Hot Tip #7 - Thermo Oil

My question is would switching to all ironers on thermal oil be more efficient than steam?

What are the pros and cons of Oil Vs Steam?

Oil Pros:

• Oil can be heated to higher temperatures. (>400 F), steam at 150 PSIG = 366 F.
• Oil will be at a lower pressure, Typically 30 to 40 PSIG not 100 PSIG or greater as with steam.
• Fewer steam traps are required. (None on oil systems)
• Less make-up water, boiler water treatment, boiler chemicals, boiler blow-down.
• Lower TDS (total dissolved solids) in discharged sewer water.
• Little if any internal pipe corrosion
• No catastrophic expansion of oil during containment vessel rupture. (Steam expands to 1500 times boiler water volume)

Cons:

• Addition capital investment. (Oil system & steam system)
• Electrical cost increases. (Oil must be pumped; oil pumps are larger than boiler feed water pumps)
• Additional maintenance. (Oil heater & pumping system)
• Additional building space is required to house the oil system
• Heated oil can burn (be destroyed) during an electrical outage if not circulated. (standby, non-electrical pump required)
• Oil has a limited life expectancy and is considered hazardous waste when disposed of in most states.
• Oil can catch on fire.
• Oil is considered less safe. A small pinhole leak can send hot oil 40 to 60 feet. (Steam only a few feet)
• Oil “spills” are much harder to clean up.  (Oil spills may require HAZMAT involvement.)
• Additional air emission permits are required.
• Higher temperature equals greater thermo losses in the delivery system & in the oil heater exhaust gases. Some of these additional losses are heating up your already too hot laundry.

by laundryliststg

Hot Tip #6 - Iron Removal

Do you have a problem with iron in your water softeners?

Here is a simple three-step solution:

1. Dissolve two pounds of salt and four pounds of Ferosol 1-300 in three gallons of water for each cubic foot of resin in the softener.
2. Pump solution into Brine well just before regeneration.
3. After regeneration with this solution, regenerate the unit a second time under normal regeneration parameters and return to service.

Ferosol 1-300 is a Bond Chemical product.

Your chemical supplier may have a substitute for Ferosol 1-300

by laundryliststg

Hot Tip #5 - Water Hardness

Has your plant ever run on hard water, even for only a day?  How damaging could 1 day be?  If a laundry is using 200 gallons of water per minute with a water hardness of 20 grains: The total mass of hardness that should be removed if the facility were to run for 16 hours is?

A) 0.25 pounds   B) 2.5 pounds  C) 25 pounds    D) 250 pounds  E) More than A, B, C & D combined.

Calculation:

(200 GPM * 60 Minutes/hour * 16 hours * 20 Grains) / 7,000 Grains per pound = 548.6 pounds

This 548 pounds hardness (Calcium & Magnesium) would have a volume of approximately 50 gallons! If your boiler is using 5% of your total water, then approximately 2.5gallons of contamination could occur in 1 day of running hard.  This is enough contaminate to cover the tubes in a 400-horsepower boiler with 0.002 inches of insulator! Imagine using 2.5 gallons of paint per day to coat your boiler tubes!

Calculation: 

(2.5 Gallons * 231 Cu. In. /Gallon) / (400 BHP * 5 Sq. Ft. /BHP * 144 Sq. In. / Sq. Ft.) = 0.002 Inches

by laundryliststg

Hot Tip #4 - Combustion Air

As the cold weather arrives, we frequently start closing doors in and around our boiler room.

This blocks off the needed combustion air to the boiler. The required make-up air opening is:

5 square feet per 1,000,000 BTU's per hour.

A 300 BHP boiler would require:             300 * 33,000 /1,000,000 * 5 = 49.5 square feet

THIS IS 49.5 SQUARE FEET OF UNRESTRICTED AIRFLOW

If the air make-up opening is restricted (which it always is), with louvers or screens, then a larger opening is required.

Typical devaluation factors caused by these restrictive devices are 40 to 70 percent.

So, the required opening of 49.5 square feet can approach:  49.5 / (100% -70%) = 165 square feet.

Since the cold weather places a larger load on boilers, it becomes more vital that we monitor boiler efficiency closely.

by laundryliststg

Hot Tip #3 - G Force

Some newer washer-extractors can be programmed in G force.

G force is equal to:  RPM^{2 *} Diameter _(inches) / 70,500  

Example: If a washer basket is 65 inches in diameter & spinning at 570 RPM then the resulting

 G force is: (570 RPM * 570 RPM * 65 INCHES / 70,500) = 299.6 G’s

Fun facts on G force comparisons:

Moon surface at equator = 0.1654 G’s, Earth surface at sea level = 1.0 G,  

Space Shuttle at launch = 3.0 G’s,   Apollo 16 on reentry = 7.19 G’s

Generally, we will extract everything going to a dryer at maximum G force.                              Uniforms and napery may be extracted at lower G forces. We don’t want these classifications too dry before finishing.

“General Rule of thumb”: The wetted the goods going to pressing / finishing the better the finished quality. This of course assumes that the goods exit the finishing department dry.

by laundryliststg