Custom manufacture
About half of what ships is not in the catalog.
The catalog covers the geometries that recur. Everything else — a tank that is an awkward shape, a flange nobody else stocks, a sheath alloy your chemistry demands, an element that has to fit around existing pipework — is made to drawing. That is normal work here, not an exception.
01How it runs
Four steps, and a drawing you sign off.
The order in which these happen is what protects both sides — the physics check comes before the price, and approval comes before anything is cut.
- Step 01
Send what you have
A dimensioned sketch, a photograph of the heater you are replacing with a rule laid across the flange, an old part number, or just the duty. Any of those is a starting point — you do not need a finished drawing to get a useful answer.
- Step 02
We check the physics first
Before pricing, the kilowatts are divided by the heated surface area that will actually fit. If the watt density lands above the ceiling for your medium, we say so and propose more surface area rather than quoting a heater that fails.
- Step 03
A drawing comes back to approve
You get a dimensioned manufacturing drawing with the sheath alloy, heated and cold lengths, bend radii, mounting detail and terminal arrangement. Nothing is cut until you approve it, and the approved drawing then governs the order.
- Step 04
First article, then the batch
On repeat or high-volume work we make and test one before releasing the batch. It costs a week and it is the cheapest insurance available against a 300-piece run of something subtly wrong.
02What to send
The eight things we ask for.
- The medium by name — not 'oil' but 'Therminol 66'; not 'acid' but 'chromic acid, 18% w/v'
- Operating temperature, and inlet/outlet if there is flow
- Flow rate, or the tank volume and the time you have to heat it
- Supply voltage, phase and frequency
- Mounting arrangement, and the flange standard, size and class if there is one
- Design pressure, if the heater passes through a pressure boundary
- Any approval your project requires — ask early, not at design review
- Quantity now and expected annual usage, if you want blanket pricing
03North American builds
What we can cut to your standards.
- Voltage
- 120 / 208 / 240 / 277 / 480 / 600 V at 60 Hz
- Threads
- NPT, BSP or metric fine
- Flanges
- ANSI B16.5 150# / 300#, DIN, JIS, GB
- Drawings
- Issued in inches on request
- Sheath alloys
- Carbon steel, 304, 316, 316L, Incoloy, titanium, PTFE
- Marking
- Your part number, laser-marked on the element
04Questions
About custom work
Do I need a CAD drawing to get a quote?
No. A dimensioned hand sketch works, and so does a photograph of the heater you are replacing with a rule laid across the flange face plus the old part number. What matters is the duty — medium, temperatures, flow, supply, mounting — because that is what decides whether the design is sound. The drawing can come from us.
What is the minimum quantity for a custom part?
It depends on what is being made. A one-off flanged assembly, explosion-proof heater, steam generator or coil is quoted from a single unit because each is engineered anyway. Custom tubular elements are usually 10 to 20 pieces, because they are made in batches and the setup cost has to land somewhere.
How long does the drawing step add?
Typically three to five working days from enquiry to a drawing in your hands, then however long approval takes on your side. Production time starts from approval, not from the order — which is why the lead times quoted on the series pages start counting after that step.
Can you reverse-engineer a heater from another manufacturer?
Usually, from the physical part or a good set of photographs with dimensions. What we will not do is copy a design that is obviously failing in service without saying so — if the element you are replacing burnt out early, the useful answer is a corrected design, not an identical replacement that fails the same way.
Will you build to our own part number and marking?
Yes. Part numbers are laser-marked onto the element, so your own numbering, drawing references, batch codes and dates can all be applied. For OEMs this matters more than it sounds: a heater identified by a stick-on label is unidentifiable after two years in a hot enclosure.