BREEZAIR PROVIDES COST EFFECTIVE COOLING FOR BATES LAUNDRY

Recently re-branded from Royal Jersey Laundry to the Bates Group to honour the company’s founder, Martha Bates who began the laundry in 1886, the 30,000 sq. ft site employs a workforce of 180 handling over half a million pieces per week. Although the laundry was fitted with shuttered air vents and large roof fans, a lack of air movement and high, moist temperatures made certain areas of the factory uncomfortably hot, particularly during the summer months.

As the welfare of its staff is a top priority for Bates Laundry, Managing Director, Matthew Pantilin, decided to investigate products that would lower temperatures and create a fresher, more comfortable working environment. Turning to CoSaf Environments for a solution, the company carried out a site survey of the laundry. It calculated that 7 Breezair coolers would be needed to provide evaporative cooling to the main laundry and ironing area, a further two coolers would be required for the towel area and a single cooler for the separate press room.

Mounted on the roof of the laundry, air is distributed from the Breezair coolers via ductwork to air grille diffusers in the three areas to provide temperature relief. By introducing a steady flow of fresh, cooled air into the area, the Breezair coolers have greatly accelerated the level of hot air extracted from the building.

The Breezair coolers are group-controlled in each area by the Breezair Industrial Wall Control (IWC), which enables the cooling system to be controlled at the touch of a button. The IWC has a smart temperature control algorithm that maintains the indoor temperature to within 0.5 degrees of the set point as well as Humidity Limit control, 7-day time clock and comprehensive fault diagnostics enabling the installation to be quickly serviced.

“Breezair is an excellent cooling system for a number of reasons”, says Matthew Pantlin. “First of all it uses very little water and power, which is particularly important in a laundry, and secondly the Breezair coolers are very cost effective to buy. All in all it is an excellent system”.

Breezair coolers contain large high efficiency cooling pads that are kept wet by a pump and water distribution system. Air is drawn through the pads by a powerful fan and is cooled by the evaporative process, providing a constant flow of naturally cooled, fresh air, without any air being recirculated. The evaporative process is particularly good for sealed, hygienic environments as most contaminants within the water supply are scrubbed out within the air cooler and do not pass through the cooler into the cooled zones. Breezair Evaporative Air Coolers are the only air coolers in the world to have been independently tested and found to comply with stringent German Hygiene Standard VDI-6022 part 3.

The Breezair system is housed in a simple, clean, ultra-modern designed plastic casing specially developed to withstand all weather conditions. The Breezair's state-of-the-art components include an innovative water distribution system, which delivers continuous, balanced water coverage to all the pads. The world-patented system ensures maximum cooling efficiency and minimal maintenance problems.

An innovatively designed, aerodynamic fan provides a constant, even flow of air over the pads to provide a welcome cool breeze with minimal noise and low energy consumption. Other pioneering components include a highly efficient water pump that guarantees constant and reliable cooling when most needed, and a long lasting variable speed motor that gives maximum comfort level control.

“Our staff have remarked on the improvement in their working conditions which has resulted from enhanced air movement and a substantial decrease in temperature”, concluded Matthew Pantlin. “Some workers have even requested that the coolers be turned down as they have felt chilly”.