Case Study
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary estimates that Spirax Sarco EasiHeat™ systems have delivered energy savings of around 15%
Switching its domestic hot water and heating from shell-and tube calorifiers to EasiHeat™ systems from Spirax Sarco has delivered energy savings of approximately 15% at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Replacing the hospital’s ageing calorifiers has also saved up to three weeks of maintenance work each year, since the old systems had to be stripped down for regular insurance inspections.
“We’ve been very pleased with the installation.”Mr Trevor Stirton, Estates Officer at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
“We made the decision to change because one of the calorifiers was nearing 55 years old,” says Aberdeen Royal Infirmary’s Estates Officer Mr Trevor Stirton. “They were high maintenance and we knew that modern systems would be more energy efficient. We don’t have the new systems metered for steam consumption so we can’t say exactly what they’re saving, but it is estimated to be up to 15% overall for the heating and domestic hot water applications we have replaced.”
EasiHeat systems use compact plate heat exchangers to provide hot water on demand. This eliminates the need for hot water storage and the resulting reduction in heat losses leads to greater energy efficiency. “We can’t afford to run out of hot water, so in one area alone we used to store 2,100 gallons (9,500 litres approx) of hot water, 24-7,” says Mr Stirton.
The removal of hot water storage also saves space and potentially helps eliminate problems associated with Legionella pneumophila contamination, which is a risk in any system that stores hot water. “We’ve been very pleased with the installation,” says Mr Stirton.
EasiHeat systems are compact, skid-mounted installations with a stainless steel plate heat exchanger at their heart. They use plant steam to deliver a heating capacity of up to 1800kW. With most of the engineering and quality checks carried out off-site, installation simply means connecting the system up to the appropriate utilities. Commissioning is also trouble-free.