Bowman EC 80-5113-1T heat exchangers provide a new solution for heating spas and hot tubs in just a fraction of the time taken by traditional electric heaters.
Bowman EC 80-5113-1T heat exchangers provide a new solution for heating spas and hot tubs in just a fraction of the time taken by traditional electric heaters. Designed for use with an external boiler heat source, they can heat hot tubs in around 1 hour, using pre-heated water, or just 3-4 hours using ambient temperature water. And with the cost of electricity being much higher than gas or biomass, energy costs are substantially reduced too!
Product Benefits
Faster heat-up Can heat hot tubs in around 1 hour
Cost saving Reduces energy costs significantly
Premium quality Titanium tube core for long life
Compact design Fits directly into spa pipework
Heat sources Can be used with gas, LPG and biomass boilers
Even using pre-heated 25 °C water, it can still take more than 6 hours to achieve full temperature with an electric heater. A Bowman heat exchanger plus an external heat source, can reduce this to around 1 hour.
Energy Saving
Electric heating is expensive and often double the price of gas or biomass heating. Switching to a Bowman heat exchanger with external boiler could slash heating costs dramatically.
Compact Design
Though compact in size, it’s big on performance, capable of increasing the pool water by 10 °C to 12 °C per hour and is easily installed into the existing spa water circuit.
Shell and Tube Design
Hot water from the external boiler enters the heat exchanger and circulates inside the outer ‘shell’ of the unit and over the tube core, whilst spa water travels through the tubes collecting heat on the way.
Titanium Tube Core
The tube core is manufactured from titanium, one of the most durable materials available and perfect for spas and hot tubs. All titanium materials in contact with pool water come with a 10-year guarantee.
External Heat Source
Bowman EC80 heat exchangers can be used with virtually any types of external heat source, including gas, biomass, LPG boilers, ground and air source heat pumps, plus the latest hybrid systems.
Specification
Spa Heat Exchangers – Typical Performance and Dimensions
The table below enables the selection of the most appropriate heat exchanger for your swimming pool or spa. The information shows the amount of heat that can be transferred from conventional and condensing boilers, together with the basic dimensions of each unit. Additional heat exchangers are available but the two options shown are suitable for all hot tubs and swim spas. For further information please download the product brochure, contact us or your nearest stockist.
The image above is representative of spa heat exchangers for boilers rated from 12 – 50 kW.
Note – Ratings and weight are specifically relevant to the titanium versions of each heat exchanger. Download the brochure for more detailed information. The heat-up times are estimated and based upon heating from ambient water temperature (quicker heat-up times can be achieved with pre-heated water).
Part Number
Spa Size (m³)
Heat-Up Time (hours)
Max Pool Flow (l/min)
Heat Transfer at 82°C (kW)
Heat Transfer at 60°C (kW)
Dim. A (mm)
Dim. B (mm)
Dim. C (mm)
Weight (kg)
5113-1T
3
3
200
25
16
370
60
86
3.0
5113-2T
10
5
200
50
30
456
140
86
4.0
*Heat-up times are based on the volume of water being heated from 15 °C – 39 °C with boiler water at 82 °C. Times may vary depending on ambient temperature and insulation of the spa during heating.
Downloads
Swimming Pool Heat Exchangers
Technical sales brochure includes product information, ratings charts, drawings and dimensions for the standard product range.
Energy efficient hot tub heating for luxury golf resort
Download our hot tub case study here.
Save energy & heat hot tubs faster!
Learn how the EC80 can help you heat your hot tub quickly and efficiently.
Significantly faster heat-up times and reduced energy costs. Why using an external heat source, linked to a Bowman heat exchanger, is revolutionising hot tub heating.
How switching from electric heating, to a biomass system, reduced hot tub heat up times to just 2-3 hours and reduced energy costs by £12,000 per year for this prestige Yorkshire resort.
Most hot tubs are supplied with an integral electric water heater, which are usually around 3 kW output, depending on the capacity of the hot tub. This type of heater will usually increase the water temperature by around 1 – 2 °C per hour, so it can take up to 24 hours to heat a tub using ambient temperature water.
To overcome this problem, some users fill their tub with pre-heated (25 °C) water from an adjacent boiler, but given that hot tubs usually operate at around 38-40 °C, it can still take a further 6 to 10 hours to achieve full temperature, depending on the performance of the electric heater.
This long heat up time has created a high level of dissatisfaction for many owners, who want their hot tubs to be available for use much faster than the standard heating system allows.
Consequently, many hot tub users, especially those in the commercial sector, are switching to a new type of heating system, using an external boiler, linked to a Bowman heat exchanger. The benefits include significantly reduced heat up times – typically 3 – 4 hours using ambient temperature water, or 1 hour using pre-heated water), plus significantly reduced energy costs compared to electric heating.
Most hot tubs are supplied with an integral electric heater, usually around 3 kW output, depending on the water capacity. However, more recently, there has been a growing trend to use gas heating via an external boiler as this is faster at heating up the water compared to electric. This means when you are not using the hot tub, you can keep it at a lower temperature, or even switch the heating off completely, because it won’t take long to bring it up to the temperature when you are ready to use it.
The main reason is the length of time required to heat a hot tub with an electric heater – typically up to 24 hours, using cold water. To speed things up, some owners ‘pre-fill’ their tub with hot water from a boiler, but even this can require a further 6 to 10 hours of heating to achieve the required 38-40 °C temperature.
Whilst many domestic users were prepared to put up with the inconvenience, commercial users such as holiday parks, could not!
The demand for hot tubs when booking holiday accommodation has risen dramatically and is now the second most requested guest facility. To meet this demand, holiday venues had to find a faster way of heating them, due to guest changeover periods. Typically, there is only around 4-5 hours available to drain, clean, re-fill and heat up a hot tub before new guests arrive.
The solution was relatively simple – use an external heat source such as a gas boiler and simply bypass the hot tub’s electric heater. To enable this, a heat exchanger is required to transfer heat from the boiler water to the hot tub water. It’s exactly the same principle used for most swimming pools, but just on a smaller scale.
Bowman developed an ultra-compact heat exchanger that could be installed in the hot tub’s pipework and the result was hot tubs heated in 3-4 hours using cold water, or in around 1 hour using pre-heated water.
There was also another benefit. Heating hot tubs with electricity can be very expensive. By switching to gas boiler heating, many users reported a significant reduction in the energy costs – some as much as £500.00 per hot tub!
Swimming pool heat exchangers work by transferring heat energy from a hot water circuit, to the cooler pool water circuit, without the two fluids ever coming in direct contact with each other.
Most swimming pools are heated via a boiler, using fuels such as Gas, LPG or Biomass, as the energy source. In theory, the most efficient way to heat the pool water circuit would be to connect it directly to the boiler.
Were this to happen, the chemicals and minerals added to the pool water to keep it safe for use, would quickly erode and damage vital components inside the boiler, leading to premature failure and a costly replacement.
However, by using a heat exchanger to act as an ‘interface’ between the boiler water circuit and the pool water circuit, the boiler is protected from damage and the pool water is quickly heated up to the required temperature for use.
Shell and tube design heat exchangers are extremely popular for swimming pools, due to their efficiency and ease of maintenance. Inside the ‘shell’ there is a bundle of tubes, known as the ‘tube core’, through which the pool water passes in a single direction.
At the same time, hot water from the boiler is circulated around the outside of all the tubes in the tube core. Traveling in the opposite direction to the pool water flow, the boiler water transfers its heat to the pool water, before being recirculated back to the boiler, for reheating.
Both water circuits operate in a continuous heating cycle, until the total pool water volume has reached the required temperature, which is usually around 28 – 30 °C.
Bowman manufactures a comprehensive range of swimming pool heat exchangers for everything from spa pools and hot tubs, up to Olympic size pools.
