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ETC Enigmas keep watch over co-ed school

10 September 2010

Scalewatcher ENIGMA units from Environmental Treatment Concepts are significantly reducing energy costs at St Edmunds' School.

The Canterbury school is an independently run co-educational day and boarding school. The school caters for pupils from the age of three to eighteen, providing integrated educational opportunities from Pre-Prep School, through to Senior School, all on the same campus and sharing the same facilities, where appropriate. The school has 200 girls and 350 boys, approximately 18% of which are boarders.

Standing on its' present site since 1855, the schools' buildings have evolved and changed as development has demanded, however some have stood for many years. The school has four main plant rooms with both gas and oil systems providing domestic water and heating. Over time, hard water limescale has built up in the hot water systems resulting in inefficient temperature recovery, leading to repeated complaints about insufficient hot water and low temperatures in the winter months.

Having heard about Environmental Treatment Concepts' ability not only to prevent limescale build up but also to reverse the effects of scaling, school Bursar, Mary Stannard, called upon the company to provide a solution. A site survey was carried out by an ETC applications engineer with maintenance manager Robin Fishwick, to identify problem areas and decide where their Scalewatcher ENiGMA units would be most effectively sited to treat the various systems.

Following installation, temperature data loggers were located at the girls’ dormitory enabling comparisons between old and new cylinders. Results showed that the cylinders were recovering temperature much more rapidly, even in winter. The older cylinders achieved an increased temperature of 5°c within six months, matching the temperatures of the newer cylinders. More importantly, no further complaints have been received from the pupils about the lack of hot water.

Moreover, the heat exchangers in the mixed dormitory were recovering temperature 60% faster. The maintenance manager had even considered switching off the primary during the day, considerably reducing oil consumption.

Records kept by the ETC engineer concluded that within six months of installation the two older heat exchangers recovered their heat in just 3 hours, compared to 12 hours previously, resulting in at least a 25% reduction in gas consumption.

The descaler installed in the boys' dormitory to treat water for the showers also had a positive result as the showerheads only need descaling once a year compared to every term previously.

The effectiveness of the Scalewatcher ENiGMA units can also be seen in the laundry room where the water softeners to the hot water system have been disconnected with no noticeable problems, providing subsequent savings in salt and regenerated water.

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