Water Treatment Chemicals supply for Pretty Legs, UK

The boiler system at Pretty Legs is small – only 1.8tph at 7bar, however, it supplies steam for the all-important dyehouse, which adds the colours to the Pretty Legs fashion range. It also heats the autoclave which ensures a wrinkle free finish to the hosiery. So the boiler is critical to production and Pretty Legs’ Maintenance Engineer, Jason Isherwood, needs to ensure that it runs at peak efficiency. The boiler water chemistry needs to be closely monitored to prevent scale and corrosion which would reduce heat transfer, increase energy consumption and could lead to production downtime. When the annual boiler water treatment service contract was due for renewal Jason invited a quote from Veolia Water Technologies.

Using the RecoSMART online calculator, Veolia showed Jason how conditioning chemicals from the Hydrex range, as part of a customised boiler management solution, would reduce costs and save energy. Hydrex chemicals are concentrated, which means that customers are purchasing less water than with some competitors’ chemicals. As a result, volumes of chemicals for storage at Pretty Legs have been reduced by about 50%. It also means reduced costs and Jason has already found a reduction in chemical costs of over 20% by comparison with his previous chemical supplier. But the biggest benefit is the improved chemical control: “The Veolia Technician visits every month without fail and her advice is sound and professional. As a result the control is better and we have reduced our chemical consumption and operating costs too.” And that will be even more important, because the company is about to take delivery of a new 3tph boiler to meet increased production demand.

• Monthly testing ensures optimum boiler water chemistry
• Reduced chemical consumption by 20%
• Concentrated chemicals reduced stock volume by 50%