ETSHWS for melting bee wax

Vaughan asks…

“I am looking to use a solar heater for an industrial purpose. I want to circulate hot water through a heat-exchanger (stainless steel pipe) to keep a tub of bees wax at approximately 80 – 100 deg C.”
– We were involved in a similar project for the purpose of melting lard for manufacture of margarine.

– The system will regularly heat up to 100 deg without problems. This will obviously vary depending if the sun is out.

– In winter in Melbourne it will go up to 70 deg when the sun is out. This does differ in other states, in Tasmania in winter they regularly boil.

“I am basically thinking of using a solar water heater to get the temperature and then circulate the water through a few lengths of Stainless Steel pipe immersed in the wax thus raising the temp of the wax.”
– Yes this will work. You may need to boost when there is not enough sun, this can be doe with an electric element, a wetback or wet flue.

– We stock electric elements in 1.5kW, 2.4 kW and 3.3kW.

“My question is what is the temp of the water in the tank, will it reach 80-100 deg C. or will it be limited to 60-70 deg C.? ”
– Depending on sun, but yes it will reach 100 deg. Without a tempering valve the system will 

“Is there a way of selecting temp like a thermostat?”
– For commercial purposes you would run the water directly to your heat exchanger.
In domestic situations we install a tempering valve which will regulate the temperature up to 60 deg to prevent scolding.

– In your situation it may be an idea to use our NS-80WB HWS ($999) or our NS-SC30P 30 tube pressurised solar collector ($1399) or NS-SC20P 20 tube pressurised solar collector (not listed yet but available for $999).

– You could then set it up with a TOPSFLO TS5 12V circulating pump and a dedicated 12V 15W solar panel. This would circulate the hot water to your exchangers only when the sun is shining, it will slow down with less sun and speed up with more sun.