Wigan Infirmary Expected To Save Over £48,000 A Year Following Installation Of Gem Steam Traps

The 513 beds Royal Albert Edward InfirmaryWigan Infirmary is a redeveloped and modern District General Hospital situated in Wigan. The hospital, part of the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, provides a base for emergency and acute work. Steam is used by the hHospital for a wide range of services including the various plant rooms’ heating & hot water heat exchangers, space heating, AHU batteries and humidification.

Prior to the installation of the GEM steam traps, the hospital found that a percentage of its steam traps were failing each year. Thermal Energy International conducted a survey of the hospital’s steam traps using an infrared thermometer. It found that two percent of the traps had failed to open, allowing large amounts of expensive steam to be wasted, one percent had failed and was partially open allowing smaller amounts of steam to pass and a further two percent had failed and closed which was causing the condensate to back-up and create wet steam, corrosion problems and water hammer. It was calculated that Wigan Infirmary was losing a total of over 200,000200996.8 kWh per year from steam loss alone.

According to research carried out by Queen’s University, Belfast, The GEM steam traps have been [Note: how has this been “proven”?]provend to be the most efficient design of steam traps on the market providing an average reduction of 11.5% in the portion of the boiler fuel bill that is used to generate trapped steam [Note: is this 11.5% reduction always true? This implies that it is a fixed rate of return]. . Instead of utilising a valve mechanism to close off steam for maximum energy and water conservation, the highly efficient GEM steam traps use the patented venturi orifice design to effectively drain condensate from the steam system. As the GEM steam traps have no moving parts to wedge open or fail, it provides the ultimate in reliability necessitating in only minimal maintenance and requiring no spares, testing or monitoring equipment.

The GEM traps also are also helping the hospital reduce its carbon emissions. Under the Government’s CRC Carbon Reduction Scheme, large energy users, such as hospitals, willl ,with, with effect from 2012, will have to buy allowances for each tonne of carbon dioxide at a rate of £12 per tonne per annum. As a consequence, participants successful in reducing energy consumption will not only save money on energy bills, but will also need to purchase fewer allowances. It has been calculated that following the installation of the GEM traps, Wigan Infirmary is are on track to save £6,389 per annum in Carbon Offsetting Value.

“Our first quarter calculations show a 16% decrease in fuel costs following the conversion to GEM”, said Mark Hogan, Energy Environmental Manager in the Estates & Facilities Department at Wigan the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary. “Calculating the load using degree day analysis, which takes into consideration the warm weather, we are enjoying a 10% overall reduction of fuel usage.”