Laws relating to pollution prevention and control dominate the operations of Waddington Waste, a waste management and recycling company based in West Yorkshire. In order to ensure that it continues to adhere to current health and safety regulations Waddington’s has its 15 industrial fans serviced twice a year by industrial fan manufacturer Woodcock & Wilson.

Waddington Waste’s core business involves the processing of food waste and animal by-products. The company’s customers include waste producers from every sector of food manufacturing and preparation.

Specialising in the disposal of liquid and sewage waste and food waste from some of the country’s major supermarkets and bakeries, Waddington’s have a responsibility to consider the environmental impact of their work, maintain a clean working environment, use energy efficiently, take measures to reduce emissions, and avoid accidents.

Gases, fumes, dust, dirt and odours are common by-products of food waste. For this reason Waddington’s has 15 heavy duty industrial fans to control emissions and prevent pollution. Ranging from small gas boosters to large extraction fans, the machinery comes from a range of manufacturers, including the Huddersfield fan manufacturer Woodcock & Wilson, which also provides regular fan servicing and maintenance for all Waddington’s fans.

Depending on its application a fan can have a life span of more than forty years, during which time numerous potential problems can occur. Dirt can collect on the impeller, for instance, throwing the fan out of balance and the bearings and motor can fail.

Neglecting to maintain a fan can lead to a noisy and uncomfortable working environment due to increased vibration, potentially breaching Noise and Vibration Legislation, and there is also the risk of danger from critical failure to the rotating parts. On-site fan maintenance and servicing is a serious health and safety issue and preventing potential problems also saves time and money.

Woodcock & Wilson service the fans at Waddington’s every six months. A typical service takes a full day and involves:

• Inspecting the overall condition of fans.
• Inspecting fan bearings for wear and re-greasing or replacing where necessary.
• Inspecting, adjusting or replacing drive belts on belt driven fans.
• Inspecting and checking alignment of couplings on direct coupled fans and replacing coupling if necessary.
• Removing access doors and checking impeller for wear or damage.
• Test running fans and monitoring vibration levels. Fans are balanced if vibration is above permitted level.

“Our fans are at the heart of our operational system so they have to be reliable at all times,” says Waddington group chairman, Mark Waddington. “Regular servicing ensures that reliability and the engineers at Woodcock & Wilson give us the dedicated support we need.

“It’s amazing how quickly things start to go wrong once you stop servicing fans. We work in a harsh environment and cannot afford to have our fans out of action for long periods of time.”

Woodcock & Wilson has seen significant growth in its fan servicing operation this year as more companies realise that having their fans maintained and serviced regularly can prevent serious health and safety issues, as well as save time and money. This growth also reflects the fact that the engineers at Woodcock & Wilson understand the construction principals of fan manufacturing and design, allowing them to draw on their in-house expertise when inspecting fans on site.

Mark Jones, Woodcock & Wilson’s managing director says: “We are renowned for manufacturing high quality, reliable fans. Our aim is to build on that reputation and educate companies that neglecting to maintain a fan can lead to critical failure of rotating parts and cause fatal accidents, not to mention the costs associated with repair and lost production time when fans break down.”

Woodcock & Wilson was established more than 35 years ago. The company manufactures centrifugal and axial fan designs for an extensive range of applications, including heating and ventilation, air pollution control, petro-chemical, offshore and process engineering. Its contract maintenance and repair service enables fan users to maintain and maximise performance levels.

For further information about on-site servicing and fan balancing contact Richard Wilson at Woodcock & Wilson.

Tel: 01484 462 777             Fax: 01484 462 888             Email: service@fanmanufacturers.com

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