ForConstructionPros.com

When fuel prices skyrocketed in the summer of 2008, many asphalt plants were scrambling for a solution to keep down diesel costs. F & R Asphalt, headquarted in Easley, SC, found one solution that did just that.

F & R Asphalt produces between 500,000 and 800,000 tons of mix a year; the majority is used for DOT projects with some for commercial uses. In the summer of 2008, when diesel costs were running toward $4 a gallon, F & R decided to add a Process Heating Co. (PHCo) electric hot oil heater at its Gray Court, SC facility, which produces about 200,000 tons of asphalt annually.

"We replumbed the unit ourselves," says Chris Faucett, plant operator with F & R. "It wasn't a difficult installation; it probably took about three days."

Adding the electric heater to the tanks when fuel prices were so high cut the cost to heat the asphalt nearly in half, says Faucett.

Rick Jay, president of PHCo, runs the numbers for an average plant: "A fairly common size drum mix asphalt plant will require a 140kW heater," he explains. "This is adequate for two 30,000-gallon asphalt tanks and associated jacketed pumps, meters and asphalt lines.