Initial Washroom installs GEM Venturi steam traps

Initial Washroom Solutions, a UK washroom hygiene service, has installed Venturi orifice traps from GEM.

Trialled at the company's Reading plant, which has a number of onsite steam meters, Initial Washroom Solutions was able to verify a 10 per cent saving in energy consumption, despite there being no failures with the plant's mechanical traps.

Reading is one of three new processing plants opened by Initial Washroom as part of a modernisation plan to improve operational efficiency.

The purpose-built plants, which serve the dual role of service centres and processing plants, contain environmentally friendly, energy-efficient machinery.

GEM engineers found that the Reading site's mechanical traps were all still fully operational.

However, Michael Butt, senior engineer, had past experience of the failure rate of mechanical traps and was keen to make energy and maintenance savings.

He agreed to monitor the GEM steam traps over an extensive trial period.

This was achieved utilising the company's onsite steam meters that are used to measure the five-tonne boiler and other steam equipment.

One meter in particular is used to measure the amount of steam consumed by Initial Washroom's eight water-efficient Revolution processing machines, which use steam to process an average of 80 to 90 towels per hour.

Butt said: 'The steam metering results were crucial in this exercise and confirmed that we are achieving the predicted 10 per cent savings in gas consumption and are making a 14 per cent reduction in steam.

'These savings will provide us with a total payback within 12 months,' he added.

The company has now exchanged the mechanical steam traps in its processing plants in Birmingham and Glasgow to GEM.

Instead of utilising a valve mechanism to close off steam, the GEM steam traps use the patented Venturi orifice design to effectively drain condensate from the steam system.

The GEM steam traps, which have no moving parts to wedge open or fail, are said to require minimal maintenance and no spares, testing or monitoring equipment.

Available in a range of sizes for a cross section of applications, the steam traps are manufactured from corrosion-resistant stainless steel and are guaranteed for 10 years, obviating the need for repair or replacement, according to GEM.

The steam traps improve product processing by enhancing the quality of steam, which, in turn, reduces equipment repairs, downtime and replacement costs.

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