Fre-Heater Heat Recovery

Fre-Heater Heat Recovery

Free Hot Water From Milk Cooling

The refrigeration system that cools your milk rejects every bit of that heat plus the compressor work. A Fre-Heater sits in the discharge line and transfers a large share of it into potable water on its way to the hot water heater, which arrives already warm.

Two models. The Model D and the Model DE cover different capacities and installation arrangements. Which one suits depends on the size of the refrigeration system, the hot water demand and how the plumbing is laid out.

What it is worth. Farm hot water is used constantly for parlour washing, CIP of the tank and the pipeline, and general cleaning. Recovering heat that is otherwise thrown away typically covers a meaningful share of that load, and the more milk you cool the more hot water you get.

It works with pre-cooling, not against it. Pre-cooling reduces the refrigeration load, which reduces the heat available for recovery. The two are still complementary: pre-cooling saves electricity directly, and the Fre-Heater recovers what the compressor still has to do.

Typical Specification. Models: Model D and Model DE Source: Refrigeration system discharge heat Output: Pre-heated potable water to the hot water heater Typical use: Parlour wash, tank and pipeline CIP, general farm hot water Interaction: Complements pre-cooling rather than competing with it Installation: Plumbed between refrigeration and hot water system Separation: Refrigerant and potable water kept separate Sizing: Matched to refrigeration capacity and hot water demand Operation: Automatic; no operator intervention Benefit: Reduces water heating cost on every cooling cycle

Sizing Against Demand, Not Just Supply. A Fre-Heater can only deliver what the refrigeration system rejects, and you can only use what your hot water demand absorbs. Matching the two is the sizing exercise.

Tell us the refrigeration capacity, the daily hot water usage and the incoming water temperature, and the recommendation follows. On farms where hot water demand is small relative to milk volume, the payback is driven by usage rather than by available heat.