Absolute Zero in Chile

Recently, our company president, Paul Herman, took a trip down to one of our newest and most exciting markets, Chile. While there, Paul met with Firwin’s Chilean distributor, in order to continue to develop durable, high quality removable insulation blankets, covers, and jackets, and insulation solutions.

At Firwin, every project we work on is our most important. However, some are more difficult than others. On his trip, Paul faced one of the biggest challenges in the insulation blanket world: cryogenics.

Cryogenics is the study of how matter behaves at very low temperatures, all the way down to almost absolute zero (-459.67°F). In the industrial realm, cryogenics is used to create gases - nitrogen, oxygen, and helium - at these subzero temperatures. As you might imagine, the pipes that carry these gases are, to say the least, on the cold side. In fact, they get so cold that they become serious workplace hazards. Touching them can result in a worker becoming stuck, which can lead to serious medical issues.  Just for clarification, this isn’t the same as when a kid gets his tongue stuck to a cold flag pole— it’s much more severe and puts workers’ health at real risk. Another problem is ice build-up, which occurs because of the temperature difference between the gases in the pipe and the air in the facility. Because of this, the pipes cannot be outfitted with permanent insulation.

Firwin hopes to be able to solve these problems with specially designed removable insulation that would act as an ice barrier, protect personnel from cold pipes, and allow maintenance workers to remove and replace the insulation to access valves.

Stay tuned for blog updates about the progress of this unique project. . .

LFP™ Chemical Spray Shields

We all know how annoying it is when the pipes under your bathroom sink spring a leak: ruined toiletries, soaked towels, and a big bill from the plumber.  Now imagine if you owned a piping system that didn’t carry water to the sink, but corrosive fluids under extremely high pressure. When these systems leak, you have to worry about more than just buying a new hairdryer.  

At Firwin, we provide our customers with custom manufactured chemical spray shields that offer innovative spray and leak containment from accidental gasket ruptures. Unlike our competitors, our LFP™ Chemical Spray Shields are made of a non-porous, all PTFE material that guarantees performance against harmful spray-out and leakage no matter the severity or duration of chemical exposure. Our LFP™ shields can handle temperatures from -100F° to 550°F. In addition, they can be used in almost any industrial setting, including pharmaceutical, gas and oil, offshore, marine, chemical processing, FDA approved, cryogenic, and clean room applications. Just in case that isn’t impressive enough, LFP™ also won the 1995 DuPont Plunket Award and Chemical processing’s Vaaler Award. 

 With all the benefits of our LFP™ Chemical Spray Shields, it should come as no shock that a multi-national gas company headquartered in the Middle East recently approached Firwin to help them complete a new processing plant.  The customer ordered almost 700 custom spray shields in a wide variety of sizes for use throughout their plant.  Over a period of six months, we worked hand in hand with them to make sure that every one of our spray shield fit and functioned perfectly. 

This success story is a perfect example of how Firwin is able to combine outstanding and innovative technology with old fashion, high quality customer service.  If you want to learn more about our LFP™ Chemical Spray Shield visit our website, or contact us today!

Firwin Goes Way out West

Western Canada, which includes major population centers like Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton, has always played a big role in the global energy industry.  The region is one of the world’s largest exporters of energy resources and contains 13% of the world’s oil reserves, and 8% of the uranium reserves. However, in recent years, the rush to mine and drill almost every corner of the region has been off the charts.  There are even 12 working oil wells within Calgary’s (population 1,200,000) city limits!

At Firwin, we have been making a big effort to expand our business into western Canada.  Thanks to our amazing sales staff and quality insulation jackets, heat shields, and insulation covers, our expansion has been going very well.  In fact, we are in the middle of delivering a large order of insulation covers to a massive oil processing plant in the heart of Western Canada. The 3000 insulation covers are being used to cover some very sensitive and crucial industrial valves at the plant. Due to the region’s often extreme and unpredictable weather, keeping flanges, flow meters, and other instrumentation properly covered is of the utmost importance. Monitoring and maintaining correct line temperatures, raises the level of worker and equipment safety and productivity.  One of the best ways to accomplish this daunting task is by using proper insulation covers.

All Firwin insulation covers and blankets are manufactured in ISO 9001:2008 certified facilities and provide excellent heat retention and protection from environmental conditions such as heat, cold, and chemicals. On top of all of these benefits, our blankets allow for quick and efficient removal and re-installation so downtime is limited and your valves and flanges stay protected longer.

At Firwin, we are excited about increasing our footprint in western Canada, and spreading our unique combination of safety, cost-efficiency, and unmatched service and quality.

How to Install Firwin Removable Blankets

Finding the perfect insulation blanket is only half of the battle. If you choose the experts at Firwin to then you are off to a great start! However, without proper installation, even the highest quality insulation jackets, insulation covers, and heat shields won’t work properly and can give you a false sense of security.

To ensure your removable insulation functions properly and provides optimal heat reduction, you need to follow some important steps.

Before you begin installing our removable insulation blankets on your straight pipes, you first need a few tools:

     •Stainless steel lacing wire

     •Gloves

     •Pliers and/or side cutters

As well, you need to know exactly where you are going install the blanket before starting. It may seem like a simple thing, but you need to be 100% sure about its placement before moving forward.

Once your tools and location are all set to go, it is time to install.

Step#1: Wrap the blanket around the pipe and form and compress the blanket while working close to the seam

Step#2 : Form a loop in the wire and hook it around the first rivet or hook

Step#3: Lace the wire across the blanket to close the seam.

Step#4: Lace entire length of the insulation blanket. After lacing the last rivet/hook, cut away lacing wire and wrap any of the excess wire around the last rivet.

On top of these four crucial steps, you must also remember that the outer material should never come in direct contact with any hot surface. As well, do not forget to inspect the blankets on a regular basis.

If you can follow these instructions, then you will be able to have confidence that your Firwin Removable Insulation Blankets will maintain peak performance. If you have any questions or need more details, please contact Firwin today.

Firwin and Chile

As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, open-pit mining is a great way to extract minerals and ore from the earth, but it becomes less effective when you start exhausting materials relatively close to the surface. It is at this crucial point that entire industries must make a choice: move on to another open-pit opportunity, or start the more difficult, time consuming, and expensive process of underground mining. This very dilemma is currently playing out in the Chilean copper mining industry. For years, copper mining has been the #1 industry in Chile. In 2000, Chile produced 35% of the world’s mined copper and it accounted for 40.5% of their export earnings, which translated into 25% of their GDP.[1] In 2006 alone, Chile exported $33.3 billion worth of copper. With copper being so critical to the health and survival of the Chilean economy, it is not surprising that their mining industry has begun a very ambitious underground mining project. The state-owned Corporacion del Cobre, the world’s largest copper producer, is planning to invest $3.28 billion in just one project to extend the working life of the world’s largest underground mine by 47 years. 

Because it’s hard to imagine any kind of mining without Firwin’s outstanding insulation and safety products, we recently acquired a new distributor in Chile. By signing up with the experts at Ventas,  Firwin hopes to gain a much larger foothold in the Chilean mining market. The timing couldn’t be better, and we hope that we will be able to help keep a future generation of Chilean miners safe and protected with our wide array of insulation products.

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[1] http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Chile-MINING.html

The Maid of the Mist and Firwin

At Firwin, we insulate a lot of serious equipment. Economies across the globe rely heavily on the mining, trucking, and marine industries. All of these endeavors can be dangerous without the quality insulation that Firwin provides. However, insulation isn’t all about hard work, it can also be about having fun. 

Since the first person set eyes on Niagara Falls, it has been a natural wonder that people have traveled far and wide to experience. By the mid 18^th century, tourism had become Niagara Falls leading industry and that remains the case two and a half centuries later. Since 1846, the best way to see the falls has been from the deck of the Maid of the Mist tour boat. While it started out as a simple steamboat ferry, today there are actually four large diesel powered Maid of the Mists in service. Firwin is proud to have helped insulate these historic boats. Our marine and steam line insulation dramatically reduces heat loss from engine exhausts, piping, silencers, and piping. Because there isn’t much elbow room in the engine room of a smaller water craft, it’s even more important to shield the crew from excesses heat all while maximizing the effectiveness of exhaust catalytic purifiers and filters. That is why the Maid of the Mist fleet relies on Firwin insulation to guarantee that every trip past Niagara Falls is a safe and enjoyable one.

Firwin and Mine Safety

COPIAPO, Chile where 33 miners were trapped in a collapsed mine

From August to October of 2010, it was next to impossible to watch TV for more than 10 minutes without hearing about the 33 miners trapped in a collapsed gold mine 2,300 ft below Chile’s harsh and isolated Atacama Desert. The Copiapó mining accident captivated the world even after the miners safely returned to the surface.  It not only highlighted the strength of the human spirit, but it also shined yet another light on how dangerous mining can be. This near tragedy reminded us that even in the modern world, we cannot afford to ignore basic mine safety.  

In our last blog, we discussed the basics of open pit and underground mining. Today, we are going to highlight the challenges of both styles of mining and the substantial role that Firwin plays in keeping the mining industry safe. 

Open Pit Mining

Open pits, while being overall less demanding than underground mining, carry with them their own set of challenges. As with any activity involving large equipment like multi-ton trucks, loaders, and drills you need to use insulation blankets to shield personnel, cabling, and all heat sensitive controls from extreme temperatures.  However, open pit mining also introduces the problem of excessive sound and vibration.

Many open pit mines across the world are located near population centers, especially in countries like Australia. Therefore, companies have to find a way to effectively mine, without disturbing nearby residents and businesses.  Firwin has insulation blankets that combine both temperature and noise/vibration protection, thus allowing open pit mines to run 24-7 safely and without causing local resentment and structural damage. 

Underground Mining

As the world has turned more and more to underground mining, Firwin has started to focus on developing a special line of insulation products aimed at the unique challenges of underground mining. Digging any tunnel, shaft, or adit is difficult, time consuming, expensive, and inherently dangerous. After a good deal of research and testing, Firwin created our proprietary MineWrap™ Removable Insulation Blankets expressly for underground mining.

MineWrap™ Removable Insulation Blankets

Our MineWrap™ addresses some of the less obvious areas of concern of underground mining. It protects again the dangers of hydraulic oils spills on hot engine surfaces, reduces operator burns, limits oil seepage, and can withstand extreme wear and tear. Though not as well documented as cave-ins like Copiapó, these problems can lead to equally as devastating occurrences. 

Whichever mining technique our customers utilize, they know that Firwin has the products, experience, and expertise to make the mining process safer, cleaner, and more productive. Furthermore, all of our mining insulation is custom made to fit your specific equipment and our blankets conform to UL2000 standards. If you want to learn more about our mining insulation, visit our website or contact an expert at Firwin today.