Intrinsically safe condensing units

[Goober]

Anyone in NZ or Aussie who can advise me on the supply of intrinsically safe condensing units for coolrooms being installed on an offshore gas rig. I've been aked to price and basically have the job anyway...but struggling for info and if there are and specific suplliers of these units, tried the three suplliers here in NZ, no good. Not sure about Aussie though. Any of you NZ guys have any experience in off shore rig refrigeration??

[lowcool]

no ex perience at all goober.
my first thought was to try your bitzer and buffalo trident reps.i would be surprised if they cannot point you in the right direction,even more amazed that 3 suppliers couldnt be helpful.
did google this result
www.stolway.com.au (http://www.stolway.com.au)

there a few internationals out there how could probably be of help.what sort of voltage do they run?

[Goober]

Cheers Lowcool,

Funnily enough the Bitzer rep was the most helpful and waiting to hear back from him. Assume there running 240volt for the single phase stuff, but then you've added added another question that probably needs to be answered...the link helped but they seem only to do the bigger stuff, the rooms I'm hopefully going to be suppling are only 2 - 4 kilowatts. Might give Stol a ring tomorrow..

[TRASH101]

Hello goober

These fellows might know someone in your hemisphere.

http://www.nsv.co.uk/home.html

[Jase]

Bitzer or carrier would be a good bet.
Open drive compressors hooked up to an 'Ex' rated motor. You may have to build the rest yourself to comply with regulations.

Try these guys out
www.fergusonmodular.com


cheers,
Jase

[lindev]

Anyone in NZ or Aussie who can advise me on the supply of intrinsically safe condensing units for coolrooms being installed on an offshore gas rig. I've been aked to price and basically have the job anyway...but struggling for info and if there are and specific suplliers of these units, tried the three suplliers here in NZ, no good. Not sure about Aussie though. Any of you NZ guys have any experience in off shore rig refrigeration??
Done a Fish Freezer Offshore in Scotland Had a Similiar problem
as it had a direct drive Ex Motor on unit.
Fitted bitzer condensing unit minus the compressor and fitted ex bock semi hot gas defrost EX Drain heater
flame proof panel with the starting contactors door heater off the hot gas system ex motor on condenser brass cowling no metal blades a nightmare dont go for open its no fun on the roof of a container blowing a gale better option twenty foot container first five foot plant room and access to the freezer hope this helps

[yinmorrison]

I worked with a Company back in early eighties when we designed and built the Ex rated systems for Offshore and various other applications ( Hardened Ammunition Shelters in Iraq for Saddam non the less )
There are a number of issues and when I looked at the Stolway site it brought back some memories.
We had to get Lloyds and DNV approval Certs for the offshore kit and this is very laborious but in the end this kit is very expensive so be careful.A lot of money to be made but also lose as well.
We actually made them for Ferguson as well.As others have stated Bitzer or Carrier , we also used Dorin , basically its the motor that counts, also anti-static belts and fan blades amongst other components that are a necessity.A lot of the electrics is 60hz as well so you need to size accordingly.I actually designed a Flameproof Cassette similar to the Copeland standard unit. It was in S/S 316 grade for the small Cabins.

[Goober]

Well.........I got a price from Stol to supply 2 x 1.8kw air cooled condensing units for two small coolrooms...the price from Stol....NZ$72,000 for the condensing units only!!!!! Fully bullet proof for the offshore rigs. But there price is twice what I quoted for the whole project....what's one to do:confused:. Luckily I've got a good relationship with the customer and have givwn him all the details and price too. He did ring me at the last minute looking for this price and gave no specs whatsoever, it was only after I gave the price, I raised with him the intrinsic safety factor. I think he's trying to get the condensing units moved to a less hazardous area.

Definatley money to be made and lost on jobs like these when you don't know what is required. Both me and the customer are learning fast, His company are building the accomadation block for the rig on shore, then it's being shipped to the rig and installed.

[lowcool]

maybe locate units in the smokers room,i assume they have one.

[Goober]

Don't know about that one lowcool!!!!

[yinmorrison]

If thats the case maybe I should have a rethink about getting back into the market for this kit!
Back then the ratio on cost between standard and Exd was about 4:1 so on that basis work it out yourself how much they are making , of course there is slightly more to it than that but with so much at stake it is a fast learning curve and when we did it the Lloyds approval was £100 and this is to state the components and finished article comply with SOLAS.

[ttb]

anyone in nz or aussie who can advise me on the supply of intrinsically safe condensing units for coolrooms being installed on an offshore gas rig. I've been aked to price and basically have the job anyway...but struggling for info and if there are and specific suplliers of these units, tried the three suplliers here in nz, no good. Not sure about aussie though. Any of you nz guys have any experience in off shore rig refrigeration??
contact bock australia. They have atex compressors made to high standards

[housefull]

Any one?


To be continued....

[nevgee]

I used to design and build hvac units for the petro chem industry. In those days we worked to standards certified by BASEEFA where the electrical components were certified. However nowadays the whole piece of kit requires to be certified ... ATEX is the european standard which is most likely to be adopted throughout Aussie and that region. The USA has it's own standards. You are most likely to be held to one of those variants. In any case I would tread very carefully with your equipent selections. It could be an extremely expensive exercise if you miss out on a small detail of specification. Not only that but if you select incorrectly and something later goes wrong ...you'll end up in the slammer for a long time. You're dealing with risks that are so great they'll keep you awake at night if you really take them on board. A slipping drive belt could cause a gas ignition and before you know it you've killed a handful of guys!

Intrinsic safe phylosophy is generally applied to control circuits and very low voltage systems. Anything with power will require to be engineered to non sparking or explosion proof or flame proof standards with temperature limits depending on the gas type likely to be found in the hazardous area. Powders are a different class and also fall into explosion hazard standards.

I have used this company in the past.

www.stolway.com.au (http://www.stolway.com.au)

I see you may have already contacted these guys.

Good luck.

[Goober]

Thanks guys....I did contact Stol and they provided me with a price for all the relevant specs. I walked away from this one....allowing my customer to deal direct with Stol...with us now going to install only...certainly a learning curve for me and especially the risks involved...maybe next time I'll supply and install..but for now I'm not willing to be responsible cosidering some of the statements provided.

[Toosh]

Thanks guys....I did contact Stol and they provided me with a price for all the relevant specs. I walked away from this one....allowing my customer to deal direct with Stol...with us now going to install only...certainly a learning curve for me and especially the risks involved...maybe next time I'll supply and install..but for now I'm not willing to be responsible cosidering some of the statements provided.

Hi Goober Smart thinking

Toosh

[Mike NZ]

Hi Goober,
Bock compressors do an EX rated compressor range. contact the NZ supplier.