01299 823158

Case Study

Is your penstock containment system working?

Case Study

Is your penstock containment system working?

It is critical that you test your spill containment processes and systems regularly and here are two common faults that you should be looking out for.

We often get calls to carry out servicing of site generic pollution containment valves. One of the major issues we have to deal with are penstock valves that have either not been set to close fully or sites that have noticed that when they close a penstock valve they don’t stop the flow completely.

A global aerospace engineering company based in Wolverhampton asked our engineers to carry out an annual service of the pollution containment penstock sited at the final outfall into a balancing pond. The valve appeared yo operate open/close, however during the confined space inspection we found the valve stops were set at the wrong point. We couldn’t see any evidence of adjustment and could only conclude that the valve had never been set to close fully.

We carried out adjustment to allow the valve to fully close. This achieved valve close for our customer, but not containment as the original valve was originally specified incorrectly. This should serve as a warning to all sites that rely on a pollution containment valve to make sure that the system they have installed will actually contain a pollution release if a spill event were to occur.

Sandfield Penstock Solutions are currently servicing pollution control valves for a UK dairy. During our first service at any site we aim to understand the performance of the existing assets against operational requirements. An all to common fault is to utilise site mains power to operate site pollution containment valves.

Our client called us out as an emergency response following a failure of the system to operate. The fault occurred due to a  simple short from a trailer charge point that had tripped out the sites valve controls. Often equipment overflow happens during a power outage, connecting containment valves to site mains power without emergency backup needs to be avoided, as a powerless containment system is clearly ineffective.

The whole purpose of a pollution containment system is it operates during an emergency. By the time you are experiencing an emergency, whether that is a spill event or a fire, it is too late to discover that your systems don’t operate. We recommend regular servicing and testing of your containment facilities and we would love to helping you with that.

If spill containment and CIRIA736 compliance is currently a consideration for you please do not hesitate to call 01299 823158 or email us, we will be very happy to discuss our solutions with you.

If spill containment and CIRIA736 compliance is currently a consideration for you please do not hesitate to call 0330 223 4372 or email us, we will be very happy to discuss our solutions with you.

Testimonials

 

"I was introduced to Sandfield about six years ago when the company I worked for asked me to look at the installation of some new penstock valves and servicing of our pollution control valves across the group sites. After talking to Sandfield and meeting their engineers we gave Sandfield our UK service contract.

We then went on to install Toggleblok valves as we were impressed by how it all worked with a minimum amount of civil work required in most instances.

I have recommended Sandfield Penstock Solutions' Toggleblok to many companies over the last few years. They have a very professional and effective approach to water and waste control systems."

Richard Smith

Manager, Anon.

"County Drains have been working with Sandfield for many years.

We have found their knowledge of the Environmental Regulations a benefit to our customers and the products to prevent pollution are second to none."

Stewart Osgood

Director, County Drains, Leicestershire

"Sandfield supply our Company with superior quality equipment and their engineering knowledge has been invaluable during the development of our products. More importantly Sandfield support us by adapting to the many challenging requests we give them and the tight delivery schedules we ask of them."

R Morgan

Design Engineering

"Working with Sandfield allowed us to use existing site topography and drainage systems to maximise emergency containment  on site, creating meaningful quick response scenario’s which are easily communicated to, and understood by regulatory bodies, emergency services and on site staff. We now satisfy our legal duties set out in our operational permit and under COMAH regulations.

During site operation we have confidence that we are able to cope with emergency situations around the clock. Sandfield Penstock Solutions have installed systems, which are not overly complicated and allow for rapid troubleshooting when faults are found during routine testing and planning for alternative arrangements when issues occur."

Graham Vaughan

HSE Manager, Abbey Metal Finishing

"Great product, great installation, what more can I say?"

Gary

Leading Automotive Manufacturer

"We have used Sandfield  for well over 30 years. We supply food and pharmaceutical process equipment and as such we must adhere to strict standards for our machinery components.

Sandfield can always be relied upon for a fast, courteous and professional service, the quality of the finished goods are generally very high.

We would have no hesitation in recommending anyone to use Sandfield Engineering."

Antony Hare

Managing Director, Farley Greene Ltd

"Sandfield also have a design facility to cover all aspects of standard and non standard clamping arrangements.

I have always found Sandfield clamps to be robust and cost effective.

Their delivery and technical support is excellent and I have no reservations in recommending them to any manufacturer."

D. Bibb

Eberspacher

"I was introduced to Sandfield about six years ago when the company I worked for asked me to look at the installation of some new penstock valves and servicing of our pollution control valves across the group sites. After talking to Sandfield and meeting their engineers we gave Sandfield our UK service contract.

We then went on to install Toggleblok valves as we were impressed by how it all worked with a minimum amount of civil work required in most instances.

I have recommended Sandfield Penstock Solutions' Toggleblok to many companies over the last few years. They have a very professional and effective approach to water and waste control systems."

Richard Smith

Manager, Anon.

"County Drains have been working with Sandfield for many years.

We have found their knowledge of the Environmental Regulations a benefit to our customers and the products to prevent pollution are second to none."

Stewart Osgood

Director, County Drains, Leicestershire

"Sandfield supply our Company with superior quality equipment and their engineering knowledge has been invaluable during the development of our products. More importantly Sandfield support us by adapting to the many challenging requests we give them and the tight delivery schedules we ask of them."

R Morgan

Design Engineering

"Working with Sandfield allowed us to use existing site topography and drainage systems to maximise emergency containment  on site, creating meaningful quick response scenario’s which are easily communicated to, and understood by regulatory bodies, emergency services and on site staff. We now satisfy our legal duties set out in our operational permit and under COMAH regulations.

During site operation we have confidence that we are able to cope with emergency situations around the clock. Sandfield Penstock Solutions have installed systems, which are not overly complicated and allow for rapid troubleshooting when faults are found during routine testing and planning for alternative arrangements when issues occur."

Graham Vaughan

HSE Manager, Abbey Metal Finishing

"Great product, great installation, what more can I say?"

Gary

Leading Automotive Manufacturer

"We have used Sandfield  for well over 30 years. We supply food and pharmaceutical process equipment and as such we must adhere to strict standards for our machinery components.

Sandfield can always be relied upon for a fast, courteous and professional service, the quality of the finished goods are generally very high.

We would have no hesitation in recommending anyone to use Sandfield Engineering."

Antony Hare

Managing Director, Farley Greene Ltd

"Sandfield also have a design facility to cover all aspects of standard and non standard clamping arrangements.

I have always found Sandfield clamps to be robust and cost effective.

Their delivery and technical support is excellent and I have no reservations in recommending them to any manufacturer."

D. Bibb

Eberspacher

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