Hot water for dairy ideas

Viewtodiefor

Lads just wondering what ye think is best for dairy hot water? What ye have or think is good or not. Anyone use waterboy r the like advertised on done deal?
Thanks

Fermec

My Friend has a Solor Panel on Top of the Roof of the Parlour, Swears by it,But He Still Has a Water Heater for the Final Heat.. We Have a Water Heater on a Timer, Heats the Water on the Night Meter.

tabby aspreme

Take a look at Patlee.ie, they make dairy heat exchangers

lakill Farm

i have a 150l water heater i got 2nd hand. Its plumbed in and powered up with a timer (24hr). It will only be used for 6/8 weeks feeding calves.

Now do i turn it on and leave it on or do i put it on timer and have it come on 60-75mins before feed time? (i have to check how long it takes to heat from room temp up to hot)

I think brand is "thermo" or something like that. :rolleyes:

Timmaay

Hmm I'd say once its well enough insulated, put the timer on in the morning, before 8am, which is the nightrate cutoff. Then just turn it on again to warmup the water before you feed them.

In terms of dairy water heaters, we have very hard limey water here, we've have everything from a bulk tank heat exchanger to 700quid stainless steel immersion heaters, they all burn out in a yr or so. So now its back to the basic copper tank with a cheap 40euro element, that I change every 6months without fail. Ultimately I'll need to put in something to take the hardness out of the water, and then I'll probably go back to something much more energy efficent like the heat exchanger/solar, but anything other than a cheap electric element is a waste for now!

bbam

lakill Farm wrote: »

i have a 150l water heater i got 2nd hand. Its plumbed in and powered up with a timer (24hr). It will only be used for 6/8 weeks feeding calves.

Now do i turn it on and leave it on or do i put it on timer and have it come on 60-75mins before feed time? (i have to check how long it takes to heat from room temp up to hot)

I think brand is "thermo" or something like that. :rolleyes:

I used to install these and if you are using hot water every day then leave it on.. They are super insulated and your costing yourself more allowing it to cool and re-heating..
So for the feeding period just leave it on, after you use it the element will immediatly heat it back up and then it will cost essentially nothing to hold it there until the next feed..

Viewtodiefor

bbam wrote: »

I used to install these and if you are using hot water every day then leave it on.. They are super insulated and your costing yourself more allowing it to cool and re-heating..
So for the feeding period just leave it on, after you use it the element will immediatly heat it back up and then it will cost essentially nothing to hold it there until the next feed..

Any idea how much it costs to run these? Per day? Really only using them for hot washes for milking machine one a week r so. Should I still leave it on full time?

bbam

It all depends on the model and well insulated it is.
For a once a week usage keeping it on will cost very little, when no water is consumed none needs heating.

Also you'll benifet from a regular hot water supply for washing up etc.

PatQfarmer

lakill Farm wrote: »

i have a 150l water heater i got 2nd hand. Its plumbed in and powered up with a timer (24hr). It will only be used for 6/8 weeks feeding calves.

Now do i turn it on and leave it on or do i put it on timer and have it come on 60-75mins before feed time? (i have to check how long it takes to heat from room temp up to hot)

I think brand is "thermo" or something like that. :rolleyes:

With your accounting hat on, you should know that timer is the way:D

pms7

I put an element into the bottom of a plastic 200L barrel.
Not well insulated, but very cheap and only use it every 2 wks or so for machine /tank hot wash.

lakill Farm

PatQfarmer wrote: »

With your accounting hat on, you should know that timer is the way:D

I told my sparky to put the timer on it . Leave nothing to chance :rolleyes:

lakill Farm

bbam wrote: »

I used to install these and if you are using hot water every day then leave it on.. They are super insulated and your costing yourself more allowing it to cool and re-heating..
So for the feeding period just leave it on, after you use it the element will immediatly heat it back up and then it will cost essentially nothing to hold it there until the next feed..

Did you install the "thermo" brand? i bought it 2nd hand off a lad in Ballyconnell who was buying a bigger tank and needed a bigger hot water supply. Went to look at it Dec 2011 and it was working perfect. Early Jan 2012 he called me to say the plumber was just taking it out and come get it before it got broken. He said it has a big vacuum inside like a thermos flask? Any tips with them Bbam?

bbam

lakill Farm wrote: »

Did you install the "thermo" brand? i bought it 2nd hand off a lad in Ballyconnell who was buying a bigger tank and needed a bigger hot water supply. Went to look at it Dec 2011 and it was working perfect. Early Jan 2012 he called me to say the plumber was just taking it out and come get it before it got broken. He said it has a big vacuum inside like a thermos flask? Any tips with them Bbam?

they are lined with a type of industrial "glass" to extend life... The element is dry too so imescale shouldnt be a problem.
The only advice is to fit a pressure release valve on the supply side. I saw a lad get a bad scalding when the thermostat failed and pressure inside the system blew the qualplex off the hot tap.... wasnt nice.

lakill Farm

bbam wrote: »

they are lined with a type of industrial "glass" to extend life... The element is dry too so imescale shouldnt be a problem.
The only advice is to fit a pressure release valve on the supply side. I saw a lad get a bad scalding when the thermostat failed and pressure inside the system blew the qualplex off the hot tap.... wasnt nice.

bbam, there is a pressure valve on the supply in side. (It was on it when i got it) Myself and dad , well look dad didnt understand why it was on the in. His arguement was i had marked the "in" and "out" wrongly but i marked them when i saw it working and knew which was the "in" and "out"

it was my luxury item in the calf shed. I think i will be able to feed 30 calves in under 5 minutes .

bbam

lakill Farm wrote: »

it was my luxury item in the calf shed. I think i will be able to feed 30 calves in under 5 minutes .

Proper order..
Ya want to spend your time looking at calves not heating water and mixing drinks...

loveta

How much hot water do you need to heat.Was at a meeting in which a teagasc energy expert was chatting through all the dif ways to heat water and oil was the cheapest, and know oil is getting more expensive but he reckons as oil goes up so does esb so it works out. SO ON HIS ADVICE i put in a boiler and a 40 gallon insulated cistern set to run 2 hours a night water always boiling and have a radiator in the pump room to dry coats ect ect seems to be cheap to run only in 10 months yet though

bbam

loveta wrote: »

How much hot water do you need to heat.Was at a meeting in which a teagasc energy expert was chatting through all the dif ways to heat water and oil was the cheapest, and know oil is getting more expensive but he reckons as oil goes up so does esb so it works out. SO ON HIS ADVICE i put in a boiler and a 40 gallon insulated cistern set to run 2 hours a night water always boiling and have a radiator in the pump room to dry coats ect ect seems to be cheap to run only in 10 months yet though

I'm not knocking the guy and haven't seen the numbers crunched, but I think he's the only person since the early 1980's who I've heard off, selling oil as cheap, and the way forward !

I'd have thought that at least with ESB there is a chance, if not now, then in the future that a decent % can be produced from renewables..

lakill Farm

loveta wrote: »

How much hot water do you need to heat.Was at a meeting in which a teagasc energy expert was chatting through all the dif ways to heat water and oil was the cheapest, and know oil is getting more expensive but he reckons as oil goes up so does esb so it works out. SO ON HIS ADVICE i put in a boiler and a 40 gallon insulated cistern set to run 2 hours a night water always boiling and have a radiator in the pump room to dry coats ect ect seems to be cheap to run only in 10 months yet though

bbam wrote: »

I'm not knocking the guy and haven't seen the numbers crunched, but I think he's the only person since the early 1980's who I've heard off, selling oil as cheap, and the way forward !

I'd have thought that at least with ESB there is a chance, if not now, then in the future that a decent % can be produced from renewables..

I have zero experience but the lad i got my water heater off was going to a bigger capacity and also moving to oil to heat the water. He was able to buy the oil a bit cheaper over the border in NI.

So now we have 2 examples.

pms7

I also heard oil cheaper to heat water. Electricity is not very efficient at heating. You don't heat rads in house with electricity. Obviously you have price of boiler.
Comes down to how much water + how often..
A lot every day, oil probably better,
if only heating 100-200L every 1-2 wks on night rate, then esb.

Viewtodiefor

loveta wrote: »

How much hot water do you need to heat.Was at a meeting in which a teagasc energy expert was chatting through all the dif ways to heat water and oil was the cheapest, and know oil is getting more expensive but he reckons as oil goes up so does esb so it works out. SO ON HIS ADVICE i put in a boiler and a 40 gallon insulated cistern set to run 2 hours a night water always boiling and have a radiator in the pump room to dry coats ect ect seems to be cheap to run only in 10 months yet though

Need enough for milking machine hot wash so approx 100 lts how often varies some lads hot wash daily others monthly I'd be thinking twice a week but new machine so not sure yet. Would be nice to have hot water in d pit also