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Quotes - Engineering - SalesU-Tube Heat Exchangers For
3-A Sanitary Standards
U-Tube Duty
The 3-A Sanitary Standards cover the design and fabrication of equipment used with milk and milk products, and by extension a great deal of other food processing equipment. They are prescriptive about cleanability rather than performance.
What is covered. Materials permitted for product contact, surface finish, drainability, elimination of crevices and dead legs, joint construction, and the treatment of gaskets and seals.
Relationship to FDA and USDA. These are different things and get conflated constantly. FDA governs material acceptability including elastomers. USDA acceptance relates to equipment in meat and poultry establishments. A 3-A unit normally satisfies the FDA material question as a matter of course and does not automatically answer a USDA one.
Request a Quote3-A Sanitary Standards Applications
Specify It Where It Belongs
3-A on product-contact equipment in a dairy plant is normal and often mandatory. 3-A on a utility loop that never touches product adds cost without protection.
The distinction is worth making deliberately rather than applying the standard plant-wide by habit. We will quote either way, and we would rather ask.
Selection Data We Need
Flow rate and identity of both fluids, inlet and required outlet temperatures, operating and design pressures, allowable pressure drop on each side, and any code, alloy or hygienic requirement. Fouling history, turndown range and cleaning method matter as much as the design point.
