Garment factory reduces fuel bills by 30%

Simply by improving the water supply to its boiler, using the Hydroflow S100, an Indonesian garment producer has reduced its fuel consumption by a third

An Indonesian garment producer has reduced its fuel consumption by a third, simply by improving the water supply to its boiler.

The Cathay Murni Garment Factory has been using a 20-year-old steam boiler to supply hot water for washing and steam for ironing.

The factory draws its water supply from a bore hole, but the water has a hardness of 200 parts per million.

In an attempt to prevent limescale build-up on the boiler internal surfaces and heat exchangers, the company was chemically softening the water supply and shutting down the system annually to give it a thorough chemical descale.

Additionally, they carry out a 'blow down' for 20 seconds at the end of every day.

Not only was this regime costly in terms of time and money, but it is 'less than friendly for the environment', comments James Leung, Independent Water Treatment Consultant.

A further problem of using sodium to soften water is that it can encourage corrosion within the system.

James recommended the patented Hydroflow system is a physical water treatment system that prevents the build up of all limescale deposits, including calcium carbonate.

Hydroflow works by emitting randomly-varying electric fields throughout the system.

This enhances the precipitation of the bicarbonates from solution to suspension by introducing clusters of ions in the water to act as seed points for suspended crystallisation.

The resulting suspension therefore does not adhere to pipework or internal surfaces, but is merely 'washed away' with the flow and during blow down.

No other physical water treatment system operates in the same way as Hydroflow; it offers specific advantages such as treating the water both upstream and downstream of the unit.

Uniquely, it also protects standing water and is not dependent on water flowing past the unit.

A Hydroflow S100 model was installed, without the need for cutting any pipes, on the inlet water pipe and the water softener was turned off.

For the first three weeks, blow down frequency was increased to 10 seconds per hour to eliminate any existing scale within the boiler.

After three weeks, it was noticed that TDS at blow down dropped to below 1500ppm.

The blow down frequency was then reduced to the normal daily routine.

It was estimated that fuel consumption was reduced by 30%.

The boiler was then opened for inspection and it was free from hard scale.

James comments, "The Hydropath range of water conditioners do not work like any other physical water treatment product and have been proven in installations around the world.

Initially, some customers are sceptical but find that they pay for themselves within a short period of time, in terms of energy and chemical costs, as well as the staff and production time that is saved".

For further information about the Hydroflow S Range and other Hydropath products please contact the sales office.

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