Success Stories >> Automatic pump traps are a quiet success for hospital

Spirax Sarco APT14 automatic pump traps have helped improve the welfare of patients undergoing surgery at St James Hospital in Dublin. The APT14s have eliminated a serious noise problem from plant rooms located directly above operating theatre suites. The noise was so bad at times that anaesthetists struggled to properly monitor patients in surgery. Mr Erc Kealy, Energy Officer at the 840 bed hospital, explains: "Under low load, the shell and tube heat exchangers emitted a loud banging noise."

The disruptions occurred daily in warmer weather and at night when the heat exchangers, used for hot water and domestic hot water supplies, were under low load conditions. Condensate backed up in the heat exchangers, causing waterhammer and noise within the tubes.

Spirax Sarco was called in to look at the problem and suggested installing the APT14 automatic pump traps to remove condensate from the heat exchangers no matter how low the demand.

"The pump traps have completely cured the problem."

"The pump traps have completely cured the problem." says Kealy. "Before, we had to react immediately to regular complaints, which took up a lot of maintenance manpower. We fitted the APTs ourselves. They were straightforward to install and Spirax Sarco was on hand to help during commissioning.

"We have now fitted pump traps to exchangers in four plant rooms."

Under normal operating conditions, the APT14 acts as a conventional steam trap. However in conditions where back pressure would cause a normal trap to stall and flood the system, the APT14 switches to pumping mode to ensure condensate is removed.

Spirax Sarco automatic pump traps are a superb solution for eliminating waterlogging in heat exchangers, which is a common problem in many hospitals. Often the symptoms, such as noisy operation, are not readily associated with poor condensate drainage.