Although most businesses operating within the meat and food processing industries have strict hygiene procedures in place and washdown procedures are part of everyday operations, often the finer details involved in washdown can be missed.

Washdown hoses are frequently exposed to harsh cleaning chemicals, fats and oils which can shorten the hose’s life span. And if hoses are coiled on a hook or stored on the floor, dirt and debris can also build up on the hose. Additionally, animal fats are notoriously aggressive and can cause hoses to fail before the end of their natural life span, and when hoses are repeatedly in contact with these fats, the hose can quickly become compromised.

If hoses are not stored or managed properly, they can also become an ergonomic or occupational health and safety hazard. Most Australian industry standards mandate that ‘hoses when not in use shall be stored on reels or racks’. Storing your hose on a hose reel keeps the hose up off the floor, clean, tidy, not tangled and always easy to find. The hose itself can be washed down at the end of your clean-up procedure ensuring fats, cleaning chemicals and dirt are rinsed away and your hose is kept in good condition for as long as possible (for more tips see our recent article on extending the life of hoses).

ReCoila also imports a range of high quality stainless steel spring rewind hose reels perfect for use in food processing industries. Our stainless steel hose reels are strong, reliable and hygienic, and can handle pressures up to 400 bar. The reels are supplied bare (if you need a hose assembly we can arrange that for you) and are suited to air, cold water or hot water. A heavy duty mounting system enables the hose reel to be fixed to the wall, the ceiling or under your workbench or butcher block.

We’ve also got a number of Australian made reels that are well suited to the broader food processing industries, including manual hose reels in stainless steel, polypropylene spring rewind reels for hot water washdown (such as our HWG1215 hot wash reel), hose reels for food and liquid transfer, nitrogen hose reels for use in wineries and drinking water hose reels.

ReCoila has been a strong supporter of Australia's fire and emergency services sector for many years. In addition to supplying tough, rugged hose reels to metro and rural brigades, ReCoila is proud to support the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) at their annual conference, something which we have been involved in for the past four years. This also gives our technical staff unprecedented access to communicate with firefighters at the coalface as well as engineering and management staff, ensuring our fire reels are always addressing the most pressing issues for staff in the field.

Our fire hose reels have always been developed in consultation with firefighters, and the most recent iteration features an electromechanical clutch and speed reducer.

Based on industry feedback and modelled on the tough T Series that has been proven in the field for a number of years, ReCoila developed a new T Series model to suit 60m of 1" hose, fitted with an electromechanical clutch and speed reducer. Also available is the same reel with the addition of an auto level layer rewind system.

ReCoila’s technical staff demonstrated the reels in action to a number of brigades, garnering much interest from firefighters who commented on how easy the reels were to operate – little physical effort is needed to deploy and rewind the hose due to the new clutch feature.

The reels are free spooling with extremely low spool torque and have rewind speeds between 0.2m/s - 0.4m/s based on the 60m x 25mm spool capacity. An electrically operated drive clutch means there are no cables or lever systems to deal with. Along with all the standard T Series features that have earned this fire hose reel status within the industry, the new reels are set to become the industry standard for metro and country pumpers across Australia and beyond.

Building custom made hose reels is something we do every day, and every project is unique. Usually the application and the story behind the build makes for interesting reading – and this particular project sees our reels adorning a landmark marine facility in Sydney Harbour, providing fuel to everyone from weekend fishermen to commercial ferries.

ReCoila was approached by Bailey’s Marine Fuels to build a series of hose reels for a new world-class marine supply facility in White Bay, near Balmain. Here’s a rundown of this unique project and how we were able to help.

Baileys Marine Fuels Australia is a specialist marine fuel distributor, infrastructure developer, and marine service provider. Bailey’s undertook a comprehensive consulting process in the planning of White Bay 6 by engaging industry, government, user groups, industry associations and stakeholders in order to develop a facility that caters for the needs of a wide range of harbour users. The White Bay 6 project is unique in that it provides a range of services in one location which are available to all harbour users – from ferries, police vessels, tug boats and recreational sailors. The facility provides bulk diesel and unleaded fuelling, lubricants, lay down and pump out facilities, all with 24 hour access.

The project is a culmination of five years of planning, environmental impact research and construction and will operate to the highest environmental standards.

The facility was designed and built to AS1940 standard, therefore the storage and dispensing of fuel had to be strictly controlled, managed and audited to comply with established environmental standards and safety measures. White Bay 6 also operates under Bailey’s long-standing ISO14001 Environmental Management Certification. This meant that we as a supplier had to ensure our reels also operated at the highest standard, with a wide range of factors taken into account.

Being in a dockside location, corrosion was always going to be a major issue. We countered this by constructing the hose reels from marine grade 316 stainless steel to ensure longevity and strength and reduce the risk of corrosion.

The facility was to be built in one of the world’s busiest working harbours and despite it being set on a two hectare site, traffic management was certainly a factor for consideration. Vessels needed to refuel or pump out fast, so the hose reels must be able to handle high flow rates, with large diameter hose and hassle free operation imperative in achieving a fast turnaround time.

ReCoila's technical team designed and built five RF Series commercial fuel dispensing reels, 3 with flow rates of 200 litres per minute, to suit 20m of 50mm (2 inch) fuel hose. The remaining two suited 25m of 75mm(3 inch) fuel hose with flow rates of 900 litres per minute.

Also installed at the site are two heavy duty C Series reels, customised for sullage pump-out. We’ve worked with Bailey’s in the past on a number of their purpose-built fuelling facilities and we’re soon to embark on another project for a similarly kitted-out facility on the other side of Australia.

This hose reel project was nominated as a finalist in the 2012 Mercury Awards for Materials Handling Solutions.