How to Prevent Liquids from Freezing Using Immersion Heaters?

Last updated on November 1st, 2023 at 04:05 pm

Industries whose productions are aqueous or liquid-based like the oil and gas sector, strive to protect their environments from freezing in chilly weather and winter season. This is important to safeguard against the economic risks prevalent concerning seasonal endangerments especially liquid freezing.  

 

What is Freeze Protection or Freeze Control?  

Most industries require production machinery to remain outdoors where it faces exposure to cold temperatures for a long duration. This creates a risk of liquid mediums freezing. Aqueous mediums, like water, tend to freeze at 0 0C (32 F) and begins to form crystals that can be detrimental to the industrial production process. Industries do have power or heating sources to prevent the freezing of liquids but these are not sufficient to address the freeze control problem. Proper Insulation of water tanks and containers is essential to protect against freezing of liquids.  

Temperatures below 0 0C change oils into solidified wax-like state that gets thicker and harder as the temperature falls. This is especially true for diesel oil, while hydraulic oil and motor oil both have varied freezing temperatures but tend to turn into thick gel-like solids and become less viscous in extremely low temperatures.  

 

Why is Freeze Protection Required?

In process heating, freeze control is especially required by many industries that have products based on liquid mediums like the oil and gas industry, transportation industry, agriculture and water plants etc. It is essential that they implement techniques for protection against freezing of the aqueous mediums as frozen water tends to crystallize in lower temperatures and is difficult to handle and shift from the reservoir and thus, can badly affect the production process.  

Also, with oils like motor oil and gear oil, that tend to form wax solids from their earlier oil state once they fall below their freezing temperatures, are difficult to move from containers or transport through pipelines. They can also cause pipelines to become congested or clogged, which affect the entire industrial process.  

 

What are Immersion Heaters?  

An effective way to ensure optimum heat source for the aqueous medium to prevent it from freezing in chilly weather is the use of immersion heaters. Immersion heaters are heating units that they immerse inside a water tank, production equipment, or reservoirs. They heat up liquids in a quick and efficient way.  

Various types of immersion heaters for industrial environments provide direct heating for the aqueous medium to ensure that liquids reach the optimum temperatures quickly. They are a brilliant way to control freezing of liquids and to aid industrial environment with quick heating requirements.

Immersion heaters have low maintenance costs and provide fast heating services, which make them an excellent choice for many chemical, and petroleum based industries. WattcoTM provides an amazing range of Immersion heaters suited for different industrial environments.  

 

Benefits of Immersion Heaters:

  • Fast, efficient and maximum heat transfer
  • They are portable and lightweight
  • Low maintenance costs
  • Installation is easy with no drilling holes required
  • Resistance to moisture and corrosion
  • Provide uniform heat
  • Safe and durable

 

Installation Types & Applications of Immersion Heaters  

There are various types of Immersion heaters available for all sorts of industrial environment requirements.  

Flanged Immersion heaters are easy to install and monitor, efficient heating solutions with direct-immersion support that are commonly used in many industries based on mediums like water, oil and other aqueous solutions for quick liquid heating. They are easy to install in water tanks and pipelines to provide heat at minimal maintenance costs.  

Circulation heaters are another type of immersion solution that makes use of the flanged heaters to provide heat mostly in pipelines or large vessels for industrial processes. They intake liquid from an inlet, heating them before circulating it to an outlet with the help of a pump.  

Screw Plug Immersion heaters are a great solution for protection against freezing of liquids in smaller reservoirs and containers. They provide quick and energy efficient heating for industrial processes and heat transfer solutions. They are lightweight and easy to install units screwed into reservoirs for quick heating.  

Over the side heaters are a great heating source for multiple compartments and water tanks. These are huge units that heat aqueous solutions in large open tanks and heavy chemical processes.  

 

Some of the Applications of Immersion Heaters Include:

  • Water heating and freeze control
  • Used in large storage and grease tanks
  • Heating viscous oils and solvents
  • Heating paraffin and salts

How Does The Use Of Immersion Heaters Help In Freeze Control?

Immersion heaters offer the perfect solutions to help protect against freezing of aqueous solutions in large industrial mediums and processes. They provide quick and uniform heating for solvents and liquids. As well, they ensure that liquids are heated to the desired temperature even when they are placed outdoors in chilly weather. They have low maintenance costs and are durable units with features that can manage effectively both power output and temperature.  

Immersion Heater Installation    

You need to know the heating requirements of your container to install an optimum heating source to provide freeze protection. Most Immersion heaters support add-ins like step controllers and control panels to enhance the overall performance of the heating system.  

 

Power Requirement for Freeze Control

It is important that you know the power requirement for your tank to keep liquids from freezing. This is also based on your location; therefore, it’s necessary to estimate the power requirement of your tank and use the Immersion heater installation best suited for your environment.  

 

Include Add-ins or Controls for your Immersion Heater  

Apart from ensuring that your water tank is properly insulated it is better to get add-ins for your heating systems that help in maximizing the functionality and performance of the heater. Add-ins like Step Controller and Hi-Limit Protection System help to ensure that your heaters perform at the optimum level. They also provide considerable protection against freeze control.  

References:

https://www.wattco.com/2017/11/freeze-protection-and-what-you-need-to-know/

https://www.wattco.com/product_category/immersion-heaters/  


WATTCOTM is the leading manufacturer of Industrial Heating Devices.

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