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Home›Steaming methods›Hood Steaming

Hood steaming

In the 1990s, the German company Seifert introduced an innovative surface steaming technology – large-surface steaming under steel or aluminium hoods.

Compared with sheet steaming, this method has the advantage of a much higher steam transfer. Instead of 4kg per hour per square metre under the sheet, the hood allows for over 30kg per hour per square metre.

The result is a significant reduction of the steaming time and also in heating oil consumption.

Energy consumption

Depending on the steaming time and soil characteristics, you need 0.3 litres of heating oilper square metre to reach 8-10cm steaming depth, or 1 litre of oil to reach 25-30cm depth. You can achieve up to 85°C soil temperature with this method.

With hood steaming, you therefore save up to 50% in heating oil compared with sheet steaming.

Rules of thumb:
1. The longer the steaming time, the higher the energy losses and therefore the energy demand per square metre.
2. The steaming time for 10cm steaming depth is about 8 -12 minutes.
3. You can achieve 30kg steam per hour and square metre under a normal steaming hood*.

Sandwich-type steaming is the only energy-saving method of surface steaming.

Semi automatic MSDA 600 with steaming hoods Semi automatic MSDA 600 with steaming hoods
Fully automatic steaming robot MSDZ- 1 Fully automatic steaming robot MSDZ- 1
Fully automatic steaming robot for groomed open air areas Fully automatic steaming robot for groomed open air areas
Aluminium steaming hoods, ~6m², can be handled easily Aluminium steaming hoods, ~6m², can be handled easily
On greenhouse ceiling installed special steaming hoods On greenhouse ceiling installed special steaming hoods
Special steaming hoods for narrow beds, weighted Special steaming hoods for narrow beds, weighted
Steaming hood construction with adjustable side wings Steaming hood construction with adjustable side wings
Steaming hood construction with adjustable side wings Steaming hood construction with adjustable side wings
Half automatic steaming device with special hydraulic adjustable hoods Half automatic steaming device with special hydraulic adjustable hoods
25m² - steaming hood with 3 point suspension arm behind tractor 25m² - steaming hood with 3 point suspension arm behind tractor
Half automatic steaming device with folding wings Half automatic steaming device with folding wings
Half automatic steaming device with folding wings Half automatic steaming device with folding wings
Half automatic steaming device with folding wings Half automatic steaming device with folding wings
Half automatic steaming hood mounted on rolls with hydraulic wings Half automatic steaming hood mounted on rolls with hydraulic wings
30m² - steaming hood with 3 point suspension arm behind tractor 30m² - steaming hood with 3 point suspension arm behind tractor
Steaming hood with own carrier and folding wings moved by a tractor Steaming hood with own carrier and folding wings moved by a tractor
Manually handable steaming hood with 25cm long spikes Manually handable steaming hood with 25cm long spikes
Special spike hood constructed for steaming substrate directly in flower pots Special spike hood constructed for steaming substrate directly in flower pots

Know how! Tips and tricks

Our special high-quality MSD steaming hoods are made of steel or aluminium. Their lifecycle is extremely long. They are used in greenhouses, tunnels and outdoors as they are very reliable.

Depending on the desired steaming depth and soil properties, steaming hoods are moved in short intervals from 5 (for a steaming depth of 5cm) to 25 min (for a steaming depth of 20-25cm). If the application time is longer, you can also achieve temperatures exceeding 75°C even at 30cm depth to achieve sufficient soil sanitisation.

Each MSD steaming hood is tailored to your individual requirements and manufactured to size. The hood dimensions will be sized on the basis of a steam transfer of 30 kg/hour/sq.m.

In large-area greenhouses of sound and stable construction, you can hang hoods on runners and then lift and move them with pneumatic lift cylinders.

Small and mid-size hoods can be very easily set manually with rocker lever systems or moved electrically with special cable pull winches.

To adapt the hood to the greenhouse size, large steaming hoods can be supplied with a hydraulic adjustment unit so that their working width can vary on each side according to the user’s needs.

GARTMANN market garden,
Oberwenningen/CH

Rigidly installed hood in the
REISCHLE market garden

Winch for offsetting the steaming hoods

Hydraulically adjustable large steaming hoods

As soon as the steaming hood has started to move, we recommend covering the steamed surface. You can easily do this with a drag sheet, which can be simply fixed to the hood. The goal is to retain the residual steam in the soil and to let the heat act for as long as possible. The longer the heat can act, the better the sanitising effect will be.

Automatic steaming hood in use: video on YouTube

Which steam boiler is the right one?

The surface performance per cycle depends on the steaming depth, as well as on the size of the boiler and hood.

Steam boilerMS 100MS 200S 250S 350S 500
Surface m²3-4*7-8*10*13-14*18-19*
Steam boilerS 750S 950S 1350S2000
Surface m²26-27*33-34*45*66-67*

*Higher steam transfer rates exceeding 50kg/h/sq.m are possible if you use more materials and techniques (e.g. steel hoods, sandwich-type steaming, etc.)

Depending on the soil properties and ambient temperature, the steaming time for one
working cycle is about 8-10 minutes for 10cm steaming depth at about 80°C soil
temperature.

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