Boiler house: 28 components · payback under 10 months.
The boiler-house survey at Royal Jersey Laundry was carried out under the Industrial Laundry Thermal Energy challenge, delivered through Innovate UK Business Connect’s Innovation Exchange (iX) programme in partnership with the Textile Services Association (TSA). It found hot components — the boiler doors, the economizer, manholes and pumps — left uninsulated because they need access, which traditional removable insulation such as cladding and insulation jackets does not allow. Report: Managing thermal energy in industrial laundries (PDF).
Bare boiler plate, economizer and valves radiating into the boiler house at up to 148 °C.
Uninsulated metal far above the 45 °C touch-safe limit (ISO 13732-1) at working height.
Audit the bare spots and panel them. The covers come off in minutes for service, so nothing has to be stripped out and replaced.
Three components from the boiler house — FLIR Tx-series, bare vs Inzonex panels, same load and same ambient. Values are the camera's on-image spot markers.
Drag the slider across the Cochran boiler in 3D: bare metal on one side, Inzonex modular removable panels on the other — across six views (iso, back plate, top, feed-water line and boiler door), with the savings per boiler.
Back plate, economizer and manhole panelled — removable in 2 minutes.
Economizer box closed off in shaped modular sections; snap-fastened seams.
Valve body panelled; hand-wheel left clear for operation.
Radiometric infrared with a FLIR Tx-series (ε 0.95 fabric / 0.30 bare carbon steel, 480×640 px, steady-state — identical load and ambient before and after). Box ROI per ISO 18434-1, not single spots; surface touch-safety to ISO 13732-1 (≤45 °C, 60 s contact).
Steady-state heat transfer to ISO 12241 / BS EN ISO 13787: air velocity v = 0.5 m/s, 50 mm insulation, ambient 28 °C, boiler efficiency 88%, energy £60/MWh, 5,840 h/yr — the inputs disclosed in the Inzonex field report. The same engine powers the public Inzonex calculators.
Each component is rebuilt in CAD from the field-surveyed boiler, and its smooth outer surface area is measured straight off the model — the figures below are the bare geometry, without bolts, nuts, weld seams or surface irregularities. Those enlarge the real radiating and convecting area, so a ×1.4 roughness factor is applied in the heat-loss calculation. It does not change how much insulation is fitted.
Bare ~130 °C → panel ≤45 °C touch-safe. The boiler back plate and economizer box — the largest insulated faces.
Bare ~180 °C → panel ≤45 °C touch-safe. Main valve body panelled; hand-wheel left clear.
Bare ~180 °C → panel ≤45 °C touch-safe. Steam-side shell access cover; removable in 2 minutes for inspection.
Areas measured straight off the as-found CAD models (SolidWorks) as smooth geometry; a ×1.4 roughness factor for bolts, seams and irregularities is applied in the heat-transfer calculation, not to the insulation quantity. Boiler-house saving: 313 MWh/yr · £18,800/yr across 28 covers (ISO 12241, smooth area × 1.4; Inzonex field report INZ-2026-CBH-001).
| Component (boiler house) | Bare — before | Panel — after | Drop | Reduction* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back plate | 148 °C | 34 °C | 114 °C | 95% |
| Economizer | 144 °C | 33 °C | 111 °C | 96% |
Camera spot markers, FLIR Tx-series, May 2026. *Surface heat-loss reduction = 1 − (T_panel − T_amb)/(T_bare − T_amb), T_amb 28 °C. All panel surfaces touch-safe (≤45 °C, ISO 13732-1).
| Scope | Components | MWh/yr | £/yr | CO₂ t/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boiler house | 28 | 313 | £18,800 | ~58 |
Per-component ISO 12241 calculations rolled up (v = 0.5 m/s, 50 mm, ambient 28 °C, boiler efficiency 88%, £60/MWh, 5,840 h/yr; CO₂ via GHG Protocol Scope 1, natural gas). Payback under 10 months from commissioning. Source: Inzonex field report INZ-2026-CBH-001.
Every insulated component, with its CAD surface area — the same per-component basis as the public heat-loss calculator. Area shown is the smooth CAD surface × 1.4 (bolts, seams, irregularities) — the radiating/convecting area used in the ISO 12241 heat-loss calc.
| Component | Qty | Bare °C | Panel °C | Area m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boiler door (front) | 1 | 120 | ≤45 | 5.3 |
| Backside of boiler | 1 | 130 | ≤45 | 5.3 |
| Economizer | 1 | 126 | ≤45 | 11.3 |
| Check valve (steam) | 1 | 180 | ≤45 | 0.9 |
| Main valve (steam) | 1 | 180 | ≤45 | 0.6 |
| Safety valves | 2 | 180 | ≤45 | 0.7 |
| Manhole | 1 | 180 | ≤45 | 0.4 |
| Steam-side flanges | 2 | 180 | ≤45 | 0.3 |
| Flanged sensors | 2 | 180 | ≤45 | 0.2 |
| CR feed-water pump | 1 | 100 | ≤45 | 1.5 |
| Globe valve | 1 | 100 | ≤45 | 0.4 |
| Return valves | 3 | 100 | ≤45 | 0.8 |
| Piping + flange w/ pipe | 8 | 100 | ≤45 | 1.2 |
| Filter | 1 | 100 | ≤45 | 0.4 |
| Bottom flanges | 2 | 100 | ≤45 | 0.5 |
| Total — boiler house | 28 | — | ≤45 | ~30 |
15 component types · 28 covers. All panel surfaces ≤45 °C touch-safe (ISO 13732-1). Surface temperatures from the radiometric FLIR survey; areas from CAD (smooth × 1.4). Source: Inzonex field report INZ-2026-CBH-001.
The boiler house was FLIR-scanned before and after the install: walls and ceiling, six points across the room, plus the wall behind the boiler.
| Location | Before | After | Drop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall behind the Cochran shell | 34 °C | 22 °C | −12 °C |
| Boiler house overall (6-point grid) | 28 °C | 20 °C | −8 °C |
FLIR Tx-series thermal scan of walls and ceiling (not air), ε 0.93 painted concrete, 2–3 m, same load before vs after install (ISO 18434-1). No ventilation was changed; the drop comes from the insulation alone.
Stainless snap buttons fasten and release each cover by hand — no tools, no fixings drilled into the equipment. They go on at install and unclip for routine access, valve operation or inspection, then snap back in place.
Modular sections connect to one another and wrap the exact geometry — minimising creases and folds where water, dust or chemicals could pool or seep in.
The cover unzips so the mineral-wool core lifts out — to wash the outer fabric or renew the insulation without scrapping the whole cover. The shell stays in service and only the core is replaced.
Field survey, CAD reconstruction and modelling by the Inzonex engineering team. The 3D models behind the calculators are built by hand in CAD from real, field-surveyed equipment.
Tell us your setup and we prepare an infrared survey plan, an ISO 12241 saving estimate and a removable-panel proposal with payback. No cost. Savings are shown in your currency; we ship and install worldwide.
The boiler house is one part of it. You can price the rest of the laundry yourself: walk the hot side in the visual heat explorer, or run the numbers for a tumble dryer, an ironer or the boiler.
Inzonex Modular Insulation is made for these surfaces: it comes off by hand for access, fastens with snap buttons, and the insulation core unzips out to be washed or replaced.
See Inzonex Modular Insulation →Inzonex · industrial insulation library · heat-loss calculators
The calculation method is documented on the ASTM C680 / ISO 12241 methodology page. Related published method proof: engrXiv DOI 10.31224/7444.
