When facility managers are comparing different types of heat insulation materials for their pipes, tanks, boilers, and other heat process equipment, one type of savings that is not always factored in is the savings from easy to apply insulation or liquid insulation. While a wrap material may initially look less expensive on a per square meter or square foot basis, when elements such as longevity, extra benefits, and ease of application are considered, using an easy to apply insulation coating can drastically change the results of the cost comparison.
Older forms of insulation, like mineral wool and fiberglass have to be protected from exposure to dirt, dust and moisture, so they typically require an aluminum sheeting or cladding to be attached over the top of them. This covering is then affixed into place with either metal banding or screws, and often cladding over joints or valves can be nearly impossible, so heat can be lost at the non-insulated bends or odd shaped areas of equipment that can’t easily be wrapped and covered. Cutting of the aluminum cladding is also factored into the labor to install, which can further raise the overall installed price.
Added savings factors from having an easy to apply insulation, spray-on coating include:
- You have no more uninsulated “holes” in your thermal envelope due to elbows or valves.
- You save money from being able to install with your own Team rather than hire someone.
- There is no expensive equipment needed.
- Easily fit application into your own schedule, you can divide application over days or weeks.
- Product can be sprayed on while equipment is in service, no costly downtime.
Considerations when costing and choosing insulation materials for heat or cold process equipment:
- Performance
- Design life
- Actual life, based upon real world applications
- Installation costs
- Ability to prevent corrosion and CUI
- Factory downtime required for installation
- Whether you need to pay an outside contractor
- Flexibility afforded with installation
- Ongoing maintenance costs
- Ability to reach safe touch insulation goals
- Resistance to degradation
How a Global Manufacturer Used Syneffex™ Liquid Insulation and Increased Their total Savings and Reduced Payback Time by DIY
One of the world’s largest textile manufacturers of industrial threads and yarns reviewed our liquid insulation coatings thoroughly, doing year long trials at two of their factories and charting the energy savings. After insulating their dyeing machines (tanks that hold heated dye used to dye yarn) with our Nansulate™ High Heat and EPX-H20, they first charted energy savings at the initial trial factory. The result? It was so unbelievably good that they extended the trial to a second factory. That factory also showed the same exceptional energy savings, which is typically an average of 20% as reported by multiple industrial customers.
After seeing the performance of Syneffex™ coatings, they knew that they wanted to do a global sustainability project, insulating the dyeing tanks throughout 38 factories in 28 countries. After hearing that the coatings were an easy application insulation, they thought they could save even more on the massive global energy saving project by having their own maintenance teams, many of which did routine painting at their factories, install the coatings themselves, which not only saved the cost of hiring an outside company, it gave them more flexibility to fit the application in with other activities their teams had on the schedule.
To facilitate a smooth process with so many different personnel in factories around the world our Sustainability Simplified™ Team set up a 4-day “Train the Trainer” event at their U.S. based facility and they flew maintenance team captains from each global region to go through the application and make sure they understood everything well. After the training, they felt confident that they could go back to their respective regions and train the maintenance teams at each of the 38 factories for a successful project. The extra savings from doing it themselves contributed to their overall payback being less than one year!
Liquid Insulation that Fits Your Equipment and Schedule
So, if you’ve been putting off the prospect of insulating your tanks, boiler or pipes because you didn’t want to deal with the scheduling or disruption that it might cause in your normal daily production cycle, you may want to check out our Nansulate™ easy to apply insulation coatings. You can see a video showing application on the EPX-H20 page here: https://www.syneffex.com/product/heat-shield-epxh2o-thermal-insulation-protective-coating/
EPX-H20 is applied with a texture sprayer (type that applies drywall), and the High Heat and PT coatings are applied with standard paint sprayers. All our coatings can be applied in service.
Just give us a call or contact us online to learn more or request a project specification.
