CASE STUDIES

Bespoke Thermal Insulation Jacket for a Large Industrial Vessel

Some insulation requirements simply cannot be solved with an off-the-shelf product. When the vessel is large, the geometry is complex, and the operating environment is demanding, the only answer is a cover that has been designed and built specifically for the job.

This case study describes a project where Lagflex was asked to design and manufacture a bespoke removable thermal insulation cover for a large industrial vessel on a brewery site. The brief was straightforward: reduce heat loss, keep the surface safe for personnel, and make sure the cover could be taken off and put back on without a significant time investment from the maintenance team.

If you have a similar requirement, get in touch with our team, 
and we will talk you through what is involved.

The challenge

Large industrial vessels present a set of insulation challenges that standard jackets are not designed to handle. In this project, the key difficulties were:

A large surface area that could not be covered by a single jacket section

High operating temperatures require specialist insulation materials

Complex geometry that needed a precisely tailored fit to avoid gaps and heat bridges

A maintenance programme that required the insulation to be removed and refitted regularly without damage

Traditional hard lagging was ruled out early. It would have made maintenance access difficult, increased long-term costs through repeated stripping and reinstatement, and carried a real risk of insulation being left off after works. The client needed a solution that performed like permanent insulation but behaved like a removable cover.

The Lagflex solution

Lagflex designed and manufactured a fully bespoke multi-section removable thermal insulation cover system, built to the exact dimensions of the vessel. Every section was engineered to fit precisely, with no gaps between panels and a fastening system that held the cover firmly in place during operation.

Key features of the cover system:

Reduce heat loss at pipe flanges, the most commonly overlooked insulation gap on site

Multi-part jacket design, allowing each section to be installed and removed independently by a single operative
High-performance insulation fill rated for the vessel’s operating temperatures
Durable outer casing suited to a demanding industrial process environment
Secure fastening throughout to ensure a tight, gap-free fit with no thermal bridging
All components were manufactured in-house at our Oldham facility to ensure accuracy and consistency across every section

The multi-section approach was central to the design. Handling a single large cover on an industrial vessel is impractical, and it creates problems when only part of the vessel needs to be accessed. By designing the cover as a series of interlocking sections, each panel could be removed independently, giving the maintenance team targeted access without disturbing the rest of the installation

Working with a large or unusually shaped vessel?

Contact Lagflex to discuss a bespoke solution or call us on 07497 119 610.

The result

Once installed, the cover system delivered across all the client’s requirements:

Significant reduction in heat loss across the vessel surface

Improved energy efficiency and a measurable reduction in operating costs

Surface temperatures were reduced to safe levels, removing the burn risk for site personnel

Fast removal and refitting by a single operative, with no specialist tools or training required

The project demonstrated that large-scale bespoke insulation does not have to mean long lead times or compromises on usability.

With in-house manufacturing and a team that has handled complex vessel projects before, Lagflex was able to deliver a system that performed exactly as designed from the first installation.

Have a project that needs a custom solution?

Request a quote or call 07497 119 610. We cover the whole of the UK.