thermaline heat ex. t4ch 316 - 6 ports?

[burcher]

figured I'd post this here

so my heat exchanger has 6 ports. 4 on the front, and 2 on the back. I get the 4 ports (hot wort in, cold wort out, cold liquor in, cold/warm liquor out) but what about the other 2? One is currently plugged with a t/c. Are these cip somehow? There are no ports on the side. thanks, all.

chris

[MatthewS]

My best guess is that the other two ports are for a glycol loop.

I had a H/E setup with water and glycol at a previous job. Worked well in the winter with mostly water and conversely in the summer when the water temp was a little higher.

[burcher]

makes sense. i have a dedicated cold liquor tank (jacketed) so I guess I can block those ports?

[Moonlight]

My unit is the same, and it was just convenient for the mfr to use a 4-ported plate. They go nowhere.

[burcher]

cool. thanks, moonlight

[gitchegumee]

I second Moonlight's analysis. I currently have the same heat exchanger with the same ports. If these ports were for glycol, they'd likely be on another thick header plate club-sandwiched inside the stack. These ports you ask about likely go nowhere. Indeed, it's easier to make a standard header and use it for all purposes. Sometimes they're used on multiple pass exchangers, but not when you've got ports on the opposite header. You will want to pull the plates apart once a year or so to confirm your CIP efficacy; take a look at where the flow goes. Bet you'll find these go nowhere.