Haughton, UK: Dearnsdale Fruit’s heat recovery system has over the two years since installation saved the business £20,000 a year says , which supplied the system.
The Staffordshire soft fruit farm, Dearnsdale Fruit is now saving £19,596 and over 230,000 kWh per annum by harnessing waste heat from its cold store. The recovered heat is used for showers for its team of 600 and in its pack house. The savings also equate to an annual reduction of 48 tonnes of carbon.
David Haughton, engineering manager, DK Heat Recovery liaised with installer, Spiral Cool on the project: “The heat recovery system that we supplied was a 3000-litre storage tank with five internal heat exchangers that are capable of generating over 1800 litres of free hot water per hour.
“Unlike plate heat exchangers, the twin wall design of the heat recovery exchangers comply with EN1717, which is a requirement for all potable water use. With no moving parts, the DK Heat Recovery system is simple and maintenance-free. It is also highly efficient due to the design of the heat exchangers that can remove up to 100% of the energy produced by the cold store,” he says.
Scott Price from Spiral Cool said: “Even with the plant running at 10% and the tank without its insulation fitted, the water temperature reached 46°C.”
DK Heat Recovery, the UK agent of DK Kaelteanlagen heat recovery systems, was set up in 2012 by Nigel Upson and David Haughton and has installed heat recovery systems for food manufacturers, supermarkets, farm shops, butchers and garden centres. DK Heat Recovery’s systems are suitable for use in any business that has refrigeration plant and a requirement for hot water or space heating.
