beanflying wrote:
You could do that too but I like my drum Roasters 🙂 I had thought about putting other roaster types like the fluid beds etc in here but left it just drum. Do you know off hand if that just applies to Natural gas or does it apply to bottle gas as well? Electric is looking good.
Timbo - As Ewan noted, the ESV requirements (or I should say principles) will be similar for both fuel types, however, with LPG there are likely to be a few extra steps around fuel storage being a certain distance from the appliance, potentially outdoor location, etc. If anyone is in the market for a a gas-fired roaster, then try to confirm whether it is deemed Type A or B early in your research - in fact, this should perhaps be a more important criteria than your perceived view of whether brand X is better than brand Y. The logic here is that a Type B might look good in terms of specs and reviews from overseas, but by the time you have to replace some items, it may not work 100% the same as the original designer intended. Type A is like your typical BBQ, etc. and will normally have an AGA code - this makes life a whole lot easier. I'm not 100% certain, but Mark generally does most of the work on the HG's to get them right before he ships them to the end-customer. For Type B, you then need to find a Type B gasfitter (there are not many of them around, or if they are, they are way too busy on large furnaces and big companies and will be impossible to get an appointment). In order to achieve compliance, it will be necessary for the gasfitter and an electrician to go through all the fuel and electrical schematics (if available) to understand the controls. It could be necessary to replace the fitted burner with an AGA approved model (not particularly expensive) but it will be the way in which airflow, pilots, purge sweeps and other safety methods operate that will determine what needs to be done to the roaster to bring it up to compliance. Most roaster builders will not publish the internal specs of their system for fear of their designs being copied - that's fair enough. But the paradox is that these sort of details are required to make the roaster compliant. Don't be surprised if you waste 6+ weeks on the back & forth and overall certification timelines can take up to 9 months - which is fine because ESV will let you have up to 12 months commissioning supply. Fire suppressant technology may be required in the drum, cyclone or flue area, as will extra manual over-temp sensors. This really comes down to a risk assessment and size of equipment. The reason ES Vic are more difficult to achieve compliance is because they do not trust PLC technology, deferring to 30 year old systems for safety control. Installing check/proving switches in duplicate can seem frustrating when all you want to do is roast. Of course, once all the mods are done, it then needs to be tested with ESV inspections using special equipment to measure items such as airflow in various parts of the roaster, emissions in the flue, pressure, etc. There is a move in some areas of Australia to allow Type B self-regulation by some approved license holders - this involves the experienced (and trusted) combustion expert being able to make all the mods, perform the testing, submit the results and then hopefully achieve certification with less involvement from the local state Energy Safe. There are some roasters running around Victoria that are not certified and that's purely a decision those owners make. Jeff
