When Clover — one of South Africa’s leading dairy companies — needed to upgrade its compressor room, the project presented Reef Rigging with one of its most technically demanding confined-space rigging challenges. The extremely constrained space inside the compressor room required a combination of heavy mobile cranage, specialist hand rigging tools, and meticulous planning to replace aging equipment with new, higher-capacity plant. Here is how the project was executed.
Project Scope: Clover Compressor Room Upgrade
The upgrade required the removal of existing equipment and the installation of new, technically advanced refrigeration and compressed air plant, including nine 88-kilogram screw rotary compressors on plinths, 9-tonne and 10-tonne pressure storage tanks on 2-metre-high galvanised stands, and new BAC 12-tonne evaporative condensers in elevated external roof positions.
Key Challenge: Extremely Constrained Working Space
The compressor room’s interior provided almost no room to manoeuvre. Standard crane access was not possible inside the building, and the equipment dimensions made manual handling impractical. The solution required Reef Rigging to deploy a carefully selected combination of specialised rigging equipment that could operate within the confined space while handling the required loads safely.
Equipment and Methods Used
A 100-tonne mobile crane was deployed externally to remove and install the new evaporative condensers in their elevated external roof positions. Inside the compressor room, the team used 7-tonne and 4.5-tonne low-mast forklifts for horizontal equipment movement, 5-tonne chain blocks with 8-metre chain drops for controlled vertical lifting within the building, and a crawl beam system to install the nine screw rotary compressors on their plinths and to lift and position the pressure storage tanks onto their 2-metre-high stands. The combination of these tools allowed every piece of equipment to be handled safely within the space constraints of the compressor room.
Pre-Project Engineering and Planning
Before any work began, Reef Rigging conducted an in-depth survey of mechanical options. This involved confirming the weight of all new equipment, verifying the rated capacity of all lifting gear to be used, and checking the structural capacity of the building to confirm that the crawl beam loads could be safely transferred to the building structure. The result was a high-confidence installation plan that the Clover project team approved before mobilisation.
Project Outcome
The upgrade was completed successfully, with all new equipment installed in its correct position and commissioned without incident. The project required the coordinated use of five different rigging methods simultaneously — crane, forklift, chain block, crawl beam, and hydraulic jacking — within a live industrial environment. Reef Rigging’s ability to plan and execute this multi-method approach in a confined space reflects the depth of experience and technical capability the team brings to complex industrial rigging projects.
For complex equipment installations in confined industrial spaces, contact Reef Rigging or explore our machine moving services.
Frequently Asked Questions: Compressor and Refrigeration Equipment Installation
What rigging equipment is used in confined machinery rooms?
In confined machinery rooms where crane access is unavailable, rigging teams typically use chain blocks and lever hoists rigged from overhead structural steelwork, low-mast forklifts with limited overhead clearance requirements, jib cranes or crawl beam systems that run on tracks attached to the building structure, machine skates and rollers for horizontal movement, and hydraulic jacking for lifting onto plinths or stands. The specific equipment combination depends on the loads involved, available overhead clearance, and floor strength.
What is a crawl beam and how is it used in equipment installation?
A crawl beam is a steel beam or rail system installed under the roof structure of a building to allow a chain block or electric hoist to travel horizontally along the length of the building. The hoist travels (crawls) along the beam, allowing loads to be lifted and moved within the building without requiring a mobile crane. Crawl beams are commonly installed in industrial buildings to facilitate equipment maintenance and replacement, and they are also used temporarily by rigging teams for initial equipment installation in confined spaces.