Water Bath Heaters

EPCM Holdings offers a variety of indirect heaters which are purposefully designed and fabricated. Our indirect water bath heaters are skid-mounted, factory-wired and piped to meet design criteria for specific client requirements.

Customized and Standardized Solutions

EPCM offers a custom-designed range of water bath heaters, tailored to the application, to ensure the medium (typically high-pressure natural gas) is reliably and safely heated to the necessary temperature to meet the downstream process requirements.

Standard capacity and size of indirect water bath heaters are tabulated below. The table is for reference purposes only, actual model number and size will depend on the process condition and other requirements. Standard heater sizes vary between 30 000 – 35 000 000 BTU/hr (10-10 000 kW).

Model Number	Heating Capacity		Vessel Size
	kW	MM BTU/hr	Dia (mm)	Length (mm)
EWH – 10	10	0.03	450	2000
EWH – 25	25	0.09	500	3500
EWH – 50	50	0.17	600	3500
EWH – 75	75	0.26	750	3500
EWH – 100	100	0.34	750	4500
EWH – 125	125	0.43	900	4500
EWH – 150	150	0.51	900	5000
EWH – 200	200	0.68	900	6000
EWH – 250	250	0.85	1000	6500
EWH – 300	300	1.02	1100	6500
EWH – 400	400	1.36	1250	6500
EWH – 500	500	1.71	1250	8000
EWH – 600	600	2.05	1500	8000
EWH – 750	750	2.56	1500	9500
EWH – 1 000	1000	3.41	1750	9500
EWH – 1 500	1500	5.12	2000	9500
EWH – 2 000	2000	6.82	2250	10500
EWH – 2 500	2500	8.53	2400	11000
EWH – 3 000	3000	10.24	2600	11000
EWH – 4 000	4000	13.65	3000	11000
EWH – 6 000	6000	20.47	3500	12500
EWH – 7 500	7500	25.59	4000	12500
EWH – 9 000	9000	30.71	4000	14000
EWH – 10 000	10000	34.12	4000	14000

EPCM offers customized design alternatives to meet client specifications and requirements. Contact us for assistance with a customized solution for your project needs: Contact page

Principle of Operation

EPCM’s indirect water bath heaters consist of a heater shell that contains a process coil and fire tube which is submerged in the heat transfer medium. The heater shell is commonly an atmospheric vessel designed and manufactured per API 12K requirements, or as a pressure vessel (ASME VIII), depending on client specifications. All designs can accommodate custom dimensions.

Depending on the heat transfer requirements, the fire tube (combustion chamber) design can feature single- or multiple tubes. In larger heaters, the fire tubes are designed to have multiple flue gas return pipes to optimize the heat transfer area and increase the overall system efficiency. The tubes are removable and designed to efficiently transfer heat into the surrounding heat transfer medium and minimize flue gas frictional losses. The fire tube is installed in the lower half of the heater shell, fully immersed in the water bath, to transfer the heat efficiently.

The fire tube transfers the heat released by the burner to the heat transfer medium, which then transfers the heat to the process fluid through the process coil. A temperature transmitter controls the burner to maintain the required bath temperature for both the inlet and outlet conditions.

We can design single or multiple burners depending on client requirements. Forced or natural draft burner designs are available depending on working conditions and power availability on site. Natural draft burners are popular for remote locations or locations with limited or no available power supply. Forced draft heaters are ideal whenever there is a low emission requirement while offering superior burner control compared to natural draft style heaters.

The main benefits of indirect heating are that the heat is transferred evenly, and the coil inside wall temperatures are lower than those of direct heaters – reducing scaling, coking and plugging. Indirect heaters are also safe due to the separation of the process stream from the combustion chamber and flue gasses. Indirect water bath heaters are widely applicable to the petroleum industry, power generation and industrial systems.

Heater shells are thermally insulated, while still ensuring access to the coils, burner/s or stack. Insulation materials are appropriately selected based on operating temperatures and climate conditions.

Safety, Health, Environmental and Quality

From within the EPCM Group of Companies, HSEQ assurance is provided from our Germany-based centre of excellence. Our team of experts specializes in machinery designs inclusive of water bath heaters. EPCM is fully accredited with ISO 9001; ISO 14001; ISO 45001 and ISO 3834. All our facilities and subsidiaries conform to the group’s systems and procedures, complying with industry best practices and international standards.

Design Codes and Standards

NACE
NFPA
API 12K
API 6A, API 6D
ASME Section VII
ASME VIII
ASME B31.1
ASME B31.3
ASME B31.8

Design Features and Benefits

Advanced Control Systems
Fuel Source and Burner Flexibility
Custom Sizes
Simplified Maintenance – Easily Accessible and Removable Coils and Tubes
Economical – Efficient Design and Fuel Consumption
Large Turndown Ratio
Safe and Reliable

Typical Applications

Heating High-Pressure Natural Gas
Heating Crude Oil
Heating of Chemicals
Hydrate Prevention
Vaporizing and superheating of LPG and LNG

Types of Fuels

Natural Gas
LPG
Fuel Oil/Light Oil
HFO
Dual Fuel Burners

Heat Transfer Medium Types:

Water
Glycol
Thermal B

Typical Standard Features, Controls and Components:

Heater Shell, Removable Fire Tube and Process Coil
Exhaust Stack and Water Expansion Tanks
Burner Management System
High-Temperature Shutdown
Level Detection (Low-Level Hazard)
Insulation

Optional Features and Extras:

Dual Temperature Control
Electric Heating Element
VSD for Air Intake Control (Reduced Power Consumption)
Black Start Package
Functional Testing During FAT (Factory Acceptance Tests)
Skid-Mounted