SW NOVEMBER 2020 WEB | Page 58

TESTING & MEASUREMENT

Maintenance in the paint shop

The cost in replacing damaged plant , subsequent loss of production and of customers can be substantial .
This is why it is important to have your paint plant serviced & maintained . Premiere Servicing can undertake all your paint plant maintenance including the regular servicing of gas burners , oven data logging , measuring of extraction rates , replacing filters , checks on fan blades / fan belts and LEV testing .
There are however , two other preventative maintenance checks which are really import and are rarely carried out . These being vibration testing and thermal imaging .
Vibration testing of fan and pump motors can determine potential bearing failure , out of balance impellers , motors out of alignment and even loose mountings . Regular testing of motors can highlight a slow but gradual potential for motor and impeller failure . Oven fan impellers are not always held in stock by the manufactures , failure will often result in an oven being out of production for several days .
Thermal imaging can identify this problem and pinpoint areas of concern .
Safety interlocks
When a gas engineer carries out a service on any gas burner he should also check and test all associated safety interlocks that should be fitted to the plant under current IGEM regulations .
Other electrical interlocks found in most paint plant comprise of wiring the burner controls through fan contactors , overloads , and inverters through either current monitoring or associated run signals .
It is quite common to find pressure switches that have failed in the closed position or even linked out by a “ local ” electrician who has no experience in gas burner safety . High limit thermocouples are often , located in the wrong position and therefore not provide any degree of protection against a fire hazard
Heat loss through oven body panels , explosion relief and external ducting on high temperature process plant can be quite significant , especially on the older plants due to insulation degrading with age . This leads to operating inefficiencies , potential damage to motor cables , burner controls and pressure switches . Excess heat creates hot workshops especially in warm summer conditions which become very uncomfortable to work in .
It is critically important to make sure that the engineers servicing and maintaining your plant are both experienced and knowledgeable in current process plant regulations .
Premiere servicing has engineers who undertake constant training in all aspects of burner servicing , plant safety , installation and commissioning and the requirements of gas burner safety within the paint shop environment .
For more information contact Premiere Servicing on 01706 437070 Email : info @ premiereservicing . co . uk Visit : www . premiereservicing . co . uk
56 NOVEMBER 2020 read online : www . surfaceworld . com