Explosion-proof evaporator.

[Green Mountain]

Hey guys. I got myself into a weird situation again.

An industrial customer has a small room in which they store some chemicals. The room is currently cooled by a special Fedders air conditioner that was made as an explosion proof unit.

Now the customer wants to run the box at 40*F. The load I came up with is 12,600 btuh. The fan motors would have to be explosion-proof.

I can't find a supplier for any thing like that. I can't even find a maker of the old gravity coils. Humidity is not an issue.

Anybody have any leads for a walk-in cooler evaporator like this?

[Edited by benncool on 04-21-2004 at 02:02 PM]

[Idatech]

You might try http://www.lawquip.com









[Edited by Idatech on 04-21-2004 at 02:57 PM]

[LGM]

Beenie, call Marc Climatic Controls. They are not a manufacturer, but will take an existing evaporator and make it explosion proof.

713-464-8587 Not sure who to talk to.

[Green Mountain]

Thanks guys for the help. This will give me some leads to follow tomorrow.

[condenseddave]

Don't know the cost diff, Jerry, but you could always remote the evap outside the EP environment, and duct the air in and out, with boom dampers...

I would imagine that soem custom coil mfgs would make bunker coils to fit this app, I mean, a ton is nothing.

[Green Mountain]

The suppliers that I talked to thus far all say, "they used to make explosion proof evaporators but they no longer do."

I don't know if this is because of NEC regs or because so much manufacturing has moved out of country that there is no longer a market.

[bzzline]

My guess is they are not worried about the evaporator's explodeing (what about a brine circulating thru a coil with closed motors and controls.)

[goober]

Try these guys:
http://www.criterionhvac.com/
Or you can try EQUATHERM, we have some EQUATHERM equipment in our EP areas (mostly explosion proof refrigerators, incubators, and lighting) although they may have the equip you're looking for.

condensedave is right...you may be better off using a remote evap and duct in your air. You'll probably have to go constant volume 100% outdoor air with an exhaust fan for obvious reasons. The air in a chem storage area really shouldn't be recirculated, with a build up of flammable vapors... one little static elec spark and BBOOOOMM! Your ding-ding ends up in your watch pocket. Make sure you consult an engineer familiar with explosion proof areas, just to CYA.