Industrial Chimney Repairs and Maintenance Services

Industrial Chimney and its Purposes: Industrial chimneys are tall vertical structures constructed adjacent to the factory, to emit toxic gases, that are produced by furnace, boilers etc on combustion. Industrial Chimneys are generally built with RCC, Brick or Steel. The chimneys are connected through ductwork.

The air inside the factory is negative, gases inside the flue stack are less dense than the ambient air outside the factory chimney, and this high pressure drives the air into the combustion and gases into flue stack and pushes it to the heights and thus emits the gases out of the chimney. This movement of air into the combustion and gases into the flue stack is known as draft or stack effect and is a process of natural ventilation.

This kind of natural ventilation and air movements are also used in the construction of Roofs and PEB through ridge ventilators, turbo vents etc.

Both the interior and exterior of the chimney needs periodic inspections, and rectifications, as found shall be carried out and some are discussed below:

The Industrial Chimney inner wall Liners:

The smokestack inner walls shall be protected from acidic reactions and heat gains by adding any one of the following liners:

• Borosilicate Blocks
• Refractory Bricks
• Vinyl Ester Resin

Industrial chimney Painting Services:

Exterior walls shall be protected by painting waterproofing emulsions for RCC chimney and epoxies for steel chimneys. Irrespective of the materials by which the chimneys are made up of, the surfaces need to be properly prepared by cleaning, power washing or hydro-blasting, before painting.

The chimneys need to be painted with Red, White and Grey colors to make it visible for Aircrafts, to protect it from corrosion and for ensuring heat resistance.

Industrial Chimney Structural Repairs and Maintenance Services:

Flue Gas Stack are generally constructed with RCC or Steel. Over the period of time the RCC walls may shrink and crack due to various factors like poor concrete quality, inappropriate reinforcement spacing, improper aggregates, and inadequate curing time etc.

Shrinkage is a main cause of cracking. As concrete hardens and dries it shrinks. This is due to the evaporation of excess mixing water. The wetter the concrete mix, the greater the shrinkage.  Due to improper and non regular maintenance these small cracks develops into larger ones and becomes much worse as the water seeps into the concrete through these cracks and corrodes the steel reinforcements and results in withering, flaking of concrete.
The industrial chimneys that are built with steel sheets corrode over period of time due to paints fading, moisture and rains etc, as a result the steel flakes, and the steel member loses its strength and has an impact on the structural integrity too.

Glasshoppers provides structural repairs and maintenance services for both industrial Chimneys that are made up of RCC and Steel, which includes Carbon Fiber Wraps etc.

Industrial Chimney Other Services:

The following protectors need to be installed, for all tall structures that include chimneys, as per the regulations and Glasshoppers provides the same:

• The AWL (Aviation Warning Lights) systems shall be installed as per the norms, to make it visible for Aircrafts.
• The lighting arrestors shall be installed for all the tall structures; those are beyond the stipulated heights, for protection from lightning and resultant damages.

Industrial Chimney Demolition Services:

In case the client wishes to remove or demolish the part of the chimney and replace it with new chimney, we shall be able to provide this service, irrespective of the height and conditions, as we have through knowledge of design, engineering, fabrication and work at heights.

Industrial Chimney- Work Access Challenges & Work Positioning Systems:

As discussed before, the industrial chimneys are standalone tall verticals structures and any work on these structures is completely different from regular work at heights services for the following reasons:

• There will be no lifts, stairs to reach the working point rather one has to physically, manually climb through ladder approximately 150-300 feet and there are chimneys that are up to 600 feet too.
• Sometimes the ladders has to be created for providing the maintenance, this means create the work at height system as you go.
• Unlike other structures, here the work positioning systems like platforms, cradles, mast, rigs etc has to be created depending upon the work and this means for creating these systems, one has to physically, manually lift these to the heights or plan a suitable crane to the extent possible.
• Confined space system to be created if the work is inside the chimneys etc

So how do we access? What is the work positioning system?

Depends upon the nature of work, site condition, work location and structural design of work access system. On answering the above, one needs to plan on fabrication, hoisting, rigging techniques and the most importantly, steeplejacks shall be well trained and experienced.

Should you need Industrial Chimney Cleaning Services or Industrial Chimney Painting Services, Please write to us @ jayanth@4ccs.in