Sweet Holiday Treats Mean a Sticky Mess for Manufacturers

From peppermint canes to jellybeans, candy is an important part of the holiday season. And behind the scenes, candy manufacturers are ramping up production to meet the needs of consumers who desire a range of sweet treats this time of year. But did you know that the same things we love about our favorite candies also make them particularly troublesome to manufacture? Gooey caramel, rich chocolate, and sugary chews all present the same manufacturing problem – stickiness. Sticky fluids can crack seals, pull O-rings, and leave buildup in hard-to-clean areas. Thankfully, SPX FLOW has expertly handled these applications for decades and is ready to tackle your stickiest situations.

In valve applications, the most common failure we see in candy-making manufacturing is product buildup on the valve stem. This buildup causes stem O-ring damage or even full removal of that O-ring leading to massive leaks and failures. To make matters worse, the upper valve stem that causes this damage is also one of the hardest areas in a valve to clean. Until now. SPX FLOW offers either a wiping stem seal or a stem flush adapter to solve these problems. With a wiping stem seal, the standard O-ring is switched to a seal design which prevents most fluid buildup from passing into the upper stem area of the valve. In doing so, the valve has much longer intervals between rebuilds. If the fluid is particularly sticky or quick to dry (such as dextrose), SPX FLOW offers a stem flush adapter. This adapter provides a flush fluid to the upper stem area to clean all process fluid buildup.

The 3-stem adapter options pictured below are interchangeable within your existing valve setups allowing for seamless changes without the need to purchase an entirely new valve assembly.

For pumps, the main area we see failures during candy production is in the mechanical seals. When a pump is stopped after running, product is left on and around the seal faces and as that sticky, gooey, or sugary product dries, it hardens. And that’s not good. When the pump is restarted, the seal faces can crack, chip, or shatter resulting in leaks and potentially a complete seal replacement. SPX FLOW has two unique solutions for this issue.

First, if flush fluid is available, a double mechanical seal can provide a flush around the seals to wash away any product from building up - like the stem flush adapter mentioned above. And while this is generally a common approach to dealing with this issue, double mechanical seals aren’t always an available solution for many plants.

A single mechanical narrow face seal is an option that works by increasing the force applied to the seal faces by decreasing the surface area of the seal’s contact faces. By increasing the force, the seals literally cut product away from these faces. Although product may build on the exterior of the seals, they do not stick together – meaning easy startup once the pump is reengaged. Featuring a tough material like tungsten carbide, these seals last longer between rebuilds while ensuring proper sealing in these tricky applications. If you currently have a single mechanical seal and believe a narrow face seal might prevent seal failures, this is a drop-in replacement for a standard single mechanical seal.

Whether you’re planning for the holiday season, or are a year-round candy manufacturer, we hope this information helps you stay one step ahead of sticky buildups so you’re up and running more frequently. As always, feel free to reach out to me directly to answer any questions.