Turning up the Heat

Posted by StevenHWicker on July 10th, 2019

To ensure maximum productivity – and therefore profits – laundries and drycleaners need a steam boiler that can reliably and powerfully fulfil its role as the heart of the business.

The Slim Jim 4VT steam boiler from CFB Boilers fits the bill nicely, offering significant energy savings, low maintenance and an impressive start-up time of 10-15 minutes.

This speed in reaching full pressure is essential for maximising working hours and therefore money-making potential for any laundry or drycleaning business.

“I just need to arrive in the morning and start working. This is what the Slim Jim enables me to do – there’s no waiting around for an hour, I can start work almost straight away. Now if a customer comes in first thing, I can get the job done in five minutes,” explains Mr Malik, owner of Canonbury Dry Cleaners in Islington. Commercial boiler

“We also decided to go with the Slim Jim because it’s really compact. We’ve got a very small space and all the doors are narrow, but installing the boiler was no problem for CFB’s engineers.”

As well as having a small footprint, and a fast start-up time, another design feature which makes the Slim Jim particularly suited to the laundry and drycleaning industry is its steam chamber, which is approximately 30 per cent larger than most other vertical boilers. This not only ensures that the boiler can more efficiently fulfil the variable steam load required, as any laundry or drycleaner’s workload will naturally have peaks and troughs, but it virtually eliminates boiler priming by preventing excessive moisture being carried over in the steam. Reducing moisture levels in the steam that’s produced both extends the life of a boiler and reduces the need for frequent descaling, plus it ensures superior drycleaning performance, resulting in happy customers and a better reputation for the business in question.

But of course, these benefits aren’t the only important considerations – operating efficiency is key, especially given the rising cost of fuel. This is where the Slim Jim excels. Numerous laundries and drycleaning businesses across the south east have already seen the positive effect that installing this new boiler has had on their overheads, including Mr Masud, owner of BMG Dry Cleaners in Ilford:

“Since getting the Slim Jim my gas bill has gone down 35 per cent overall,” he explains. “That’s a big saving.”

These particularly significant cost savings are down to the design of the Slim Jim, which affords an energy efficiency advantage over other vertical boilers in the same class, as it employs four-pass technology compared to other brands’ two- or three-pass designs, says CFB. In the Slim Jim, the combustion gases pass generated heat over water heating surfaces four times, which maximises the opportunity for heat transfer, resulting in exceptional efficiency and low exit flue temperatures – the latter also being crucial for environmental legislation compliance.

Another key feature of the Slim Jim’s design is its tubeless construction. Not only does this design eliminate the problem of tube failure, immediately saving on the cost of tube replacement and repair (which could cost in the region of £800 – £1,000) and the accompanying down time which results in lost business revenue, but it can help to keep maintenance commitments to a minimum too.

However, that’s not to say that proper maintenance should not be undertaken. To ensure optimum performance and boiler longevity, a blow-down should be performed two or three times a day. Fluff buildup is also something to beware of – and it’s a common problem in the laundry and drycleaning industry. 1000 Kg/h steam boiler

“Burners suck in air, so fluff often gets caught on the air vent. If this isn’t removed, the boiler can’t combust properly, and this can cause serious problems,” explains Ian Gunn, chief engineer at CFB Boilers.

“It’s such an easy problem to avoid though – just make sure the fluff build up is removed at least once a month and your boiler will stay in top condition.”

Thankfully, the design of the Slim Jim means that it’s simple to keep on top of regular maintenance. Both the internal shell and flue ways can be easily inspected and cleaned throughout their complete circumference, thanks to convenient construction, and the central air inlet limits dust or moisture intake.