London Linen makes savings of £40k a year following installation of GEM traps

Steam is used extensively throughout the laundry in the operation of a wide range of equipment including tunnel washing machines, tumble dryers and steam presses. Prior to the installation of the GEM Venturi orifice steam traps, London Linen found that maintenance and replacement of failed traps was costing around £5,000 a year.

In particular it was found that the mechanical traps on the Tunnel Washing Machines, a steam heated battery rotating cylindrical washing machine, malfunctioned as the machine went through its 360° cycle passing live steam. Having struggled to find a steam trap that would work successfully with the Tunnel Washing Machines, London Linen’s Chief Engineer, Peter Bateson, looked around for a solution. The answer came with the GEM Venturi orifice steam trap, which has no moving parts to be affected by gravity.


Following the success of the GEM traps with the Tunnel Washing Machines, Peter Bateson organised Gardner Energy Management’s engineering team to carry out a full survey of the laundry.

“As the laundry is in operation from 6.00 a.m. until 10.00 p.m. five days a week, it meant that the maintenance and replacement of traps had to be undertaken at weekends, which was inconvenient”, said Peter Bateson. “Since we installed GEM traps throughout the site, not one has failed and maintenance and replacement costs are a thing of the past”.

Now with the GEM traps installed all through the laundry, London Linen is saving around £35,000 in energy costs alone, which over a ten-year period will equate to £350,000. As gas prices continue to rise strongly, these savings will increase in line with costs.

Instead of utilising a valve mechanism to close off steam, 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 only minimal maintenance and requiring no spares, testing or monitoring equipment.

Available in a wide range of sizes for a full cross section of applications, the hardwearing GEM steam traps are manufactured from corrosion resistant stainless steel and are guaranteed for 10 years, obviating the need for repair or replacement. The GEM steam traps provide a fast payback - on some processes within a matter of days - from reduced energy costs and increased equipment reliability due to a reduction in damaging steam within the condensate system. In addition it improves product processing by enhancing the quality of steam which in turn reduces equipment repairs, downtime and replacement costs.