The Northern General Hospital in Sheffield has significantly improved the efficiency of its new low-pressure hot water heating system by installing 30 BoilerMagXT units from Eclipse Magnetics.
BoilerMagXT’s ability to remove black iron oxide or magnetite – sludge - from the system delivers efficiencies of around 6%, reducing CO2 emissions in the process, as well as eliminating blockages, wear and boiler breakdowns.
Eclipses Magnetics’ BoilerMag range includes filters for domestic, commercial and industrial heating systems. It is one of the most-effective methods of removing ferrous and non-ferrous contaminants, down to sub-micron size.
As water circulates through the BoilerMagXT core, Eclipse’s high-intensity magnets attract iron oxide contamination to the magnetic rods, removing it from circulation.
The estate’s fepartment at Northern General Hospital specified BoilerMagXT as part of its steam to low pressure hot water conversion scheme. Other energy-efficiency improvements on the 120-acre site include new gas condensing boilers. The modern condensing boilers are expected to increase efficiency by an additional 10-12%, compared to the out-dated conventional boilers.
Magnetic filters were specified by the hospital for additional protection to the new plate heat exchangers. The previous system regularly became clogged through the accumulation of black iron oxide or magnetite - sludge. The estate team was therefore concerned that this could result premature failure to the new plate heat exchangers as well as reducing efficiency of the new condensing boilers.
“We had ongoing issues with our out-of-date heating system becoming clogged with sludge,” said a spokesman for the hospital.
“As well as replacing this with a modern condensing system, BoilerMagXT is a crucial element of maintaining optimum efficiency by removing contaminants and protecting what is a significant new asset investment from premature wear and breakdown.
“Being able to remove the collected contaminants from the BoilerMagXT units in minutes, when we carry out our pre-planned maintenance, means it is able to fit into our normal servicing schedule.”
