The Disconnect Switches Cost as Much as the Fans!
Yes, that was correct but these were customer specified Allen Bradley NEMA 4X (stainless) combination starter disconnects with auxiliary contacts and start-stop buttons.
They were required when Anheuser-Busch decided to upgrade its St. Louis bottling plant, a 125-year old building. The building is slated to become a National Historic Landmark and is currently part of the Brewery Tour for visitors.Ventilation plans for this five story building included 21 32,000 cfm exhaust fans and four 25,000 cfm filtered supply fans in an attached adjacent building.
The Aerovent representative, Pero Sales, worked with the engineers and contractors for almost a year until the design was finalized, resulting in a nice order for 21 48L425-DDP exhaust fans and four 48L425-FSWD filtered supply fans.
In addition to the NEMA 4X starter/disconnect switches, these fans also included a number of other features:
- Direct drive construction for low maintenance
- 12 gauge, all-welded “wall boxes” (adapters)
- Fans completely enclosed in the box
- Motor operated center pivoted dampers
- Optimized blade angle for lowest sound and horsepower
- Factory wiring of motors, dampers, and transformers to the starters
- Special “Bevo” green paint to match the building
The fans have been running since July and the internal building temperatures have been reduced. Anheuser-Busch is pleased with the operation and appearance of these units.
Although the factory mounted and wired NEMA 4X disconnects were expensive, they saved quite a bit of field labor, so they were very cost effective.