Ecotherm, which deals in solar, hot water and steam systems, has introduced what it claims to be high-capacity storage tanks with large internal heat exchanger surfaces of up to 20 m2. On the one hand, this is based on the individual production of up to three-fold wound tube heat exchangers made of stainless steel, and on the other hand, Ecotherm uses the self-developed and patented flat heating coils, the announcement elaborated.

The manufacturer lists the following product features and advantages:

• The special heating coil has a height of only a few centimetres, and can, thus, be installed horizontally at the very bottom of the storage tank.
• Due to its horizontal design, the flat heating coil is installed in hot water storage tanks entirely at one level of constant temperature. The heat transfer rate, thus, increases compared to conventional spiral coils. The storage tank is heated up almost entirely to the desired final temperature.
• The standby capacity is 97%, reducing the risk of the formation of Legionella bacteria.
• The time for heating up the water in the storage tank is reduced.
• For high-capacity storage tanks, it is possible to mount several flat heating coils on top of each other, or to combine with tube heat exchangers or to use only tube heat exchangers.
• Large heat exchanger surfaces up to 20 m2 can be installed in small storage tanks with, for example, an output of 350 kW. The heat exchanger surface is, thus, up to four times bigger than at conventional products.
• At the beginning of this year, the company started to program the sizing software ECOSIZE, which should enable registered users to configure storage tanks and even small compact systems.