A customer who services the oil industry in many capacities approached Tempco looking for help replacing a competitor-supplied cast-in heater. The heater they were using had issues maintaining contact within the application because it was sagging in some areas. Our customer thought a heater with light-weight construction would help resolve this issue.

The first issue Tempco came across was the size of the cast-in band heater. The existing heater was approximately 13” in diameter and 15” wide. This was too wide for both a mica insulated band heater and a mineral insulated band heater. However, a ceramic band heater could easily be manufactured in this size while meeting the customer goal of utilizing a lighter weight heater within their application.

The second issue we encountered was the location of the heater termination. Due to the machine design and insulation around the heater, the cast-in heater they were using had a terminal box that was approximately four inches above the top of the heater. A standard ceramic band heater termination directly on top of the heater would not work within this machine. Thanks to our engineers and flexible manufacturing processes, Tempco was able to design a terminal box that could place the heater termination the required four inches above the heater. We accomplished this without deviating from our standard manufacturing methods and we gave the customer the plug and play solution they needed.

In the end, Tempco helped our customer avoid having to rework their machine and saved them from dealing with additional delays and considerable costs.