New thermal insulative coating enhances personnel protection, minimizes corrosion

Oil and gas operators looking to enhance worker safety and minimize corrosion under insulation (CUI) risks can turn to a new insulative acrylic coating from Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings.

Heat-Flex® 3500 is a multipurpose insulative acrylic coating for industrial systems that’s designed for both personnel protection and mitigating CUI. The coating enables dangerously hot systems like piping and ductwork to stay cool to the touch, preventing burns and protecting the safety of personnel.

The coating can be applied directly to ambient or hot surfaces up to 350° F, offering rigs and production platforms the flexibility to reduce downtime by keeping systems online during coating and recoating applications. In addition, Heat-Flex 3500 also insulates hot and cold surfaces, helping industrial processes retain heat and preventing condensation on cold surfaces by maintaining surface temperatures above the dew point.

The insulative and anti-corrosive properties of Heat-Flex 3500 enable operators to eliminate concerns related to CUI. The protective coating system prevents corrosion-causing condensation on the exterior of piping, ductwork, and other surfaces wrapped in conventional insulation and cladding. It performs so well at mitigating corrosion that structures coated with Heat-Flex 3500 can be removed from CUI inspection protocols.

“Every facility is concerned with safety and minimizing CUI risk,” said Ron Knecht, Regional Market Director, Oil and Gas. “Heat-Flex 3500 offers oil and gas facilities a new way to protect their most valuable assets – their personnel – from injuries. In addition, the coating system can eliminate CUI, one of the costliest problems facing oil and gas operations today.”

Available in white and slate gray, Heat-Flex 3500 is suitable for coating pipes, valves, tanks, vessels, heaters, and boilers to compressors, pumps, containers, stacks, and ductwork that operate in temperature ranges between -80° F and +350° F.

Heat-Flex 3500 goes on fast and easy to save application time and costs. Its single-component, waterborne acrylic formulation can be applied with standard airless equipment. Its very fast dry time allows for recoating within two hours. In addition, Heat-Flex 3500 minimizes overspray risks with droplets drying to a non-adhering dust within a 20-ft fall.