Immersion heaters

What is an Immersion heater?

An immersion heater is a heating element that is immersed in the liquid that is to be heated (as in a hot-water tank)

What is an Immersion heater used for within renewable energy?

An immersion heater is used to heat water in times of over production within a system, say when the wind is blowing hard and you system has topped of all your batteries or when a dump load is needed to control a system or wind turbine during breezy weather.

How is an Immersion heater controlled within a system?

An immersion heater is controlled by using a shunt regulator, this shunt regulator monitors battery voltage and voltage coming into the batteries and when the batteries reach a pre set voltage the dump load in this case an immersion heater is turned on.

Why use an Immersion heater as a  dump load?

An immersion heater is useful at controlling large power loads in wind turbine systems but is also an effective way of making practical use of this spare energy.

This is a simple 12 volt 10 amp (120 watt) immersion heater with 50cm of 17swg wire fitted and has a simple plastic protector to stop damage during transit.

I tested the immersion heater within a small bucket of water with the immersion heater placed at the bottom.  If I where to use this set up over time I would possibly make a mount for the heater.

I did a simple test to see how this immersion unit handled during peak production of my system.  I did a direct test simply bolting the single immersion heater to the output leads from my turbine.  This meter shows the DC volts on the immersion heater at the time of the test.

 

This meter is showing the DC Amps being consumed by the immersion heater.  This reading increased as the voltage did as would be expected, it hit a peak of 12 amps at 14 volts that's a total of 168 watts (12amps X 14volts = 168 watts) probably the limit of this unit.

 

From what I can tell this unit would be best used on smaller systems as a single unit or maybe on larger systems when paired up.  Also this unit seems to work ok when two are run in series for 24 volt use and I cant see any reason why more units cant be run in series for higher voltage systems.

 

This unit will soon be available in the shop section and please contact me if you require more then two units as I maybe able to offer you a better price.  Again with anything on my site if you have any questions please email me and if you have a working example witch you would like to be posted on this site contact me.