Temporarily closing, or mothballing, a power plant is not as simple as just shutting it down. The atmosphere inside vital equipment such as turbines, generators and boilers must be preserved by maintaining low relative humidity, helping prevent corrosion or degradation. This is achieved through carefully managed dehumidification ensuring that once re-opened the power station will be quickly and fully operational.
Active gas power stations are extremely damp environments, yet without proper care and control, humidity damages plant. Control is achieved via dehumidifiers which use moisture-adsorbing materials such as silica gel.
Humidistats ensure dehumidification is reactive, automatically ensuring systems are only active when humidity levels rise above a pre-determined figure thereby saving on intervention and reducing energy consumption.
Mothballing is often for an indeterminate time, so while the temptation to buy dehumidifiers may be great, hiring is a more appropriate and cost-effective solution as it saves on capital and passes on responsibility for maintenance and servicing to the specialist hire company.
A common alternative to deploying dehumidifiers is to use nitrogen to fill areas to be mothballed. This however has disadvantages as nitrogen does not always reach particularly intricate areas of pipework and being inert it carries a health and safety risk, which can lead to complications if mothballed zones need to be physically monitored.
When mothballing power plant, hiring dehumidifiers should be considered seriously. From system supply to expert advice and the ability for specialist hire companies to ensure businesses meet legislative requirements, hire is very effective