Cheapest way of cooling milk and heat water

[farmeronecow]

My electricity tariff expires next month so I’m looking into ways of cutting the amount of electricity I use. 90% of the electricity I use is cooling the milk and heating the hot water, so I guess that’s where I need to be looking. Currently milk is cooled through an plate cooler(spring water) and then directly into mueller tanks. It is currently hitting the tank at around 22 degrees, any ideas on how I can improve this?

 

[frederick]

My electricity tariff expires next month so I’m looking into ways of cutting the amount of electricity I use. 90% of the electricity I use is cooling the milk and heating the hot water, so I guess that’s where I need to be looking. Currently milk is cooled through an plate cooler(spring water) and then directly into mueller tanks. It is currently hitting the tank at around 22 degrees, any ideas on how I can improve this?

Put in a second plate cooler and you will get a few more degrees out the water.

 

[Timbo]

My electricity tariff expires next month so I’m looking into ways of cutting the amount of electricity I use. 90% of the electricity I use is cooling the milk and heating the hot water, so I guess that’s where I need to be looking. Currently milk is cooled through an plate cooler(spring water) and then directly into mueller tanks. It is currently hitting the tank at around 22 degrees, any ideas on how I can improve this?

Pretty obviously you need to improve your plate cooler with another and looking at water flow. Run the warm water into a big trough in the collecting yard- surprising how much theyll drink after miking.

 

[farmeronecow]

Pretty obviously you need to improve your plate cooler with another and looking at water flow. Run the warm water into a big trough in the collecting yard- surprising how much theyll drink after miking.

Yes warm water does run into a trough already. We are putting in a new 50mm supply from the spring as we speak so flow and pressure shouldn’t be an issue soon. What is a realistic temperature to get the pre cooling down to?

 

[Timbo]

Yes warm water does run into a trough already. We are putting in a new 50mm supply from the spring as we speak so flow and pressure shouldn’t be an issue soon. What is a realistic temperature to get the pre cooling down to?

Within a couple deg c of the water feed

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

Pretty obviously you need to improve your plate cooler with another and looking at water flow. Run the warm water into a big trough in the collecting yard- surprising how much theyll drink after miking.

Why not save the warm water to refill the water heater at the end of milking?

 

[Will Blackburn]

Why not save the warm water to refill the water heater at the end of milking?

Beware of water hardness from a spring fed supply. Any water we heat is mains due to iron and manganese.

 

[Highland Mule]

Why not save the warm water to refill the water heater at the end of milking?

This, and then finish off heating the hot water to whatever you need with some sort of boiler, rather than electricity. Ideally biomass of some sort, but if not then oil/ gas directly.

 

[Will Blackburn]

This, and then finish off heating the hot water to whatever you need with some sort of boiler, rather than electricity. Ideally biomass of some sort, but if not then oil/ gas directly.

It’s a lot more convenient to use the heat from the milk refrigerant.

 

[Highland Mule]

It’s a lot more convenient to use the heat from the milk refrigerant.

Do you get enough heat from that, at high enough temperature? Would be fine to get the chill off your water, I'm sure but can it get up to full temperature? Heat pumps are better than direct heating, but you are paying for the convenience.

 

[farmboy]

Invest in ice bank and build ice when electricity is cheaper. We use 2 stage plate cooler with borehole water and ice bank water and milk hits tank at 6’c

 

[In the pit]

Brazed plate heat exchangers

Alfa Laval brazed heat exchangers are a compact and efficient solution for heating and cooling duties using, water, coolants, oil and refrigerants

www.alfalaval.co.uk

 

[farmeronecow]

Brazed plate heat exchangers

Alfa Laval brazed heat exchangers are a compact and efficient solution for heating and cooling duties using, water, coolants, oil and refrigerants

www.alfalaval.co.uk

Got a rough idea on the cost of one of these?

 

[Timbo]

Got a rough idea on the cost of one of these?

Cheaper over 10yrs than your electric bill will be. Get on & do it.

 

[sjt01]

Brazed plate heat exchangers

Alfa Laval brazed heat exchangers are a compact and efficient solution for heating and cooling duties using, water, coolants, oil and refrigerants

www.alfalaval.co.uk

Nordic Tec are a good brand at low cost. https://nordictec-store.com/gb/ . We have lots around the farm. Only use for water or similar, not milk. If you have hard water then use one of these to stop them furring up https://www.bes.co.uk/cistermiser-combimate-dual-fit-scale-reducer-17067/ or you will find they will only work for a short while.
Note the kW ratings are for big temperature differences. If you are aiming to get the output temperature similar to the input, you will need a much bigger kW rating, four times or so more.
The other thing is that they are on BSP parallel threads, so take care what fittings you use to get a good seal

 

[farmeronecow]

Cheaper over 10yrs than your electric bill will be. Get on & do it.

10 years?!

 

[Will Blackburn]

Do you get enough heat from that, at high enough temperature? Would be fine to get the chill off your water, I'm sure but can it get up to full temperature? Heat pumps are better than direct heating, but you are paying for the convenience.

Ours gets above 70C

 

[Horn&corn]

As you have endless water from spring a doubled up plate cooler will drop your milk to 10-12. Probably a grant available or source a second hand unit. Keep water for drinking etc. we do first rinse of parlour with warm water from plate cooler to help hot wash. Vari speed milk pump will likely help. Vari speed vac pump has helped our Elec bill considerably

 

[upnortheast]

Heat recovery on your tank compressor. Should give you a tank of hot water 55 - 60 degrees which you fill your boiler with & your compressor will run less becuase the refrigient is returning to the compressor at a lower temp.

For every 100 litres of water, to heat from 10C to 80C takes 8kw leccy
60C to 80C takes 3kw leccy
Difference 5 kwh @ 20p ?? £1 /100 litres (Insert your own leccy price )

Limiting factor is how much water you can use. If you only use 100 litres alternate days to wash the tank then your saving is only 50p / day

 

[lizness]

We have solar thermal in your house to heat water and it seems a very simple system. We have 2 small panels on an east aspect and it produces more than we could use in summer. It would be limited in winter but as other systems raised the temperature to a certain temperature before other heating kicks in. We have had it about 12 years and have had to replace one valve. I assume it would work on a bigger scale.