Recon Engineering & Construction has been having fun blasting out refractory cement from the inside of the preheater tower at this cement plant. Once it’s all cleaned out they’ll do steel repairs, weld in anchors where the old ones have failed (our S-Bar anchors can help with that issue) and then shoot new refractory cement. This is the best time to replace refractory-lined expansion joints because the refractory contractor can line the expansion joint at the same time as the ductwork, saving the plant money.

By |2019-03-19T00:35:52+00:00March 19, 2019|Projects|Comments Off on Recon Engineering & Construction has been having fun blasting out refractory cement from the inside of the preheater tower at this cement plant. Once it’s all cleaned out they’ll do steel repairs, weld in anchors where the old ones have failed (our S-Bar anchors can help with that issue) and then shoot new refractory cement. This is the best time to replace refractory-lined expansion joints because the refractory contractor can line the expansion joint at the same time as the ductwork, saving the plant money.
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A combination of pipe stress due to poor anchoring & sulfuric acid buildup from SO2 rich gas caused the flanges on this composite expansion joint belt to separate from the duct. If this happens on a positive pressure duct you introduce unintended & unmonitored emissions. If the duct is negative pressure you’re bringing ambient (cold) air into your process (which is already full of SO2 – speeding formation of sulfuric acid H2S04) and increasing parasitic load on your fans.

By |2019-03-07T05:33:59+00:00March 7, 2019|Projects|Comments Off on A combination of pipe stress due to poor anchoring & sulfuric acid buildup from SO2 rich gas caused the flanges on this composite expansion joint belt to separate from the duct. If this happens on a positive pressure duct you introduce unintended & unmonitored emissions. If the duct is negative pressure you’re bringing ambient (cold) air into your process (which is already full of SO2 – speeding formation of sulfuric acid H2S04) and increasing parasitic load on your fans.
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The rectangular metal bellows on this feed shelf was exposed to 1600F temperatures and deformed. The duct is lined with high-temperature refractory and the expansion joint is packed with ceramic insulation. The air cannons here blew the refractory off of the walls near the expansion joint and so it was no longer protected from the high gas temperatures.

By |2019-03-05T18:36:13+00:00March 5, 2019|Projects|Comments Off on The rectangular metal bellows on this feed shelf was exposed to 1600F temperatures and deformed. The duct is lined with high-temperature refractory and the expansion joint is packed with ceramic insulation. The air cannons here blew the refractory off of the walls near the expansion joint and so it was no longer protected from the high gas temperatures.
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This Proco customer figured they could use ductile iron flanges on their 443-BD expansion joint because the 78% sulfuric acid wouldn’t get on the outside of the process piping. After 3 years, turns out the best case scenario wasn’t real life. They’ve since switched to using 316 stainless flanges.

By |2019-03-01T05:35:28+00:00March 1, 2019|Projects|Comments Off on This Proco customer figured they could use ductile iron flanges on their 443-BD expansion joint because the 78% sulfuric acid wouldn’t get on the outside of the process piping. After 3 years, turns out the best case scenario wasn’t real life. They’ve since switched to using 316 stainless flanges.
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A crude heater at an oil refinery where the original Carl Horecky was called in as a consultant with Horecky / Fahrig Associates to revamp the catcracker with his high temperature regeneration technology. Looks like these heavy-wall expansion joints might have seen more angular movement than they were designed for.

By |2019-02-23T02:34:10+00:00February 23, 2019|Projects|Comments Off on A crude heater at an oil refinery where the original Carl Horecky was called in as a consultant with Horecky / Fahrig Associates to revamp the catcracker with his high temperature regeneration technology. Looks like these heavy-wall expansion joints might have seen more angular movement than they were designed for.
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This fiberglass/teflon composite expansion joint belt is on the stack-breach where a long run of duct work connects to the chimney. Even though this power plant is fueled by low-sulfur natural gas (as opposed to coal), there’s still SO2 gas in the stream and when it runs through the long duct the temperature drops below dew-point, causing the SO2 to combine with moisture in the ambient air and create H2SO4 (sulfuric acid). In this case the expansion joint hardware is acting like a heat-sink and increasing this effect. We’ll solve this problem by using Interep CustomFlex Insulation on the outside of the expansion joint to keep temperatures above dew point while still allowing for movement.

By |2019-02-18T01:40:41+00:00February 18, 2019|Projects|Comments Off on This fiberglass/teflon composite expansion joint belt is on the stack-breach where a long run of duct work connects to the chimney. Even though this power plant is fueled by low-sulfur natural gas (as opposed to coal), there’s still SO2 gas in the stream and when it runs through the long duct the temperature drops below dew-point, causing the SO2 to combine with moisture in the ambient air and create H2SO4 (sulfuric acid). In this case the expansion joint hardware is acting like a heat-sink and increasing this effect. We’ll solve this problem by using Interep CustomFlex Insulation on the outside of the expansion joint to keep temperatures above dew point while still allowing for movement.
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This fan outlet duct has a fabric expansion joint (flex connector) belt attached to angle flanges. Originally designed as a molded-corner “U-Belt” it’s now a flat-belt with 90 degree corners. The aftermarket flanges use 1/4” welded studs which have broken off inside the duct, causing leakage. The backup bars which clamp the belt down are also undersized for this application. We’re going to pull the whole assembly out and replace it with a high-temperature Viton rubber U-Belt expansion joint.

By |2019-02-11T20:41:08+00:00February 11, 2019|Projects|Comments Off on This fan outlet duct has a fabric expansion joint (flex connector) belt attached to angle flanges. Originally designed as a molded-corner “U-Belt” it’s now a flat-belt with 90 degree corners. The aftermarket flanges use 1/4” welded studs which have broken off inside the duct, causing leakage. The backup bars which clamp the belt down are also undersized for this application. We’re going to pull the whole assembly out and replace it with a high-temperature Viton rubber U-Belt expansion joint.
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