Aggregate Heating & Sand Heating
High-Efficiency Low Pressure Aggregate Heating & Sand Heating
Steam Engineering's Steam Generators are perfect for defrosting and heating your aggregates and sands throughout the winter. With it's superheated steam, operating at pressures below 8PSIG, operators can safely work around materials being heated and be confident of the quality of concrete they are producing all winter.
Highlights:
- Simple and Efficient Custom Systems
- Variable controls
- Multiple Location Heating
- DOES NOT FALL UNDER THE BOILER AND PRESSURE VESSEL ACT
- High Strength Concrete
- Designed to each customer's specifications, Steam Engineering will provide 3D Cad layouts to streamline installations.
- Keep it simple. Steam Engineering offers systems on a broad spectrum from manual valves, to full PLC controlled system with electronic or pneumatic valving for temperature and/or timer heating controls.
- Wheather your materials are kept in bins or in pads, we can provide you with a variety of different solutions to keep your facilities up and running in the coldest of winters!
- Unlike standard boilers, high pressure water heaters, and high pressure waste energy heaters, our systems are all low pressure, high flow steam heaters capable of heating all of your materials with one system! Our Steam Generators are recommended for improved efficiencies and safety!
- Our system provides carbon dioxide (CO2) rich steam which has been recorded to provide high strength concrete with little to no additives. Meet or exceed specifications with ease.
Ready-Mix Plants - CASE Example
The exact date may vary some in different parts of the country, but November often marks the hot concrete surcharge season for many Ready-Mix owners and operators. Along with the extra revenue however, comes the same old headache of how to ensure that your product meets your customers’ specifications. Many solve this problem by firing up an old, inefficient hot water boiler, hoping they can heat enough hot water to somehow blend their way through the winter without losing customers or loads. Others direct wet boiler-made steam into bins, causing a whole new set of problems like rusting and saturated sand. Still others buy heated sand for as much as $3.00 a ton!
While there is no definite answer to every situation, Steam Engineering does have a solution for most Ready-Mix owners and operators. We can put an end to your annual struggle of “man versus nature.” The solution to your winter weather problem starts with the installation of our high-efficiency Direct-Fired Steam Generator. These units have been time-tested in some of the coldest parts of Canada to heat water and aggregate either in bins or on pads.
The unique features of our steam generators are that they can produce steam in 30 seconds from a cold start, they do not require expensive chemicals, and they can save you up to 50% on your fuel bills.
Your solution continues with our Steam Engineering Ready-Mix Automation Package. This reliable combination of electronics and mechanics was designed to ensure that you have your needed supply of hot sand and hot water to get going each and every day. Picture this: a sand pad piped with steam lines, sized to hold your full day’s demand, and a hot water tank with steam piping, capable of handling the first hour or so of operation.
Past methods for a mediocre solution have included many operators attempting to superheat water up to 180°F to compensate for frozen aggregates and to blend with cold water for truck side tanks. Such “solutions” have proven to be very inefficient, as the energy to superheat this volume of water is extremely expensive and most water systems are not designed to handle the needed capacity. We’ve come a long way from these outdated strategies!
Steam Engineering will program an automation system that will pre-heat your sand pad in the middle of the night. As a rule of thumb, one million BTU can heat 40 tons of sand to 125°F in one hour. When left out-side, this sand would only lose 10°F to 15°F per day. With your sand heated to 125°F, you no longer need to superheat water. Still, however, Steam Engineering technology allows you to heat water to 140°F very efficiently, at a rate of 1,200 gallons per hour for every one million BTU. Our automation system includes a thermocouple that, when placed in a water tank, will ensure your ideal temperature is met before you open your doors for the day. Then, as water is drawn off and replaced, the system will start and stop the unit automatically as needed to maintain the desired temperature throughout the day. If your location is not suited for heated pads, then bin heating is a simple alternative. Proper steam piping in your bins, along with our hot dry steam, will deliver heated sand with consistent moisture without damage to your bins. The Steam Engineering automation package comes with two valves, with cross linkage and motorized actuator to switch back and forth from the sand pad to the water tank automatically, as programmed.