Every winter brings the same risks to natural gas utilities, industrial facilities, and field operations: frozen piping, instruments that drift or fail in the cold, condensation inside measurement equipment, and crews working in punishing conditions. Each of those problems can lead to unplanned downtime, costly repairs, and safety concerns at exactly the time of year when reliable service matters most.
The good news is that winter problems are largely preventable. With the right heating solution in place before temperatures drop, your sites can keep running safely all season long. That’s why Relcon partners with Bruest Catalytic Heaters, a trusted manufacturer of flameless infrared heating built specifically for hazardous, cold-weather, and sensitive-equipment applications.
What Makes a Catalytic Heater Different?
Conventional gas heaters rely on combustion. Natural gas ignites in air at approximately 1,260°F, producing an open flame that heats the surrounding air. In a hazardous location where gas may be present, that flame is a serious liability.
Catalytic heaters work on a fundamentally different principle. Bruest heaters use a platinum catalyst that triggers an oxidation-reduction reaction at a temperature below the auto-ignition point of the fuel. The energy in the gas is released as infrared energy, carbon dioxide, and water vapor, with no flame and no spark.
The result is radiant heat that behaves much like light. Just as a light bulb floods a room with light, a catalytic heater floods its surroundings with thermal energy. That radiant energy passes through the air as an electromagnetic wave and heats only the solid or liquid surfaces it reaches, such as instruments, piping, and people, rather than wasting fuel warming the air. This makes catalytic heat especially effective in drafty or open environments where conventional convective heat quickly escapes.
How a Bruest Catalytic Heater Works
Operation is straightforward and designed with safety in mind:
- Warm-up: An enclosed electric heating element preheats the catalytic pad. Typical warm-up time is about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Gas introduction: Once the pad is warm, gas is introduced through the safety valve, if so equipped, to begin the catalytic heating process.
- Dispersion: Gas enters through the dispersion tube assembly and is spread evenly by the dispersion screen.
- Catalytic conversion: The gas diffuses through the insulation, contacts the catalyst, and is converted into steady, flameless infrared heat.
Where Bruest Catalytic Heaters Protect Your Operation
Bruest heaters are suitable for a wide range of heating applications. Four of the most common are especially important heading into winter.
Instrument Heating
Gas measurement and control instruments are sensitive to cold and moisture. Bruest heaters protect this equipment from cold-weather failure and condensation, helping keep readings accurate and systems online.
Freeze Protection
A single frozen line can shut down a site. Catalytic heat prevents pipe freeze-ups and costly shutdowns without introducing a flame or ignition source into the area.
Building & Enclosure Heat
Bruest heaters efficiently warm metering stations, valve houses, and portable structures, keeping the equipment inside protected and serviceable throughout the season.
Personnel & Portable Heating
Crews in the field need warmth too. Portable Bruest units provide safe, flameless heat for crew shelters and temporary work sites.
Why Choose Bruest Catalytic Heaters?
Flameless safety: Bruest heaters operate below the auto-ignition temperature of natural gas, with no open flame and no spark risk. All Bruest heaters are available for installation in Class I, Division 1 or 2, Group D locations, and ATEX certifications are available for applicable hazardous areas.
Infrared efficiency: Because radiant heat warms surfaces directly instead of the surrounding air, it can be up to 40% more efficient than convective heating, with faster warm-up and lower fuel consumption.
Cold-weather ready: After a 15 to 20 minute warm-up, the catalytic pad delivers consistent heat, even in sub-zero environments where conventional heaters struggle.
Versatile sizing: Bruest heaters come in multiple sizes, BTU ratings, and configurations, from portable personnel units to full enclosure heating systems.
The Relcon Advantage
Choosing the right heater is about more than picking a model from a catalog. The correct solution depends on what you’re protecting, the hazardous-area classification at your site, ambient temperature and wind exposure, required BTU output, available fuel and supply pressure, and how the heater will be mounted.
That’s where Relcon comes in. Backed by more than 65 years of engineered sales and service expertise, our team helps you specify, install, and troubleshoot the right Bruest catalytic heater for your application. We’ll walk through your site conditions and compliance requirements with you, so the heater you install is the heater you actually need.
Don’t Wait for the First Freeze
Lead times increase and schedules fill up quickly once cold weather arrives. The best time to winterize is before the first freeze, not after an instrument fails or a line freezes. Let Relcon help you assess your sites, specify the right heater and configuration, and get everything in place ahead of the season, so you can avoid downtime, protect your equipment, and keep your crews safe.
Ready to get started? Contact the Relcon team to schedule your winterization planning session, or learn more about Bruest Catalytic Heaters.