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Venturi steam traps simplify hot water system

A GEM product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 27, 2001

Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, Scotland, has replaced a pressure-powered condensate pump, installed in a hot water system to avoid stalling, with a venturi steam trap based system

Here is the problem: Queen Margaret Hospital (QMH) in Dunfermline, Scotland, traditionally uses steam to heat domestic hot water in a storage heater.

The duty is pretty large: 491kW.

To avoid stalling conditions, a pressure-powered condensate pump had been installed on initial design in 1992/3, even though the lift on the condensate line was only 2 metres.

But the pump became a maintenance headache - as well as needing its own steam supply, trap and vent - and the main system 2-inch mechanical steam trap was also jam-prone.

What a palaver! QMH's Estates Officer Ean Galbraith and the local Gardner Energy Managament (GEM) engineer put their heads together, decided that the system was over-engineered and simplified things dramatically.With a 1-inch GEM venturi steam trap, no moving parts and even less equipment, "the system simply doesn't stall." Ean Galbraith commented.

"And there has been no loss of performance," he continued.

Now GEM and Ean Galbraith are working on another calorifier system which over the years has become even more complex in its fitments.

Keeping it simple is the name of the game.

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