Heat Exchanger
Re: Heat Exchanger
If my knowledge isn't too wonky the 'power rating' for these is a reference to how much heat can be transfered from the hot side to cold side. This is probably given as these (and most heat excahngers of this size) are used in Combi-boilers to transfer the heat from the hot-water circuit into the radiator circuit. Go on; have a look at the back of your combi - you should see one! For instance I have a ravenheat 120 low nox which has a 5-32KW heat capacity. If I installed too many radiators in the house it wouldn't be able to cope say on a very cold day. Similarly if I swapped the heat exchange in the back of it for a lower 'power rating' the boiler wouldn't be able to swap all of the heat it generates onto the radiator side of the pipe work.
For us brewers it just simple means the more plates/bigger each plate is the better heat transfer rate you will get which means potentially quicker cooling times. Obviously at some point flow speeds (both cold water and wort) come into play too (oh yeah, and water/wort temperatures too!)
Or alternatively just build a better immersion cooler - like I'm doing (8 coils in total ) - and avoid the problems of sanitising
For us brewers it just simple means the more plates/bigger each plate is the better heat transfer rate you will get which means potentially quicker cooling times. Obviously at some point flow speeds (both cold water and wort) come into play too (oh yeah, and water/wort temperatures too!)
Or alternatively just build a better immersion cooler - like I'm doing (8 coils in total ) - and avoid the problems of sanitising
Re: Heat Exchanger
Some pros, cons and more about cleaning here:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=33573
And the old 10 (or so) plate Leyland one is now here:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=34063
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=33573
And the old 10 (or so) plate Leyland one is now here:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=34063
- trucker5774
- Falling off the Barstool
- Posts: 3180
- Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 12:20 pm
- Location: North Devon
Re: Heat Exchanger
It sounds like you are referring to the primary heat exchanger (which utilises the heat from the gas burner ). I think the ones we are looking at are for DHW. Heat is not transferred from the the DHW circuit to the radiators, it's the other way round.....................unless of course I'm mistakenbeermonsta wrote:If my knowledge isn't too wonky the 'power rating' for these is a reference to how much heat can be transfered from the hot side to cold side. This is probably given as these (and most heat excahngers of this size) are used in Combi-boilers to transfer the heat from the hot-water circuit into the radiator circuit. Go on; have a look at the back of your combi - you should see one! For instance I have a ravenheat 120 low nox which has a 5-32KW heat capacity. If I installed too many radiators in the house it wouldn't be able to cope say on a very cold day. Similarly if I swapped the heat exchange in the back of it for a lower 'power rating' the boiler wouldn't be able to swap all of the heat it generates onto the radiator side of the pipe work.
For us brewers it just simple means the more plates/bigger each plate is the better heat transfer rate you will get which means potentially quicker cooling times. Obviously at some point flow speeds (both cold water and wort) come into play too (oh yeah, and water/wort temperatures too!)
Or alternatively just build a better immersion cooler - like I'm doing (8 coils in total ) - and avoid the problems of sanitising
John
Drinking/Already drunk........ Trucker's Anti-Freeze (Turbo Cider), Truckers Delight, Night Trucker, Rose wine, Truckers Hitch, Truckers Revenge, Trucker's Lay-by, Trucker's Trailer, Flower Truck, Trucker's Gearshift, Trucker's Horn, Truck Crash, Fixby Gold!
Conditioning... Doing what? Get it down your neck! ........
FV 1............
FV 2............
FV 3............
Next Brews..... Trucker's Jack Knife
Drinking/Already drunk........ Trucker's Anti-Freeze (Turbo Cider), Truckers Delight, Night Trucker, Rose wine, Truckers Hitch, Truckers Revenge, Trucker's Lay-by, Trucker's Trailer, Flower Truck, Trucker's Gearshift, Trucker's Horn, Truck Crash, Fixby Gold!
Conditioning... Doing what? Get it down your neck! ........
FV 1............
FV 2............
FV 3............
Next Brews..... Trucker's Jack Knife
Re: Heat Exchanger
What he said.sparky Paul wrote:It does say stainless in the description, but I'm not sure I would buy one for cooling wort that didn't come to bits.
While you can sterilize most of the fused plate HEX models in an oven or boil you can never get all the crud out of 'em. IT can be clean crud, but like the poor you will always have it among you.
The best ones come apart for cleaning. They are beastly expensive.
An immersion chiller is the easiest way to go, but I wanted a touch more elegance.
My solution is to take some SST 12 mm thinwall tubing and form it into a coil to fit inside the BK. Then using weldless O-ring sealed bulkhead fittings rig it up to be an integral chiller. In my brewery build I'm using two such coils each fed independently for 24 meters of tubing chilling my wort in an 80 liter pot.
Re: Heat Exchanger
Sorry it took a while. Here's a pic with a slider phone to give you an idea of size. The stainless fittings don't come with it.crookedeyeboy wrote:Many thanks again. You could post a pic if you get chance.
Re: Heat Exchanger
Excellent!!! Now thats what I call shiny and new! Can you keep me posted as to how it performs and cleans etc.
Cheers Steve
Cheers Steve
Re: Heat Exchanger
Sorry for resurrecting this one. What is the general feedback on these German heat exchangers? I am sorely tempted to get one for my gravity set up. My hope is to simply run off from my boiler through the exchanger, into the FV. I brew 40litre brew lengths. Any thoughts about how long it would take to cool?
- Talisman
- Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
- Posts: 673
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:22 pm
- Location: Grimsby, N.E.Lincs, UK
- Contact:
Re: Heat Exchanger
i am also interested in this as looking to improve on my current cooling setup
Black Lab Ale - est April 2008
FV 1: Old Spec Hen FG1053
FV 2: Empty
Cornie 1: Empty
Cornie 2: Empty
Cornie 3: Empty
Cornie 4: Empty
Cornie 5: Empty
Bottled: Nowt
http://www.blacklabale.co.uk
FV 1: Old Spec Hen FG1053
FV 2: Empty
Cornie 1: Empty
Cornie 2: Empty
Cornie 3: Empty
Cornie 4: Empty
Cornie 5: Empty
Bottled: Nowt
http://www.blacklabale.co.uk