilities are provided throughout the plant, along with 50 sterilisers where knives and similar equipment must be placed in hot water between jobs.

The handwashing water is supplied at 48C, while the sterilising water needs to be at 82C.

Under the previous system, a 3.5t/h boiler fed a plate heat exchanger and an Angelery - a type of shell and tube exchanger.

"They were leaking and undersized", says Glanbia Meat's Maintenance Manager, Michael Usher.

"This caused too much fluctuation in the water temperature".

The uneven water temperature led to production holdups, according to Usher: "The vets halt production if the steriliser water temperature drops to 70C.

Everything stops until it rises again".

EasiHeat compact steam heat exchange packages are designed to supply heating or instantaneous domestic hot water in large or commercial premises.

The pre-assembled packages are tested before delivery and require minimal installation time.

In the case of Glanbia Meats, this enabled engineers to change the hot water system over to the EasiHeat packages in a single weekend when the plant is normally closed.

The pipework from the boiler to where the EasiHeat packages were installed was also replaced.

The EasiHeat packages now provide over 220 litre/min of water for the sterilisers and another 220 litre/min for handwashing, and maintain their respective temperatures.

"It's early days, but so far so good", says Usher.

"They certainly haven't caused us any problems and the water temperature has not been an issue since the changeover".