The frame is the radiator
The pack is clamped between two heavy end frames. They are flat, vertical and large, the most efficient shape there is for shedding heat into a plant room.
01 / Equipment
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Plate heat exchangers5.7 kWbare349 Winsulated93.9 %less
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Inzonex Modular Insulation · Hot-water skid
Plate heat exchangers
A plate pack runs hot on every face. Drag the divider: the right-hand side is a fitted removable module on this exact geometry.
Energy cost saving / year€2 86560 €/MWh fuel
Heat retained / year43.0 MWhAt 8,000 operating hours
Emissions avoided / year9.63 t CO₂e201.6 kg CO₂e/MWh fuel
Modelled outer surface23.5 °CBelow the 45 °C design target
Estimate: 2 × 6.000 m² · 60 °C bare surface · 8,000 operating hours/year.
€2 865energy cost saving / year43.0 MWhretainedPlate heat exchangers,
01 / Energy 02 / Surface 03 / Maintenance 04 / Layout
For your operating conditions
Your savings
Change any input and every figure recomputes. The defaults describe the equipment modelled here.
What this is
Plate heat exchangers,
and what it costs bare.
A plate pack runs hot on every face.
A plate heat exchanger is a stack of thin corrugated metal plates, clamped between two heavy end frames. It carries two fluids through alternate channels, so heat passes from one to the other without them mixing.
On this hot-water skid there are 2, each about 6.0 m² of surface above room temperature. At 60 °C they shed 5.7 kW into the plant room. With 50 mm of removable insulation the same surfaces shed 349 W, 93.9 % less. The module settles at 23.5 °C, at or under our 45 °C touch-safe target. We set that target against the burn thresholds in EN ISO 13732-1.
These are steady-state model estimates using the stated areas and class assumptions. Agreement with site measurements or a survey report has not been established.
Inzonex benefits
Where the heat goes.
Water-to-water duty on this skid. Modules unclip for operation and inspection, then refit onto the same geometry.
Tie bars bridge everything
Four to eight tie bars run the length of the unit. Lagging wrapped over them conducts straight through, so the bridging factor is carried, not assumed away.
It gets opened
Plate packs come apart for cleaning and gasket renewal on a fixed cycle. A module that will not unclip in minutes is cut off once and never replaced.
Ports and instruments stay reachable
Separate sections around the port necks, the gauges and the frame bolts, so nothing is cut to take a reading.
Area and temperature scenarios
Area at each service temperature.
Bare surface loss per item. Nothing here is interpolated — each cell is a separate solution of the same balance, at 20 °C ambient.
| Pack area | Area m² | 50 °C | 55 °C | 60 °C | 65 °C | Insulated 60 °C | Cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 m²plate pack and frames | 2.00 | 672 W | 810 W | 954 W | 1.1 kW | 58 W | 93.9 % |
| 3 m²plate pack and frames | 3.00 | 1.0 kW | 1.2 kW | 1.4 kW | 1.7 kW | 87 W | 93.9 % |
| 4 m²plate pack and frames | 4.00 | 1.3 kW | 1.6 kW | 1.9 kW | 2.2 kW | 116 W | 93.9 % |
| 6 m²plate pack and frames | 6.00 | 2.0 kW | 2.4 kW | 2.9 kW | 3.3 kW | 175 W | 93.9 % |
| 8 m²plate pack and frames | 8.00 | 2.7 kW | 3.2 kW | 3.8 kW | 4.4 kW | 233 W | 93.9 % |
| 10 m²plate pack and frames | 10.00 | 3.4 kW | 4.0 kW | 4.8 kW | 5.5 kW | 291 W | 93.9 % |
| 12 m²plate pack and frames | 12.00 | 4.0 kW | 4.9 kW | 5.7 kW | 6.6 kW | 349 W | 93.9 % |
| 15 m²plate pack and frames | 15.00 | 5.0 kW | 6.1 kW | 7.2 kW | 8.3 kW | 437 W | 93.9 % |
| 20 m²plate pack and frames | 20.00 | 6.7 kW | 8.1 kW | 9.5 kW | 11.0 kW | 582 W | 93.9 % |
| 25 m²plate pack and frames | 25.00 | 8.4 kW | 10.1 kW | 11.9 kW | 13.8 kW | 728 W | 93.9 % |
| 30 m²plate pack and frames | 30.00 | 10.1 kW | 12.1 kW | 14.3 kW | 16.5 kW | 873 W | 93.9 % |
| 40 m²plate pack and frames | 40.00 | 13.4 kW | 16.2 kW | 19.1 kW | 22.1 kW | 1.2 kW | 93.9 % |
Area is the four exposed edge faces of the plate pack plus both end frames — 2 × (width + height) × depth. The nozzles, the tie bars and the pressing plates are counted separately. Nothing here is derived from the render: enter the geometry off the nameplate or the drawing.
Insulated column: 50 mm lamella at λ 0.038 W/m·K. Outer surface calculated without clamping. Our 45 °C design target is checked against the burn thresholds in EN ISO 13732-1
What this means
What it comes to.
At the modelled defaults, on this equipment.
- Outer surface at 50 mm
- 23.5 °CMeets the 45 °C design target
- Bare metal at 60 °C
- Above the 45 °C study targetContact risk depends on material and duration; no burn time is calculated
- Simple payback
- 10 monthsAt 190 EUR/m² supply and fit, saving €2 865 a year
Asked about plate heat exchangers
Questions.
Answers distinguish modelled heat-loss estimates from equipment selection and service guidance.
How does a plate heat exchanger work?
Two fluids run through alternate channels formed by the corrugated plates. Heat crosses the plate wall; the fluids never meet. The corrugations force turbulence. A plate unit transfers far more per square metre than a plain tube.
What does a heat exchanger do on a hot-water circuit?
It transfers heat from the primary supply into the domestic hot water without mixing them. On this skid that is a water-to-water duty at 60 °C.
What are the types of heat exchanger?
Plate-and-frame (gasketed, openable for cleaning), brazed plate (sealed, compact) and shell-and-tube (takes dirty fluids, larger footprint). Only the gasketed type is opened on a service cycle. Fixed lagging is cut off it and never refitted.
How much heat does a plate heat exchanger lose from its surface?
Modelled here: 2 units of 6.0 m² at 60 °C lose 5.7 kW bare, and 349 W with 50 mm of removable insulation. That is 93.9 per cent less. This is external loss from the exposed faces, not the useful duty transferred inside the unit.
What the numbers mean
How the figure is produced.
Steady-state estimate using convection, radiation and an insulation energy balance. Equivalence to a surveyed equipment model has not been established.
- Shape
- Vertical plate, characteristic length 0.900 m
- Convection
- Churchill–Chu on air properties at film temperature
- Radiation
- Stefan–Boltzmann at emissivity 0.85
- Bare-case allowance
- ×1.12, assumed class multiplier; not an inventory of actual thermal bridges
- Insulated case
- Outer-surface energy balance, without temperature clamping. 45 °C is a design target; plus an assumed 5% heat-loss allowance for seams. The exterior uses a 0.3 m vertical-plate approximation; conductivity is constant.
Going deeper
How to specify and service them.
The figures on this page say what the heat costs. These say which type to specify, when the pack has to come apart, and what the approach temperature is telling you.
Plate heat exchangers
Heat exchanger types
The first question is not the size. It is whether it can be opened.
OpenPlate heat exchangersCleaning a plate heat exchanger
It tells you it is fouled long before it stops working.
OpenPlate heat exchangersHeat exchanger faults
Almost every complaint about an exchanger is one of four things.
OpenThe rest of the skid
Other equipment
Hot water
Pumps
The casing stays hot. The motor must not.
OpenHot waterBall valves
The smallest surfaces lose the most.
OpenHot waterFlanged joints
Every joint is a fin the pipe did not ask for.
OpenHot waterY-strainers
A sieve in the line, and it is opened on a cycle.
OpenHot waterDirt separator
A separator holds its charge at line temperature.
Open