When To Use Over-the-Side Immersion Heaters

When Should You Use Over-The-Side Immersion Heaters?

If you’re looking to heat large, open containers of corrosive chemicals or liquids for industrial or manufacturing purposes, you need over-the-side immersion heaters to get the job done right. Available with several different temperature ranges and control options, over-the-side immersion heaters offer tight, consistent and efficient control for an overall positive effect on industrial plants. Compared to other immersion heater types, such as flanged heaters or screwplug heaters, an over-the-side immersion heater is perfect for use in applications where drilling a hole into the tank wall and installing a coupling is not possible or desirable. Rather, over-the-side immersion heaters are installed at the top of a container or tank and hang from the lip – saving a ton of space in the process when facility space is tight. With a wide variety of sizes, materials and electric heating elements available, over-the-side immersion heaters are well suited for a broad range of fluid heating applications to meet your specific needs.

How Do Over-the-Side Immersion Heaters Work?

The design and specific advantages of immersion heaters are varied, but the general functions they provide are the same across the board. Electric heating elements are welded to a mount for submergence into containers of liquids or other materials for the most direct form of heating possible.

The submerged electric heating elements can come in various shapes depending on the specific heating needs of a facility. These can include hairpin, U-shaped and double-looped elements.

As mentioned, over-the-side immersion heaters are designed for direct heating when space is limited, or the design of a tank doesn’t allow for mounting through the tank side. Because of the direct transfer of heat from the electric heating elements to the material, over-the-side immersion heaters are essentially 100 percent efficient with a nearly net-zero loss of heat.

Common Applications for Over-the-Side Immersion Heaters

Whether you’re looking to get a plating solution to its optimal temperature, or you need to reach the ideal viscosity for oils and waxes, an over-the-side immersion heater is perfect for a broad range of industries.

Thanks to their cost-effectiveness and efficiency, typical applications include:

1. Freeze Protection
   Temperature protection can pose a real challenge for industrial facilities, especially during freezing winter months when the constant fear of water freezing over and expanding into ice is present. Over-the-side immersion heaters assist facilities in ensuring their projects stay up and running by keeping water or oil moving for their processes. Over-the-side immersion heaters are also an excellent solution for water purification and sanitation.
2. Viscous Liquids
   Maintaining a certain viscosity level in certain fluids can be quite difficult without the right tools. For products like oil, wax, and gas, cold temperatures bring higher levels of viscosity and slower-moving materials. Once a facility finds its ideal viscosity level, an over-the-side immersion heater can help reach that level and consistently maintain it. Facilities that regularly work with viscous liquids can utilize an over-the-side immersion heater to streamline their processes with ease and put troubles with viscosity to rest.
3. Hazardous Chemicals
   An over-the-side immersion heater can be essential for maintaining controlled temperatures of hazardous gasses or corrosive chemicals. One of the more challenging forms of materials to heat, corrosive chemicals and hazardous materials tend to rapidly corrode most equipment that comes into contact with them. Luckily, the electric heater elements of over-the-side immersion heaters can be made using Titanium, Type 316 Stainless Steel or outfitted with a highly specialized polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tube coating. PTFE immersion heaters are capable of resisting the effects of corrosive solutions while still operating at maximum efficiency.

Speak to an Over-the-Side

Immersion Heater Expert Today

At Heatmax Heaters, our dedicated team of sales engineers will use our 70 years of experience and knowledge to manufacture over-the-side heaters specific to your exact needs. Not only can we help you design an over-the-side immersion heater for an unusual tank or application, but we’ll also assemble it in-house to ensure your exact dimensions and requirements are followed. Not to mention, our over-the-side immersion heaters are fully customizable. You’ll have full access to a wide range of electric heating elements, sheath materials, watt density and more to heat your materials. Submit a custom design or rough sketch and request a quote today. We’ll take care of the rest.

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