I assume that frozen corn syrup is not fun to work with and I assume that some products if allowed to freeze such as some hydrogated oils could be damaged if allowed to freeze. Milk when frozen becomes unusable…
So when ordering tank cars can you tell me what is a heating coil and how does it work?
I’m no expert on this, but I believe the heating coils allows the receiver to put steam into the coils and warm the product in the car so it will flow out. These tank cars are also insulated so the shipper puts the product in hot and it takes quite some time for it to completely cool. I’m pretty sure that molten sulphur is done this way.
Soo6049
The heating coils are to facilitate unloading by the consignee.
Steam coils are being phased out in favor of electrical heating elements. Steam is costly to produce and the coils themselves are subject to corrosion. Good ole 440V, 3-phase AC is easily routed to the unloading site and is plugged into the car.
Tankcars carring lading needing some sort of thermal protection have sufficient insulation to prevent unwanted freezing enroute.
As someone that had to clean out a PVC tanker on a hot (by our local standards)day, I can state that the insulation on those cars was pretty good! I crawled out of a car after only 15 minutes, dreched in sweat and almost ready to pass out! My boss got on my case so I told him to go in there. He only lasted about five minutes in there. Then we both cooled off, and i’ll give credit to that (otherwise) S.O.B.! He changed the procedure for entry into PVC cars, to permit more cool down time. I co-signed it, and that procedure stands to this day! There were heating coils in the car, that were given a “shot” of steam prior to being filled to permit the PVC to remain fluid as it was pumped into the tanker. I have respect for the folks that load that gawd awful stuff, it is nasty to work with. I will never forget that stench, or the headaches that stuff caused!