Flat out for flatwork

Flatwork hospitality laundries like a good steam boiler to get the optimum ‘fluff and finish’ the higher end hotels demand while smaller operations, laundries and drycleaners alike, also benefit from being able to get up a full head of steam on their premises.

A veteran in steam boiler provision to large and small commercial laundries and drycleaners, is Fulton (which says it’s not just steam that gets you a 5* finish, the quality of the steam is also vital). The company has recently announced the launch of the all-new VSRT steam boiler which  achieves a 99.5% steam quality at 8 bar and, for laundry and drycleaning applications where contaminated air can reduce boiler uptime, the VSRT’s cyclonic air filter effectively separates debris and damaging particles from the combustion air thereby improving boiler efficiency.

The VSRT is a vertical spiral-rib tubeless steam boiler with ultra-low NOx emissions and high efficiencies, which now comes with a 10-year warranty on the pressure vessel, double that of the industry standard. Fulton sales and marketing manager Leigh Bryan says: “The unique spiral-rib design of the VSRT creates a longer-lasting boiler that we believe will beat the competition in every category of durability so we have decided to include a 10-year warranty on the pressure vessel as standard.”

The VSRT is available with outputs from 160 to 960 kg/h and boasts low NOx emissions of less than 20ppm that are achieved thanks to its purposely-designed combustion technology.

Fulton confirmed that a much larger VSRT model with a steam output of approximately 4,000 kg/h is is now on-stream and will benefit from the same
10-year warranty on the pressure vessel.

Having introduced its City & Guilds accredited training courses four years ago, Fulton last year announced that its ‘Vertical Tubeless Boiler Operation & Maintenance’ training course has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to the continuing professional development principles.

Fulton is now working towards certification for its ‘VSRT Boiler Operation & Maintenance’ course which focuses on the VSRT’s use of state-of-the-art controls and technology and looks in-depth at its patented spiral heat exchanger.

The course is designed for boiler operators and covers basic day-to-day operation and monitoring of steam boilers. It provides employees with the knowledge required to monitor boilers and ensure they are running efficiently and safely. what boiler inspectors will look for during routine insurance inspections.

Fuel savings

Byworth Boilers offers a diverse range of energy sources for its boilers including waste heat. Utmost efficiency allows for rapid ROI and reduced running costs. The company’s Yorkshireman low NOx advanced three pass wetback shell steam boilers are designed for heavy continuous workload.

The most exciting feature of the Yorkshireman2 boiler range, says a Byford spokesperson, is the revolutionary X-ID boiler tubes. “With special helical internal ribs, this tube gives a significant 80% increased heat transfer over normal tube. This increase in heat transfer gives the Yorkshireman2 an efficiency figure of around 95% (NCV). Moreover, when compared to running costs of older existing boiler plant, fuel savings could be as much as 20%.The new Yorkshireman2 boiler range incorporates many energy-saving features  making it probably the most energy efficient steam boiler available.”

A pair of Yorkshireman boilers paired with Unity control system has recently been installed in a commercial UK laundry by the company. Unity is an advanced boiler control system offering management, efficiency, visibility and fingertip control – recording and cross-referencing data trends from every discrete system area to implement efficiency and cost-saving responses. Its single, user-friendly interface is controllable via the built-in touchscreen with remote control and monitoring also available on desktop or tablet PC.

Stafford operation cuts running costs by 50 per cent

For smaller laundries, OPL, launderettes and drycleaning units looking for constant temperature controlled hot water, the Rinnai Infinity condensing range of water heaters is worth considering. Rinnai UK has just completed the installation of two Infinity HDC1500i continuous flow water heating units at a busy launderette serving businesses and the public in Stafford. Rinnai was chosen on the recommendation of another launderette owner in Lancashire, who praised the efficiency and major cost savings enabled by cascaded (manifolded) continuous flow hot water units to guarantee almost unlimited supplies of hot water at peak demand while saving on fuel costs. The previous system was a heated stored water system – this meant that the site was paying to heat water it was not instantly using.

It was clear from the site survey that Rinnai units configured to maximise both space and energy could yield seriously large cost savings to the owner. Ray Gallimore, proprietor of the Weston Road Launderette, says: “The old storage system had become completely impractical, inefficient and needlessly expensive to run.

“For example, the washers tend to be used sporadically. During a busy weekend there could be eight to 10 people battling to use the machines at once, during the week there might be one or two. That meant we had to store a decent volume of hot water ‘just in case’ in the form of a storage water heater.  Needless to say, keeping the stored volume at optimum temperature 24/7 was often wasted energy, a really bad, expensive idea all round.”

Now two HDC1500i internal mounted water heaters with secondary circulation provide hot water for 12 machines, plus a sink and a wash hand basin. “The Rinnai system has resulted in an energy reduction and gas saving due to higher efficiencies and because we are no longer maintaining large amounts of stored hot water. It’s not rocket science to work that out. In terms of gas usage running costs compared to the old wasteful storage system, our bills have virtually been halved since the Rinnai system went live five months ago which is absolutely tremendous,” says Gallimore.

The Rinnai units were wall mounted and externally flued, giving extra storage space to the premises as there was no need for a dedicated plant room. “I was made aware of Rinnai Infinity water heaters installed in similar applications to mine. The beauty of working with Rinnai is the service they offer.  We presented the project to Rinnai’s technical sales team who came up with the design, configured the sizes of unit required and delivered the system complete and to a very tight timescale – this was key as the existing water heater had developed a leak and I was extremely mindful that the business had to remain operational to satisfy local demand,” adds Gallimore.

Rinnai’s heavy-duty condensing range uses two heat exchangers to capture residual heat from flue gases to pre-heat incoming water, with the HDC1500i turning in 105% net efficiencies*. These figures add up to considerable on-going energy savings when compared with traditional gas fired stored water systems. Advanced condensing heat exchangers combined with innovative burner technology ensures that every cubic metre of gas is used to the maximum on HDC 1500i.

Legionella proliferation is addressed by Rinnai, too, as the company has developed additional smart controls for secondary return DHW systems in the form of an advanced temperature control system which allows for safe running of water at 42°C core temperature during the day and 60C at a time when the building is closed. By the time the building reopens, core temperature is 42C for safe use.

Rinnai’s HDC range offers condensing technology with up to 107% gross efficiency, ultra-low-NOx of less than 20 ppm, a widely expansive modulation range of 54kW-4kW and high flow rates of 37/ltr/min. Add to these benefits are the peace of mind of an extended warranty, a top A-rating exceeding the demands of eco-labelling legislation, the flexibility of external wall mounting and delivery to site with all relevant accessories. The HDC range is future-proofed against future regulatory and legislative changes. It is also renewables ready and can be retro-engineered for such a system if required.

* Tested and certificated by Technigas to EN 26.