More
Housing provider, St Leger Homes, has significantly reduced boiler breakdowns and service issues across more than 21,000 properties as a result of Sentinel’s water treatment programme, SystemCare.
St Leger Homes is an Arm’s Length Management Organisation (ALMO) set up by Doncaster Council in 2005 to provide social and private housing in the area. SystemCare, adopted by the organisation several years ago, provides St Leger’s Homes with a bespoke package of training and high quality Sentinel products, designed to deliver lifetime boiler protection.
St Leger Homes first started working with Sentinel after suffering a high number of boiler breakdowns and issues across its properties, which had led to expensive and preventable call outs. These unnecessary service and repair costs were in large part due to inefficient and faulty boilers caused by poor water treatment. This boiler inefficiency not only resulted in unplanned costs for St Leger Homes, but also increased energy bills for tenants.
The SystemCare programme has improved the water quality at each property by ensuring the long-term protection from corrosion and limescale in the central heating systems. Boiler manufacturer and Sentinel research shows that approximately 87% of boiler call outs are to systems without correct water treatment. Correct water treatment helps to prevent the corrosion that occurs when untreated water comes into contact with the metal inside the central heating system. This corrosion impacts the components within the boiler, increasing the likelihood of it failing or breaking down. By supporting the implementation of water treatment best practice, Sentinel’s SystemCare package has improved the efficiency of boilers and heating systems for St Leger Homes, helping them to lower maintenance, repair and associated labour costs.
The improved efficiency of heating systems at St Leger Homes was achieved via a three-step process; clean, protect and maintain. The first step involved cleaning the systems by removing any corrosion debris, residual flux or greases from circulating water, ensuring the system was ready to be treated and helping to prepare for better performance. Step number two was protection to prolong system life; this involved adding chemical inhibitor fluid to the central heating systems to optimise water chemistry, extending the life of the system by preventing the build-up of limescale and corrosion. The final step in the process is ongoing maintenance of inhibitor levels to ensure durable protection against the problems associated with poor water treatment.
Sentinel’s Vortex300 filter was also installed in all of St Leger Homes’ heating systems. Designed off the back of increased customer demand for superior heating system support, the filter has been independently verified to collect more magnetic debris on a continuous pass than any other compact filter on the market. The robust Vortex300 filter has given first-class protection to boilers at St Leger Homes properties, whilst simultaneously reducing labour cost due to the speed at which it can be installed and serviced.
Because Doncaster is a hard water area, the organisation installed a Sentinel SESI electrolytic scale inhibitor as part of the protection process to help tackle the water’s high levels of limescale. This works alongside the Vortex300 filter to provide 24-hour protection to the heating systems at each property.
As part of the Systemcare package, St Leger Homes also receives regular training on water treatment and Sentinel solutions, to ensure they are fully up to date on the latest products and developments. As part of its commitment to providing the very best service to its customers, Sentinel continues to work closely with the social housing organisation on an ongoing basis to provide the support and tools it needs to monitor the heating systems, ensuring the boilers are protected at all times and operating at optimum levels.
Craig Walton from St Leger Homes commented: “As a conscientious and quality-oriented organisation, we abide by the standards set by the British Standards Institution. Sentinel’s SystemCare has helped us to improve the service we provide to our tenants, saving them money on energy bills in the process. The SystemCare programme has resulted in improved performance and reliability of heating systems throughout our properties, dramatically reducing boiler breakdowns and issues as a result.”
John Jackson, Sentinel’s Area Sales Manager for North East and Yorkshire, said: “St Leger Homes has benefited greatly from the SystemCare programme, resulting in cost savings on service and repairs over a number of years. We’ve worked closely with St Leger Homes to provide the exact Sentinel products required, and provided the team with bespoke training to help them adhere to water treatment best practice.”
For more information on SystemCare, view here.
