Priorclave Autoclaves save energy and water

As energy and water rates rise, increasing attention is being paid to water usage and energy costs, not only as an environmental imperative but also as a matter of good financial stewardship. Priorclave stand ready and able to assist you and your organisation in this endeavour.

When running steam-jacketed autoclaves and Priorclave’s non-jacketed laboratory autoclaves side-by-side in a research laboratory, users found that jacketed autoclaves used in excess of thirty times more water – with no corresponding benefit. Some research laboratories have even reported an impressive 90% reduction in water usage when a Priorclave Front Loading Autoclave has been installed.

Priorclave’s front loading autoclaves come in a variety of sizes to suit your needs, from popular 100 Litre models, up to 400 Litre models, which are ideally suited to laboratories undertaking high-volume sterilising procedures.  Larger high-volume Priorclave autoclaves are ideal for those labs frequently tasked with handling tall and bulky items. Despite their greater chamber size and high loading capacity they still fit in a surprisingly small floor area.

Although it is impossible to predict exactly how much water a Priorclave autoclave will use during operation without knowing a great deal about your own unique requirements and desired use, we can offer a very rough guideline. On average, Priorclave's Benchtop models with condensate bottle exhaust will typically consume as little as half a litre of water per cycle. Whilst models with drain condenser exhaust cooling can consume between 15-25 gallons per cycle.

In the interest of greater accuracy, Priorclave monitored water consumption of a 150 Litre Priorclave front-loader with a vacuum system and drain condenser, a very popular laboratory size and configuration.  Priorclave found that running a standard sterilisation cycle: On average, for a normal cycle, around 3.3L is lost as vented steam from the autoclave chamber. This is replenished by the water fill system at the end of the cycle. The chamber holds approximately 12 Litres.

Vacuum Pump usage varies widely by cycle type, but on a cycle with the standard two pre-heating vacuum pulldowns and twelve post-cycle vacuum pulldowns, around 35 Litres of water is used per cycle. If only a pre-heating vacuum is used, then the water consumption drops considerably to around 10 Litres per cycle. Drain Condenser use also varies by cycle as the condenser is thermostatically operated, and this only runs as and when needed. On the cycle with a standard two preheating vacuum pulldowns and twelve post cycle vacuum pulldowns, the drain condenser consumed around 10 Litres per cycle.

To discover just how much you could save, contact Priorclave or visit the website today.