Spirax Sarco updates steam interface at Blackpool hospital
Replacing shell-and-tube calorifiers as the interface between steam systems and the heating and hot-water systems at Blackpool Victoria Hospital with Spirax Sarco EasiHeat plate-and-frame heat exchangers is saving £274 000 a year in energy and maintenance costs. Energy savings of £240 000 a year are expected — plus £34 000 in maintenance costs.
The calorifiers had been in operation for almost 40 years. The hospital’s energy manager Carla Wilson explains, ‘The system was no longer efficient compared to modern equivalents. Previously we had to store water at 60°C to eliminate the risk of legionella. That water could be sitting there quite a while if there was no demand for it in parts of the hospital, and all that time it would be losing energy.’
With EasiHeat, hot water is supplied on demand, and there is no need opt store it. 18 units have replaced 25 calorifier.
Calorifiers are pressure vessels that must be tripped down regularly for insurance inspections, as task that typically takes several days. EasiHeat units have no such requirement.
Six plant rooms were refurbished initially, funded by a £1.37 million grant form the Department of Health. The terms of the grant required to work to be carried out within six months, which also happed to be in the winter. The remaining four plant rooms were refurbished in the summer.
