PROJECT 33
Steaming through laundry
By
Tanya Olckers with technical contributions by Franco Habib of Allsteam Engineering cc
How do you save water in a hospital laundry ? Get it done with steam . Edenvale Hospital in Gauteng has just installed a new steam system in their laundry .
Laundry day blues : there is a wash basket stuffed with dirty clothes and the linen needs to be washed as well . It ’ s a nightmare . However , our domestic laundry challenges are nothing when compared to that of a public hospital that not only has to take care of its own laundry , but the laundry of several other hospitals on the East Rand .
Clean laundry in any hospital is vital to a patient ’ s well-being , as well as the health of the staff who work there . Superbugs such as vancomycin-resistant Enterococci ( VRE ) and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA ) can survive in an unclean laundry for up to three months . Because these bacteria are antibiotic resistant , contact with them has to be eliminated or greatly reduced for the health of anyone coming into contact with linens , clothing or other items that may have been exposed to them .
Sheets don ’ t just have to be clean and hygienic – they need to be sanitised . As you can imagine , that takes a lot of water .
How can you manage to provide sanitised laundry while also providing an efficient way to conserve water in a country that is water scarce ?
The electrical control box .
Franco Habib from Allsteam Engineering , in a joint venture with Mbali Solutions and Dalow Engineering , has been involved with the installation of a brand-new steam laundry system at Gauteng ’ s Edenvale Hospital . The hospital currently uses a series of washers that can take 100kg of linen . Each washer uses around 200l per wash , on a 45-minute running cycle .
“ The new Lavatec tunnel washer we have installed washes 50 kilograms every two minutes , and will use 200l over eight washes ,” Habib explains .
Images by Plumbing Africa
Tanks containing the detergents .
Edenvale Hospital has relied on industrial washers , dryers and ironing stations to get not only its laundry clean , but that of other hospitals in Gauteng . This is the very first steam tunnel washer installed at this laundry .
“ Many hospitals run on 75 % steam as electrical supply may not be sufficient to drive all their needs ,” Habib says .
January 2024 Volume 29 I Number 11 www . plumbingafrica . co . za