stainless steel 4

[leegodfrey]

i have fda stainless steel pipes that get up to 160deg
but when workers pour in more oils into kettles it cause the pipes to cool off some.the problem is when it cool off the lipbalm drys inside the pipes.
is there any ways to apply more heat to out side of pipes to help with the cool off problem

 

[MikeHalloran]

You could use jacketed pipes (and a jacketed kettle?), and circulate something hot through the jacket. At 160F, you could use water, or water/glycol, or steam. That's not an easy 'bolt-on' solution.

You could wrap the pipes with electric 'heat tape', normally used to keep pipes from freezing, and normally controlled by a thermostat to just barely warm, but I think some types can take considerable heat. I don't know what kind of problems that could cause in an 'FDA' environment, but there are probably severe restrictions on what you can and cannot do; you need to look that up.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[fegenbush]

In addition to what Mike said, you could also use electrical heat trace on the pipe. Whichever type of heat trace you use, there is some product that enhances the heat transfer between the trace line and the product pipe.

After this is done, you could insulate the pipe and jacket and sheathe it in stainless to meet the food grade requirement.

 

[EdStainless]

Electric heat tracing is the way to go.
However you need to be aware that you will need to be very careful that you don't cause stress corrosion cracking of the tubing.

It might actually be easier to pre-heat the oil so that you don't chill the process when you add.

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Plymouth Tube

 

[rmw]

I suspect based on the OP that the 160 deg is deg C. Electric heat trace is good, but it has limitations. You will have to do your heat loss calculations and then size and select your heat trace to match. If the 160 is C instead of F, you might need to look at Mineral Insulated cable or MI cable.

rmw

 

[MikeMech]

I think Ed has a good notion with pre-heating the oil, or perhaps adding it in smaller increments more often, if possible, to reduce the thermal shock.

You could pour the oil through a warming filter of some kind, sort of like an instant-on water heater. In fact I wonder if you could just rig up a portable gravity fed instant on water heater on wheels and pour oil through it? Don't know about flammability issues, though, and FDA might cause issues.

Heating the pipes would probably be best long term if you can do it.