The Challenge:
It was apparent through successive annual boiler plant
inspections at the ARAMARK Uniform Services production facility in LaCrosse,
Wisconsin that the Bailey pneumatic control system was in need of
replacement.
"We had 25 year-old
outdated controls that constantly broke down and used excessive amounts of
gas," recalls Ray Miedema, Production Manager for the LaCrosse
facility.
With separate pneumatic
actuators for fuel and air control, seasonal fuel/air ratio adjustments were
very difficult to make. Given this difficulty, and the scarcity of service
technicians intimately familiar with the old pneumatic controls, adjustments
were avoided, and operating efficiency suffered.
Jerry Wilson, Regional
Operations Support Manager – Central Region, observes, "The Bailey
system was outdated, and Bailey wouldn’t (couldn’t) supply the repair
parts we needed."
"As a rule, we operate
only one boiler for an entire facility," says Wilson, "without any
backup." With so many critical operations dependent on the boiler
plant, especially providing the hot water and steam for hundreds of
thousands of pounds of laundry each week, any sort of equipment replacement
had to happen over a weekend. Downtime was not an option.
According to Miedema,
downtime is not in the ARAMARK vocabulary. "Downtime is a devastation
for production, going well beyond any sort of cost factor. The bottom line
is, if the boiler doesn’t run, we don’t run! We need every day to meet
our customer’s needs, so any sort of changeout of those vintage 1970 low
pressure air controls had to happen between Friday night and Monday morning,
no exceptions."
ARAMARK had been purchasing
HVAC and boiler parts from Climatic Control Company, and Wilson made the
connection about the company’s other capabilities – boiler control
expertise for industrial systems.
The Solution:
Wilson turned to John Graham, Senior Project Engineer for Climatic Control
Company’s Industrial Systems Division, for assistance.
ARAMARK worked closely with
Graham, who designed an electronic burner management system. Diagnostics and
a non-volatile fault history were included to maximize boiler availability.
Maxon Micro-Ratio® valves were provided to assure precise control of
fuel/air ratio and to simplify adjustment when needed. Miedema recalls that
Wilson "liked what he saw, both the prints and the staff."
Graham, along with Wilson and
Miedema, were present at the LaCrosse facility the entire weekend of the
changeout.
"We really had a
commitment from John and Climatic Control Company – they had the resources
in-house and the ability to do this critical project," says Wilson.
"Climatic is one of only a couple of companies I’m aware of that
could do this type of work, and it turned out really well!"
"There were a few
startup problems with a finicky relay, but that’s pretty typical, and the
problems were solved right away," adds Miedema.
"The LaCrosse facility
is getting better fuel mileage, more accurate and tighter control, safer
boiler operations, and incredible efficiency. We are experiencing between
40% to 50% in gas savings, and the project paid for itself in less than a
year."
Wilson continues, "After
the success in the LaCrosse facility, we did the East Moline facility the
following year, and the facility in South Bend the next year. Each of them
had the same challenges, and they all turned out great!"
"John (Graham) is a
superstar. He is a big reason why all of these projects were so successful.
He is very knowledgeable, helpful, and personable. Having him on the job
made me comfortable that things would go well – it’s nice when you find
a vendor that you can establish that kind of comfort level with these
days."
"Climatic Control
Company provided us with good, solid designs and they really know what they’re
doing!" concludes Miedema.
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