If you have High Care production areas then pressurisation will be an issue. We advise a lot of major food manufacturers on the best practice for achieving correct pressure control within production spaces. “One recurring issue that we see again and again are unnecessarily large or redundant apertures in High Care boundary walls. All unnecessary openings increase the volume of air required to achieve the required room pressure.
As a rough guide a 500mm x 500mm opening requires a pressurisation volume of 660 l/s to maintain a 10Pa pressure difference. Assuming the area is held at 10°C, pressurisation air is drawn from outside and allowing 24/7 operation, the additional electrical power consumption to cool and move the air required to compensate for this one aperture equates to around £1200 per annum.
As an example we recently completed a 2 day survey for one of the leading meat processing companies in the UK. They had been quoted £60,000 by another company to sort out the pressure balance. By following our advice the client cured the problem at minimal cost be closing up all unnecessary apertures.
Top tip – “Remember to look under the conveyor.”
