Boosting Critical Cold Water for NHS Trust Patients
The Challenge
A hospital in the NHS Northwest Anglia Foundation Trust had two primary quintuple booster sets, responsible for the reliability of the entire hospital’s cold-water supply. This reliability is necessary for patient operations and care, however, the booster sets were becoming unreliable and Dura Pump were asked to perform a comprehensive system assessment.
On attending site, we found multiple points of failure: the pumps were operating well beyond their effective lifespan, crucial isolation valves were no longer holding and the pumps inverters were obsolete which also made the control panels obsolete too. The system’s unreliability posed a direct threat to the hospital’s daily functions.
The Solution
On consultation with the customer, we recommended replacing the first of the two booster sets with five state-of-the-art Lowara 46 SVX 7.5kW vertical multistage pumps, each integrated with an intelligent Hydrovar X controller. These pumps are the latest in IE5 technology and their motors are classified as ultra-premium efficient which gives them the highest energy efficiency rating.
All associated non-return and butterfly valves were replaced with high-specification EPDM-lined valves to meet stringent hospital water and hygiene standards under their regulatory compliance.
The system was seamlessly integrated with the hospital’s existing Building Management System (BMS) via BACnet protocol, allowing for advanced visibility in monitoring and control.
The Dura Pump team managed the complete removal of the legacy Armstrong pumps and valves, the full mechanical and electrical installation of the new components and the final testing and commissioning to ensure a faultless transition.
Technical Specifications:
• Removal of all current Armstrong 7.5kW pumps, butterfly valves and NRVs from booster set one.
• Install:
o 5 Lowara 46 SVX 7.5kW vertical multistage pumps with Hydrovar X controllers
o DN80 Cast Iron Check Valves – WRAS approved
o DN80 Lugged and tapped butterfly valves – WRAS approved
o Gasket to seal a spacer between the NRV and the Butterfly valve.
• Modify the control panel so that the system runs the new Hydrovar X inverters.
• Make all mechanical and electrical connections
• Test and commission the new quintuple booster set.
The Outcome
The upgraded booster set now means the hospital has a resilient, efficient and intelligent asset delivering safe cold water around the facility. The project successfully delivered on its primary goal of ensuring operational continuity while providing significant secondary benefits that support the Trust’s wider financial and sustainability objectives.
- System Resilience: The primary benefit is the dramatic increase in reliability. Each pump’s ability to act as a master unit creates inherent redundancy, virtually eliminating the risk of total system downtime from a single component failure. This ensures an uninterrupted water supply for all critical hospital services.
- Measurable Energy Savings: The transition to IE5 motor technology, combined with the variable speed drives that precisely match output to real-time demand, delivers ongoing energy savings. This reduces the hospital’s energy consumption and operational expenditure, directly contributing to the Trust’s financial efficiency and carbon reduction targets.
- Operational Intelligence: Full integration with the hospital’s BMS provides the facilities management team with real-time data on system pressure, power consumption and individual pump run-hours. This rich data stream enables proactive maintenance scheduling, early fault detection, and data-driven decision-making, shifting the maintenance posture from reactive to predictive.
Before
After
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