Have you ever built a piece of flat-pack furniture in a room, and then discovered when it’s time to move that it doesn’t fit back out again through the door?
That’s exactly what happened when one of our clients needed a steam heater battery replaced. With service equipment updates and modifications over time, the only remaining access was through a small hatch – too small to allow a complete new heater to be moved in and installed!
The Challenge: design to accommodate a new access restriction
While the old heater could be dismantled and removed, getting a new heater in place without dismantling the rest of the site infrastructure would require some clever design work. The Serck team would need to create a unit that could be built in parts, and assembled in situ to offer the same or better functionality as the previous single-piece unit.
The Solution: a cooler in modules that can operate independently or together
After a site survey, two separate coils were designed, built, and pressure-tested off-site to meet the client’s space and operating requirements. These were then moved to the site and brought in one at a time via the access hatch, then installed back into the unit with a galvanized support framework to allow removal of either coil when required.
The Results: a creative solution that also brought additional benefit!
The client’s air handling unit functionality has been restored, and they now have the additional benefit of some redundancy built in. Each unit was connected with its own steam and condense supply, which allows some continuous heat from one coil if the other needs servicing.
“I am very impressed with this split coils job! Please pass on my thanks to the lads.”
– Site Engineer
