Silent Pool Distillers, producer of handcrafted, artisan, award-winning spirits, has installed a Babcock Wanson VAP 400 Coil Type Steam Boiler into its unique distillery on the Duke of Northumberland’s Albury Estate located in the Surrey Hills.
The Boiler, which is being used to heat the distillation column, had to meet a set of distinct criteria which narrowed the field considerably, as Tom Hutchings, Head Of Distillery Operations for Silent Pool Distillers, explains: “We looked at various options and, as well as coming recommended, for our requirement Babcock Wanson offered the best package. We had a slightly unique challenge in that we were replacing an old boiler located in a container, so space was a limiting factor. The pipework from the container was also already in place so linking into the system whilst limiting the requirement to alter too much of it was very important.”
The Babcock Wanson VAP 400 Coil Type Steam Boiler, which is highly compact in design and doesn’t require a large pressure vessel, making it easy to install local to the steam user, met all the criteria for Silent Pool Distillers. “The install was definitely on the tight side but it worked out very well, aided by the thorough support of the team at Babcock Wanson” comments Tom.
The VAP 400 features three full gas passes, plus an in-built combustion air pre-heater to give high operating efficiency. With availability of steam from cold start in as little as three minutes and a low volume of water under pressure, it combines efficiency with safety, even at very high working pressure. With Silent Pool Distillers producing its spirits in batches, rather than a continuous operating process, the short time to produce steam has proven highly advantageous, as has the ease of use: “The unit itself is very simple to operate making its use throughout the day incredibly easy” states Tom.
For Silent Pool Distillers, it’s not just the boiler that has proven invaluable, but also the service provided by Babcock Wanson. “The service has been excellent” comments Tom “and the Babcock team have always been very fast to respond. Whether it be the service department or the call out engineers, they have always been very generous with their time and made the effort to explain everything thoroughly which has really helped us from an operational point of view as it’s given us a much greater understanding of each of the components and what to look for if we have faults in the future.”
Silent Pool Distillers is also benefitting from Babcock Wanson’s Water Treatment Service which uses highly qualified, professional chemists to ensure the treatment and testing regime is completed to obtain an accurate picture of a site’s specific requirements under a variety of conditions; this ensures the most appropriate chemical dosing regimen is always employed. In between scheduled consultancy visits, Babcock Wanson’s unique vSteam web portal allows Silent Pool Distillers to simply enter daily readings on-line and receive real-time feedback support. The Water Treatment Service is backed-up with a five year corrosion warranty on the boiler coil. “You get a very thorough service” states Tom “and we really appreciate the value in the service”.
The VAP 400 was supplied by Babcock Wanson complete with burner, feed water pump and control panel, assembled within a modified shipping general purpose container.
Babcock Wanson offers a complete range of products and services for boiler houses and other process heating needs, from steam boilers, thermal fluid heaters, rapid steam generators, process air heaters and hot water boilers to VOC and odour treatment by thermal oxidation, water treatment or process air heating solutions. The company aims to help optimise customer’s energy production with high quality products and efficient service.
For more information, please contact Babcock Wanson on 0208 953 7111 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or go to www.babcock-wanson.co.uk
