Frequently Asked Questions
The HeXe® retrofit Heat
Exchangers range of models
Octopus
PL300
Bull
Stick Kiln
Hot water installations
offers
the more versatile solution in retrofiting your barns.
Please
find here our answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions
about our retrofits.
· Do they consume
more fuel than the Direct fired barns?
They will not consume more fuel when the Heat Exchanger has
been properly designed to:
- Insure the minimum possible restriction to the air
supply in the barn so the absorbed h.p. from fan's motor is
used to supply the tobacco with as much air as possible (during
wilting -leaf drying stage) and not to overcome Heat exchanger's
extra restriction to the air flow.
- Insure high Combustion efficiency without restricting
the air supply to the barn.
- Adjust the burner to proper output to run with long operating
cycles instead of short ones .
· Is it possible
to consume less fuel than the Direct fired burners?
Yes it happens in many cases (mainly
when retrofitting with VCU® ).
-When curing in Direct fired barns with oversized atmospheric
burners, farmer rarely takes good care of ventilation. Direct
fired burners supply also water vapors in the barn so greater
ventilation is required to drive out of the barn those extra
vapors .
Since direct fired burners are usually oversized , no matter
if farmer opens more than necessary the fresh air intake damper,
the big burner will supply enough heat (more than necessary)
to advance the cure and keep the temperature as required.
In other words the farmer may consume lots of energy just
to heat the atmosphere.
Since direct fired burners supply also water vapors in the
barn , air leaks from barn structure are not affecting tobacco's
quality which means that farmer rarely cares for the leaks.
Air leaks result heat losses.
-When curing with Heat exchanger farmer has to follow better
curing practices.
Heat exchanger produces what is usually called " dry
heat ".
It does not supply the tobacco with extra vapors from fuel's
combustion but drives them out through the stack. So smaller
ventilation is required during entire curing.
When heat exchanger is properly designed and burner properly
adjusted according to barn's air supply, just a small fresh
air damper opening is enough to drive out of the barn tobacco's
moisture.
Since pressure burner cannot be oversized (for many reasons)
if farmer opens more than necessary the fresh air damper,
temperature in the tobacco will drop. This forces farmer to
ventilate only as much as required (i.e. save fuel).
Since heat exchanger's "dry heat" does not supply
extra moisture to the tobacco, if barn has leaks it will loose
moisture quickly and complicate coloring stage. This forces
farmer to close all leaks.
In other words: when curing with heat exchanger farmer is
obliged to follow better curing practices than before and
service his barn both resulting considerable decrease in fuel
consumption.
[HeXe
FAQ] [Octopus] [PL300]
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][Stick
Kiln ]
[Hot water installations]
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