News

Working in London’s financial district at a major insurance institution, Hydratec has now completed two hydraulic system modernisations in a Grade I listed building in Central London.

There were many challenges to overcome including the weight of the equipment being removed and installed (one jack weighed over 7000kg), the problems with installing the power units where space was at a premium and making sure we had safe working spaces. It meant a complete redesign of the motor room layout.

The original motor room had three power units installed with minimal clearances between them. The floor dimensions were not large enough to fit the new power units and larger controllers. Fortunately, it was high enough to allow for a mezzanine floor to be built. The incoming mains intake cupboard also had to be repositioned, to give more clearances.

The requirement for a bund tank meant Hydratec had to design, build and install a custom-sized aluminium drip tray and bracketry. The pipework was also custom-made due to the number of bends needed. In order to avoid pressure losses, Hydratec had specially fabricated, large-diameter steel piping made, with special fittings. All the pipe work was measured, cut and trial fitted on-site before being welded and powder coated. To differentiate the two sets of pipework, the client specified the striking red and yellow colour scheme.

Previously refurbished in 2020, the building’s two existing 5-stop machine-room-less hydraulic lifts were having reliability issues. As a result, Hydratec was approached for the supply and installation of two Hydratec smart™ hydraulic lift modernisation packages. Included in the smart™ packages were Thames Valley Controls controllers and Bucher iValve power units.

Due to the client’s request for the units to be easily accessible and to blend in with the building’s aesthetics, the smart™ cabinets were tailor-made to match the building’s colour scheme and were built into a recess. Now fully complete, the installation project also included removing the power units from the pit to the landing and relocating the incoming mains power supply.

Hydratec would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We would like to thank all of our customers for the continued partnership throughout 2021, and we look forward to working with you again in the coming year.

Here are our opening hours during the Christmas holiday period:

For further information on our services, please don’t hesitate to call either of our offices, located in Yateley, Hampshire and Heywood, near Manchester.

The Hydratec Team

With the improvements in hydraulic drive technology, it is always worthwhile exploring the options you have during partial modernisation of your hydraulic lift.

When considering a controller upgrade it is most likely due to age or unreliability. If the controller is 30 years old, for example, so is the rest of the equipment. The power unit is often overlooked or just given an overhaul. What is sometimes not considered is the benefits of combining that new controller with a new power unit.

A new power unit can give you improved ride comfort through closed-loop control, more efficient drive, reduced energy consumption, and improved starts per hour. It will also replace the 30 year old pump, motor and valve with the resulting guarantees on the new equipment.

There are many hydraulic lifts where the ram connects under the car frame and the cylinder sits in the ground; this arrangement is generally known as a borehole system.

A borehole, typically between 500 and 750mm diameter, is drilled into the ground. A steel liner is then lowered into the borehole, which is capped at the bottom with either with a steel plate or with a concrete plug. The liner is plumbed and then backfilled between the borehole and the outside of the liner with concrete. Steelwork is then added above the liner, to provide a fixing point for the suspension plate which is attached to the cylinder. The cylinder is then lowered into the borehole, with appropriate protection being applied as it lowered down.

Over the years, the steel liner or concrete plug can deteriorate and allow water into the liner. Well applied cylinder protection will protect the cylinder from corrosion, but it has to be applied correctly. Where the integrity of the liner is breached, water will enter the liner. In a lot of cases, this is mistaken for oil, the reason being that oil floats on water. Looking down into a borehole, you will see any residual oil on the surface, and it is often assumed that the borehole must be full of oil. In 99.9% of cases it is a few litres of oil floating on top of a large quantity of water. You will often find the level of the fluid in the borehole rising and falling; this is caused by the rising and falling of the water table, rather than any inherent problem with the cylinder.

It is always advisable to confirm the source of any unidentified fluid, and it is vitally important to monitor any unexpected oil loss from the tank. Where a cylinder is suspected of leaking oil out of the casing, a simple test is to isolate the control valve and monitor the lift movement, always taking into account any loss from the ram seals and unexposed hose runs. If there is further cause for concern, or as a precaution, a CCTV inspection of the borehole and cylinder can be carried out prior to a two-times pressure test being implemented. The CCTV inspection is used to determine the integrity of the cylinder protection before pressure testing.

Our team of engineers have carried out many successful inspections and pressure tests, including our recent test of a Bucher BZG320 cylinder to 80bar, which simulated a load of just shy of 65,000kg.

We are also able to reline your existing borehole to prevent further water ingress subject to clearances. This involves the removal of the cylinder (usually replaced at the same time) with a new polyurethane liner sunk into the existing borehole. The annulus between the old and new liner is then filled with ‘Bentonite Clay’ pellets which react with the water to hold the new liner in place.

If you’d like to find out more about the process, and need some specialist advice, please contact us.

Most of us will be aware of the volume of email phishing scams now in circulation.

As a result, should you receive an email purporting to be from Hydratec, detailing a change of bank details and requesting payment, this is fraudulent and should be ignored, forwarded to report@phishing.gov.uk and then deleted immediately.

Any questions at all, please contact us. Thank you.

Hydratec has recently completed a full lift modernisation for one of the UK’s busiest railway stations outside London, which has been subject to substantial investment by Network Rail over the past two years.

Located in the short-stay car park, the modernisation project for this 4-floor, 8-person hydraulic car park lift included the supply and installation of a specified Hydroware^® Hydroelite Vidi system package. Now successfully complete, the project was delivered on time and within the budget applied by our client.

Orders have now arrived to refurbish two existing passenger/goods lifts for a well-known furniture retail company’s shop in Newcastle.

Dealing with reliability issues, Hydratec will be supplying and installing a specified Hydroware Hydroelite Vidi system package, a well-known integrated control and drive system, to cater for these 2.5 and 6 Tonne hydraulic lifts.

For this large project, all done whilst the building is in full use, we’ll also install new landing entrances and fix some of the existing reliability upgrades. The works are due to be complete for the ‘Back to School’ season in September.

We’ve just completed another successful Hydratec smart™ hydraulic lift modernisation in a care home in Keswick, combined with a Bucher Softstart hydraulic iValve and Lester Controls ALMEGA II control system.

Hydratec has just modernised a 2-stop, 500kg bullion lift for a well-known bank at one of its premium branch locations in London. Done as part of the bank’s strategic refurbishment of a number of its UK branches, the modernisation of bullion lifts is essential for safety when moving weighty coins or bars between floors.

Due to the typical location of these lifts, the confined spaces, and their reduced shaft sizes, the equipment manoeuvrability can often be challenging. On completion, we undertook full safety testing and handed over the new bullion lift to the Bank’s staff.
With the overall project continuing, our next task is to modernise another of the Bank’s hydraulic bullion lifts, this time it’s a 1000kg lift.