TECHNICAL GURU
Heating By: Amy Stone, Aquatic Equipment and Design, Inc.*
Heating and cooling can both be big capital expenses as well as big hits to the operating budget; however, they are essential parts of an Life Support System (LSS) when it comes to growth rates, survivability, and year-round profitability.
T
his article will focus on heating. Temperature control becomes a real concern when the animals that are being cultured have different requirements than the naturally occurring water, whether year-round or just seasonally. There are several ways to maintain water temperature in systems.
150 Ton Chiller for Shrimp Farm Chilling.
64 »
Flow Through Systems Flow through systems require that the heating system be able to increase the temperature of the water in a single pass. Meaning, the heating system will only process the water once and it will never return through the heater. Electric and gas heating can be cost prohibitive in these designs. Large shifts in temperature and high
flow rates add to the expense exponentially in these applications. For flow through systems, the recommendation would be to reduce the heating requirements as much as possible and consider a geothermal approach, which will be discussed later. Geothermal systems can also have a large upfront capital expense, as you need a subterranean well or heat sink and these can be costly. With all flow through applications, you must consider heat recovery as a highly efficient and cost-effective option. Heat recovery involves using the effluent flow of water you have already heated to “pre-heat” the incoming water to your system using a plate heat exchanger. This can typically save up to 50% or more on heating loads and makes using gas/ electric heaters a more viable option.
Recirculating Systems Recirculating systems allow the water to pass through the heating device multiple times, which allows the
