Winter is coming! Game of Thrones reference aside, the change in seasons and the onset of colder weather is quickly accelerating deadlines for end of summer or fall concrete jobs and prompting concrete plants across large sections of the country to evaluate the best ways to extend productivity and efficiency of water heating processes into the winter months.
We all know hot water is required to create consistent concrete production, but on the flip side of the coin, energy efficiency, cost reduction, and optimized workflows are also required for consistent concrete production. This of course begs the question: How do concrete batching plants prioritize adequate water heating solutions while also minimizing operational costs, reducing downtime, and creating the flexibility necessary for a variety of applications or jobs?
It’s a question laden with complexities and nuance, but there are a handful of core issues to address that help pull back the proverbial curtain on this question and reveal a path toward understanding how to choose the best hot water heater for your concrete batching plant.
the ins and outs of your batch plant
The first and most important element to consider when weighing hot water heaters for concrete use is the specific application for which the heater is to be used, or the nature of the concrete batch plant itself. Specifically, you want to evaluate the size of your concrete operation and the volume of concrete you’re targeting to produce, as the requisite BTUs and heating capacity vary by the kind of batch plant.
In addition, every batch plant has its own unique yards per hour of concrete output and water integration capabilities (tank or no tank) that will further help you select the right hot water heating system. Some of the most common batch plant set-ups and their associated IBU and yards per hour production statistics include:
- Small to medium ready mix plant: Typically less than 100 yards per hour of production with an ideal water heater rating of 1 to 3 M BTU/hr
- Medium to large ready mix plant: Anywhere between 60 to 250 yards per hour of production with an ideal water heating rating of 1.7 or 5 M BTU/hr
- Large ready mix concrete plant: Between 100 and 300 yards per hour of production with an ideal water heating rating of 3 or 6 M BTU/hr
- Precast concrete plant: Production per hour can be scaled based on the specifications of the job, but an ideal water heating rating for most jobs in a precast application clock in at 1 or 1.7 M BTU/hr
- Volumetric mixer truck: As with precast, production per hour can be tailored to suit the application, and the ideal water heater rating is about 415,000 BTU/hr
Fuel for the fire
When we talk about the right fuel type or source for hot water heaters for concrete batching plants, let’s think about something a little less nebulous first. A 2-stroke engine you find in a push mower or small dirt bike cannot run properly without an oil and gas mixture. By the same token, an 18-wheeler requires more power and combustion capability than regular unleaded gasoline can provide.
This same relationship applies to the right fuel source for your hot water heater. The size of the hot water heater, the IBUs, yards per hour production, emission regulations, fuel efficiency, and more contribute to the ideal fuel type to meet your concrete batching needs. For example, “clean” fuel sources such as liquified petroleum gas or natural gas are ideally suited for a direct-fire system of water heater, while oil is more efficiently engineered for an indirect heating system.
While the most common fuel sources for hot water heaters in concrete plant applications include oil or waste oil, LP gas, or natural gas, new hybrid fuel frameworks are designed to maximize the best of both worlds in terms of coil and direct-fired technologies to reduce energy consumption and costs and increase the efficiency of heating output for more effective scaling based on the scope or requirements of any given application.
flexibility through customization
No matter if you’re in the concrete industry, oil & gas, chemical, or general manufacturing, the days of a one-size-fits-all solution are largely behind us. The variant-rich nature of the heavy industrial space — to say nothing of the global supply chain challenges every industry is currently grappling with — means companies need the flexibility to pivot and facilitate a variety of production sequences at any given time.
The same is most certainly true when it comes to hot water heaters for your concrete batching plant. As we outlined above, the sheer nature and variety of batch plants and application means concrete producers need optimized flexibility through high degrees of customization. Some of the most critical areas of customization for hot water heaters include:
- The ability to integrate external water tanks, the capacity of those water tanks, and their physical location and additional accessories needed to optimize space constraints within the batch plant
- Configuration of circulation and charge pumps based on the concrete application or job requirements
- Fuel source adaptability for use in a variety of contexts or applications
- Installation and maintenance for deployment in harsh conditions and for a prolonged service to optimize ROI and overall business performance
why ipec-engineered water heaters might be the choice for you
You don’t have to look too hard to discover the value proposition of IPEC-engineered hot water heaters for concrete batch plants of all sizes and scopes. It begins with IPEC’s modular design and construction which provides ultimate flexibility in configuration possibilities for use in both stationary or portable applications regardless of the scale. The IPEC-engineered line of water heaters also provides a number of mission-critical advantages for batch plants, such as:
- Instantaneous and continuous supply of hot water within one minute of start up vs. up to three hours with other systems
- Adjustable digital temperature control system that monitors and controls water storage tank temperature while in recirculation mode
- High-quality power gas burner that contains flames within combustion chamber for consistent performance regardless of weather conditions
- Quick and easy conversation between natural gas fuel and liquified petroleum gas or vice-versa with no additional integration for use with the most readily available fuel source
- Easy integration with a water storage tank system for prolonged use without sacrificing productivity or incurring downtime in production
While there’s no such thing as a magic bullet in terms of hot water heater solutions for today’s concrete batch plants, IPEC-engineered line of hot water heating solutions is the nearest thing to a cure-all in terms of energy and cost efficiency, configuration flexibility, and the capacity for use across the widest range of applications in the concrete industry.
Learn more about IPEC’s hot water heating solutions and how an IPEC-engineered heater can help you achieve your water management goals.
