Keraflo copes with water needs - BSEE - Building Services and Environmental Engineer

Keraflo copes with water needs

Published: 04 June, 2009

The Westfield London Shopping Centre, situated between Shepherds Bush and Notting Hill, is as trendy as its location. With 256 shops from 15 countries in the Westfield Centre providing a mix of top of the range high street names and a plethora of designer labels, all set in an area dominated by the very latest and most glamorous interior design and decoration, it promises to be the fashion centre for London.

The visitor is entitled to be dazzled by the opulence of the displays but they will probably not see past the fashion to consider the problems of cold water supply to such a complex of shops. That was the remit of Silcock Dawson & Partners as part of their Mechanical Services Design duties and the cold water distribution system they produced relied heavily on the control of the innovative float valves developed and manufactured by Keraflo Ltd.

Silcock Dawson’s design involved two main storage cisterns each with its own valve selection; one providing the domestic cold water supply to the centre, the other serving the adiabatic cold water distribution system. The main storage arrangement consists of two huge sectional cisterns mounted in ‘piggy-back’ style so that the upper tank replenishes the lower and ensures that good circulation is maintained at all times.

A Keraflo KP Valve, selected to provide truly rapid fill at peak times, is controlled by a KB Pilot Float Valve arrangement and feeds the upper tank – 7000 x 4500 x 2500mm - using a dual flow system. The water supply piped down into the second cistern – equally vast at 6000 x 4500 x 4000mm - is regulated by a dual feed Keraflo KB Float Valve. In each case the KB Valve was chosen because they perform excellently on a low operational pressure. The adiabatic storage cistern, this one a mere 3000 x 2000 x 2000mm in dimension, uses a standard KB float valve arrangement.

So when those who visit Westfield London require water to freshen up and repair the retail ravages, it will be provided courtesy of an ingenious system of vast cisterns whose flow is impeccably regulated by Keraflo Float valves.

Keraflo Ltd

Unit 1 Woodley Park Estate, 59-69 Reading Road, Woodley, Reading, Berks, RG5 3AN

Tel: 0118 921 9920

Email: info@keraflo.co.uk

Web: www.keraflo.co.uk