Another chilly winter is coming around the corner. Don’t let the cold temperatures freeze up your business. Follow these three tips to keep your Rhino Linings chemicals from freezing and slowing down operations. If you know how to store your chemicals and keep them at the right temperature, you’ll be golden.
1. Heated Rooms
This is the preferred way to store your Rhino Linings materials at proper temperature. A heated room can be used to raise or maintain the material temperature between 55-100°F (13-38°C). Always measure the room’s ambient temperature at the floor. The use of a magnetic surface temperature thermometer attached to the drum will confirm that the drums have actually come into equilibrium with the ambient room temperature. The drum should still be agitated before use.
2. Band Heater & Agitation
A variety of band heaters are available to raise the temperature of material in a drum or pail. It’s important not to leave the heaters on maximum, especially on a partially full container, to avoid overheating the material. Overheating the material will damage the catalyst or additives. Slow agitation will help heat the material quickly and uniformly.
Important: Warming the material using just band heaters is not an adequate way to raise the temperature. Without agitation, hot spots will occur inside the drum. It’s important not to turn the band heaters to the maximum setting in an attempt to quickly heat the materials in the drum. This will only cause more hot spots. Agitation with band heaters is always preferred.
3. Re-circulation
Recirculating the material through the proportioner, material heaters and back into the container is a quick way to increase the material temperature. Use transfer pumps (do not engage the proportioner) to recirculate, either through the system and heated hoses and back to the drum or through a re-circulation hose teed off after the pre-heaters. It’s important not to expose the material to excess moisture or humidity during this process or foaming will occur.
Important: Do not assume that re-circulation has thoroughly mixed the material. The material should be power-agitated prior to use. Most isocyanates (A side components) may not require premixing as they are already homogeneous and experience no phase separation.
Talk to Tech
With these three proven ways to bring your materials to proper temperatures, you should be able to keep your operations from freezing over during the cold months of winter. If you have any questions or would like more advice about getting your Rhino Linings business ready for this year’s freezing temperatures, reach out to the Rhino Linings technical team through email and/or by phone.
