27 July 2010
The Holme House Prison laundry serves the prison itself and also operates as a business serving other prisons. When the service was shut down for the installation of new machinery, Holme House opted to upgrade the associated steam system in the boiler house, where corrosion had been causing growing maintenance headaches. "We knew we could carry out temporary repairs, but it made sense to go for a more permanent solution while the laundry was out of action," says Site Manager David Blyth. "Otherwise we would have faced ongoing maintenance problems and downtime, which we definitely can’t afford when we run the laundry as a business."The first target was the boiler blowdown system, which had been discharging to a pit beneath the floor. "Corrosion allowed flash steam to come back up through the floor into the atmosphere, which was causing concern," he says.Similarly, corrosion had left the boiler feedtank leaking hot water into the boiler room. "We were losing water and chemicals, as well as facing the potential safety issue of scalding water dropping down into the room," says Mr. Blyth. Spirax Sarco supplied a new blowdown vessel and feedtank. The feedtank had to be built in place because of restricted access in the boiler room. In addition, corrosion had taken its toll on steam pipework and ancillaries in the 14 years since Holme House opened, so Spirax Sarco stripped out and replaced any other affected equipment. The entire project was easily accomplished during the scheduled three-week shutdown.
The Holme House Prison laundry serves the prison itself and also operates as a business serving other prisons. When the service was shut down for the installation of new machinery, Holme House opted to upgrade the associated steam system in the boiler house, where corrosion had been causing growing maintenance headaches.
"We knew we could carry out temporary repairs, but it made sense to go for a more permanent solution while the laundry was out of action," says Site Manager David Blyth. "Otherwise we would have faced ongoing maintenance problems and downtime, which we definitely can’t afford when we run the laundry as a business."
The first target was the boiler blowdown system, which had been discharging to a pit beneath the floor. "Corrosion allowed flash steam to come back up through the floor into the atmosphere, which was causing concern," he says.
Similarly, corrosion had left the boiler feedtank leaking hot water into the boiler room. "We were losing water and chemicals, as well as facing the potential safety issue of scalding water dropping down into the room," says Mr. Blyth.
Spirax Sarco supplied a new blowdown vessel and feedtank. The feedtank had to be built in place because of restricted access in the boiler room.
In addition, corrosion had taken its toll on steam pipework and ancillaries in the 14 years since Holme House opened, so Spirax Sarco stripped out and replaced any other affected equipment. The entire project was easily accomplished during the scheduled three-week shutdown.
Print this page | E-mail this page
This isn't a paywall. It's a Freewall. We don't want to get in the way of what you came here for, so this will only take a few seconds.
Register Now