Happy Holidays from M.S. Jacobs & Associates

"May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility."   Mary Anne Radmacher

Fast and Easy Freeze Protection with Pre-Assembled Self-Regulating Heating Cable

Freeze ProtectionHeat tracing a pipe, from start to finish can be time consuming. Selecting the various components, starting with the heating cable itself, extends through termination kits, controllers, mounting hardware and other electrical hardware needed to put the heating system in operation. BriskHeat has a product that, for many applications, offers a very simple and quick solution.

Pre-assembled self regulating heat cable is available in two voltage ranges, two watt densities, and prefabricated lengths up to 150 feet. Each cable is terminated at each end, saving the installer time. The cable is flexible enough for a spiral installation or to wrap around valves in the piping system. The self regulating aspect of the cable negates the need for a controller and power switching devices. Assemblies targeted for 120 volt applications are provided with a factory installed plug. The 208-277 volt cables will arrive with bare wire leads for installation of a customer provided connector. The cable can be easily installed using fiberglass or aluminum tape. Suitable insulation applied over the finished work will improve the performance of the heating system.


For more information about freeze protecting pipes, valves, tanks, or vessels contact M.S. Jacobs. Call them at 800-348-0089 or visit their web site at https://msjacobs.com.

Saying Thanks to Our Veterans

Veterans Day

Veterans Day is set aside to honor the men and women who have sacrificed so much in order to serve in the armed forces of the United States. It is a day of observance and celebration for those who have served in our military. 

Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day because of the November 11 Armistice that ended World War I. In 1954 it was officially changed to Veterans Day to include Veterans of all wars. 

This day is set aside to honor those who took an oath to defend the United States and our Constitution, from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Through the observance of Veterans Day, we remind ourselves of our Veterans patriotism, love of country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

M.S. Jacobs thanks our Veterans, past and present, for serving our country and protecting our freedom.

Minimize Controllable Feedwater Heater Losses Through Heat Rate Awareness


A feedwater heater is a device used in a power plant to pre-heat water being delivered to a steam generating boiler. Preheating the feedwater prior to steam generation improves the thermodynamic efficiency of the system. Heat rate is a measure of how efficiently a power plant uses heat energy. You can measure heat rate by the number of BTUs the power plant requires to generate a kilowatt hour of energy. As your heat rate goes up, so do your fuel costs. Considering fuel expenditures account for 70 to 80 percent of production costs and millions of dollars per year, improving heat rate one percent could generate five hundred thousand dollars in annual savings for a 500 megawatt power plant.

To contain fuel costs, power plants must maximize the efficiency of their feedwater heaters. That's why many companies today are focusing on improving heat rate as a way to use their feedwater heaters more effectively and significantly reduce their fuel costs.

The video above (courtesy of Magnetrol) explains ways to focus on heat rate awareness to minimize controllable losses from the feedwater system.

For more information, contact M.S. Jacobs and Associates. Call them at 800-348-0089 or visit their web site at https://msjacobs.com.

Plating Application: Chromic Acid Tank Level

Plating acid tanks
Plating acid tanks.
Chromium is widely used in the metal finishing industry for both decorative and hard-chrome plating. The chemicals used in Chrome plating are very harsh and corrosive. Chromium plating requires that the metal to be plated to be pretreated in a sodium cyanide/caustic soda bath and then plated in a chromic acid bath.

A large international plating company located in the USA needed a cost effective liquid level switching that would perform flawlessly on their chemical plating baths.

Problem
Tank level
The chemicals used in plating, specifically Chromic Acid, are extremely corrosive. Many times these chemicals need to be kept at elevated temperatures, resulting in corrosive vapors. Controls installed in and around areas where vapors are present are adversely affected.  For this customer, the tank level instruments near the chromic acid tanks were the most problematic.

Solution

Levelpro PLF
Levelpro PLF
Icon Process Controls, a manufacturer specializing in corrosion resistant fluid handling instrumentation, recommended their Levelpro PLF series plastic level switch. The Levelpro PLF provides excellent chemical resistance. Body materials are available in PVC, PP, PVDF, or 316SS. The level switch is available is sizes from 6" to 10 feet, with up to 8 different switch points, and unlike ultrasonic sensors, the PLF Series are not affected by foam, vapor, or turbulence. Additionally, they require no power and are available in N/O or N/C switch positions.

The PLF series can be used to indicate high and low levels, notification of upset conditions or turn pumps or valves on-off. They are also an excellent choice for redundant high| low level indication when used in conjunction with a continuous level sensor.

For more information, contact M.S. Jacobs and Associates. They can be reached at 800-348-0089 or you can visit their web site at https://msjacobs.com.

Coriolis Flow Meter Improves Fuel Oil Control and Efficiency at Power Plant

TRICOR’s TCM-28K
A power plant installed variable area flow meters for fuel oil feed control.  The variable area flow meters proved too unreliable to detect clogging in the burner system. The result was inefficient, unbalanced flow measurement resulting in very low burner efficiency, frequent downtime due to clogging, and heavy maintenance requirements.

The process medium was burner fuel oil at temperatures between 50 F to 210 F, with flow varying between 7 to 55 lbs/hr.

The solution was installing TRICOR’s TCM-28K Coriolis flow meter. The TCM 028K Coriolis Mass Flow Meter has a maximum mass flow rate of 28,000 kg/hr (1029 lb/min) or 4227 bbl/day and nominal size of DN25 (1”), and is rated for process pressures up to 100 bar (1450 psi). Standard accuracy for the TCM 028K is 0.3%, but with a custom calibration, 0.1% accuracy is possible. These meters have good overall accuracy, zero stability, and pressure drop. The simple self-draining U-shape tube design provides for easy cleaning/flushing.

After installation, all mentioned problems disappeared. Moreover, with the flexibility of TRICOR installation length, TRICOR was able help the customer in this challenging application to avoid extra installation costs.

ADVANTAGES:
  • Increased burner availability
  • Less downtime
  • More efficient burner management 
  • Reduced maintenance costs Increased productivity
For more information, contact M.S. Jacobs by calling 800-348-0089 or visit their web site at https://msjacobs.com.