St Richard’s hospital laundry saves £14,000 energy on new steam traps 24 February 2012

St Richard's Hospital, West Sussex, is reporting significant energy savings in its laundry, following installation of Thermal Energy International's Gem Venturi orifice steam traps.

Richard Harris, head of engineering and estates standards, says that the new traps should save the hospital more than £14,000 per annum in energy alone, on top of savings on replacement traps and maintenance.

Harris says he had been conscious that the laundry's mechanical steam traps were causing water vapour losses through evaporation from the hot well as well as poor condensate return.

"We considered chemical treatment, but decided to also explore the Gem traps, as we were also finding that a significant proportion of the laundry's steam traps were failing. As the Gem traps come with a 10 year guarantee [largely because there is no valve mechanism to close off steam], we thought this might prove the solution," he explains.

Thermal Energy International carried out a survey using an infrared thermometer, and found that more than a quarter of the existing mechanical traps had failed partially open – hence causing the system problems.

"Over a ten year period the hospital has the potential to save £155,000 on gas alone, based on present costs," comments Harris.

"In addition, as the Gem traps do not fail, we will save money on downtime and replacement costs. A further added bonus is that the traps only have to be cleaned once a year," he enthuses.

The GEM traps are also helping the hospital reduce its carbon emissions in line with the NHS trust's carbon management plan, which commits it to reducing CO2 emissions by 16% between 2010 and 2013 and to making energy savings of £844,000 over the same three-year period.

Under the Government's CRC (Carbon Reduction Scheme), large energy users, including hospitals, will this year start to buy allowances for each tonne of carbon dioxide at a rate of £12 per tonne per annum. As a result, participants reducing energy consumption will not only save on energy bills, but can also purchase fewer allowances.

Brian Tinham

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