500KW Rental Contingency Plan For Large Chilled Dairy
The Challenge
Back at the start of the year, one of our valued trade partners got in touch to discuss one of their critical sites. They were responsible for service and maintenance of the existing cooling system at a well know Dairy in the South West, and were having multiple issues due to ageing plant. There was no immediate available budget for repair or replacement, so our client was tasked with getting the equipment through the next year before that capital became available.
As part of that offering, they suggested that Celsius Hire were called in to undertake contingency plans on the three main warehouses on site. All three warehouses needed to be maintained at between 2-5°C, with similar cooling load requirements in each. The challenge involved specifying equipment and laying out installation plans to ensure that if the plan was actioned, we were able to respond quickly. With up to £5m in stock in each warehouse at any given time, keeping the warehouse temperature in range was non-negotiable.
The Solution
A contingency plan site meeting was undertaken across all 3 warehouses on site. The meeting involved us, our trade client, and the engineering manager at the facility. As part of the site survey, locations were established outside each warehouse for the temporary chiller, tank and pump to be located. It was also established that there was not sufficient spare power available for the temporary systems, therefore the footprint of a generator package, including fuel tank, distribution panels and cabling was also considered.
Each warehouse needed 8 no. low temperature fan coils to be positioned inside the provide the cooling to the space. This was a challenging task as every bit of space within the warehouse was key for storage and operations. Nonetheless, this had to happen as the temperature within the space was crucial. Support structures at height and locating equipment on racking was all discussed, however disregarded as the requirement was going to be needed in an emergency if called upon and would need to be installed quickly.
Once the internal location of fan coils was agreed, the hose route between inside and out was mapped out, and this involved the client pre-drilling holes in the walls so this wouldn’t hold up the install should the hire be called upon.
– 1 x 500KW Chiller
– 8 x 50KW Low Temperature Fan Coil
– 1 x PUMP 27-3.6
– 1 x 1000L Buffer Cube
– 1 x Generator & Cabling Package
The Result
One evening, the inevitable call was received from our trade partner. The temperatures within warehouse two were spiralling out of control due to failures of the equipment on site. Despite their best efforts to keep it running, the hire contingency plan needed to be actioned.
The next day, Celsius Hire were on site with all of the equipment and a team for the installation. The benefit of a pre-planned contingency plan was there to see, with both external and internal space available for us upon arrival to land the equipment and begin the works. The client assisted with people and forklift truck drivers to assist with positioning the fan coils inside the warehouse.
Throughout the day and into the evening, our engineers worked tirelessly to run in the pipework, cabling, fill the system with a glycol mix and commission. The next day temperatures within the warehouse were already down within range, and the site team even commented that they were ‘better than in recent memory’.
Luis Santos, Director, commented;
“When there is such a high value of stock within a chilled warehouse, it is a no brainer to have a rental contingency plan in place. Without it, the first day would be spent on a site survey, agreeing on a solution and waiting for acceptance.. Instead, the equipment and engineers were already on their way with a clear plan in place on how to get the client out of trouble”
