Brazed plate heat exchangers are the ideal solution for these plants thanks to their compactness, high thermal efficiency, and total maintenance-free operation. Compared to traditional shell-and-tube heat exchangers, they offer a series of concrete advantages that make them particularly suitable for modular, high-power density installations in small spaces.

The choice of Tempco
In Tempco hydraulic power plants, brazed plate heat exchangers are custom-sized based on the customer’s operating conditions:

• flow rates
• viscosity
• operating temperature
• heat dissipation duty

The use of copper or nickel-brazed stainless steel heat exchangers ensures high corrosion resistance and long operating life, with consistent thermal performance over time. Their compactness and reliability make them the perfect choice for high-performance systems, where every detail counts to ensure operational continuity and energy savings.

In short, brazed plate heat exchangers maximize thermal transfer efficiency and reduce overall dimensions, simplifying maintenance and improving the reliability of hydraulic power plants.

L'articolo Brazed plate heat exchangers in hydraulic power plants proviene da Tempco Blog.

The Italian regulatory landscape on this topic has undergone a significant transformation in 2025: Legislative Decree 102/2025, which came into force on July 19, 2025, made mandatory certain Guidelines drawn up by the Ministry of Health in May 2015. The new obligations for prevention and control established in the Legionella Decree 2025 include:

• Mandatory monitoring activities. Activities are now classified according to a Priority code. Water monitoring is now mandatory in facilities beyond the previous regulations, such as hotels, sports centers, and restaurants.
• Preparation of the Water Safety Plan (PSA). The Water Safety Plan (PSA) is a mandatory risk assessment and management model for managers of internal building water systems.
• Appointment of the Internal Water Distribution Manager (GIDI). For Priority facilities, the role of the Internal Water Distribution Manager (GIDI) has been introduced. The GIDI is responsible for the building’s internal drinking water system and must be appointed. He or she is responsible for verifying that analyses and the PSA are performed.

Finally, penalties have also been increased, with fines of up to 30.000 euro for failure in compliance with monitoring parameters.

L'articolo New monitoring requirements for Legionella prevention proviene da Tempco Blog.

For this reason, we have been promoting the Tempco Service for years, a periodic maintenance program tailored specifically for our TREG thermoregulation units, cooling systems, thermoregulation skids, and custom control units.

The Tempco service specifically includes:

• complete check of operating parameters;
•  exchanger performance verification;
• pump, valve, seal, and sensor inspection;
• heat transfer fluid analysis and recommendation for replacement;
• software updates and regulator calibration;
• advance notification of components requiring replacement.

The customer benefit is therefore very simple: zero surprises and maximum operations continuity. Scheduled maintenance allows also to:

• avoid unexpected downtime;
• keep energy consumption under control;
• extend the life of your machines;
• plan budgets and production downtime;
• have priority access to our technical support.

Service also provides an opportunity to propose upgrades or new energy efficiency solutions, such as optimizing thermal cycles or introducing more efficient heat recovery systems.

At Tempco, we therefore don’t see maintenance as a ‘cost’, but rather as an investment to ensure that thermal machines perform exactly as they did on day one, along with the opportunity to continuously improve and optimize the operational efficiency of your thermal management and temperature control systems.

L'articolo Scheduled service, a smart choice for the lifecycle of Tempco thermal machines proviene da Tempco Blog.

With original Tempco spare parts, however, the customer knows exactly what they’re installing, with the peace of mind of ensuring:

• materials compatible with the process fluid;
• guaranteed performance tested on our systems;
• compliance with pressure and temperature specifications;
• long-term reliability thanks to the selection of suppliers we’ve worked with for years.

The difference, therefore, lies not only in the quality of the components themselves, but also directly impacts operational continuity: a correct gasket maintains the efficiency of the exchanger; a certified pump guarantees effective flow; consistent resistance prevents overheating or excessively frequent start-up cycles.

Furthermore, in a heating system, every deviation generates inefficiencies and hidden costs: higher energy consumption, longer rise/fall times in temperature, and micro-stoppages in production.

For all these reasons, at Tempco we always remind our customers that an original spare part costs less than a system downtime.

Tempco offers a dedicated service for the rapid supply of spare parts, even for older or custom-built machines. Keeping your systems in ideal condition thus means preserving their useful life, ensuring consistent performance.

L'articolo Efficiency and operational continuity: original spare parts make the difference proviene da Tempco Blog.

These compact units are designed with custom dimensions for integration into the customer’s machine structure. Each version is configured based on application specifications: electric heating with resistances from 3 to 24 kW, forced circulation via a submersible foot pump, and cooling via a submersible coil connected to an industrial water circuit or external chiller.

The circuit is atmospheric, with a stainless steel tank, designed to ensure maximum hygiene and ease of maintenance. The recommended operating temperature range is 0/75°C, ideal for washing, mixing, or thermal conditioning of process fluids.

Versions for both the pharmaceutical and food & beverage sectors feature materials and components compatible with wash-down environments and, upon request, sanitary clamp or DIN connections. Versions with remote control options via PLC, analogic signals, or fieldbus (Modbus, Profinet, EtherNet/IP) are also available.

These solutions offer OEMs the ability to easily integrate a complete, compact, and reliable thermoregulation system, reducing development times and ensuring an efficient thermal management of the production process. As always, each project begins with a technical consultation with the customer, to tailor dimensions, materials, power, and control logic to the specific needs of the system.

L'articolo Custom thermoregulation units for OEMs in the food & pharma sectors proviene da Tempco Blog.

Thanks to a team of professionals with extensive experience in temperature control and thermoregulation applications in the process industry, the company also provides highly qualified technical support services, consulting on the best temperature control solutions for individual needs, spare parts sales, repairs, customization, and retrofitting of systems and machinery.

The strong synergy built and developed over many years of close collaboration has led to acquisition of IPE by Tempco, in order to ensure an even more efficient service and increasingly timely and personalized consulting for companies with their temperature control applications, pursuing maximum energy and process efficiency in every industrial sector.

We invite you to discover all of IPE’s services and offerings on the company’s revamped website, at https://ipe.tempco.it/.

L'articolo IPE, new website for thermoregulation services and technologies specialist proviene da Tempco Blog.

This important new order for Tempco confirms the growing attention this innovative type of heat exchanger is attracting. Therefore it leads to a broader reflection on the concept of a holistic approach to heat transfer systems. In fact, nowadays it’s necessary to go beyond the evaluation of the mere initial cost of a heat exchanger, as industrial thermal engineering involves a series of more complex challenges.

There are many factors to consider:

• Energy efficiency
• Installation space and compactness
• Reliability
• Ease of maintenance
• Reduced start-up times
• Sustainability of the investment

Given all these requirements, limiting the assessment solely to the economics of the initial cost of the equipment risks to provide a too narrow perspective. A holistic approach to thermal transfer systems is therefore needed, taking account of the entire life cycle of the system. This approach should consider not only the technology’s purchase cost, but also operating costs, potential system downtime, energy efficiency, and integration flexibility.

PCHE vs. Shell and tube: a comparison beyond price
A prime example is the comparison between PCHE exchangers and traditional shell and tube exchangers. At first glance, PCHEs may seem less competitive in terms of initial cost of the unit. However, a holistic analysis reveals a somewhat different picture:

Value is measured over time
A holistic approach therefore also includes considering the overall return of investment (ROI). Thanks to their high heat transfer efficiency, PCHEs reduce energy consumption and improve the overall performance of the production process they serve. In many cases, the initial cost pays off in just a few years, especially in sectors where every percentage point of efficiency makes a difference (hydrogen, cryogenics, power-to-gas, fine chemicals). Furthermore, in modular projects and applications where compactness and safety are crucial (such as hydrogen refueling stations), PCHEs represent the only possible technical solution.

Therefore, choosing the most suitable technology for a given application means looking beyond the initial purchase price. It means adopting a holistic view that takes into account the entire life cycle of the system, and not just the cost of the equipment. From this perspective, PCHEs, although more expensive to purchase, offer superior and sustainable value over time, making them the strategic choice for those looking forward to the future.

L'articolo A holistic approach to heat transfer systems: the value rises beyond initial cost proviene da Tempco Blog.

Cogeneration plants involve different applications for heat exchangers, as they allow to further increase the efficiency of the process. The use of heat exhangers in cogeneration starts from the pre-treatment of the biogas, an operation aimed at eliminating the impurities and humidity present in the biofuel to preserve the engine, up to the heat recovery from the exhaust fumes of the engine itself using shell and tube exchangers, maximizing the amount of thermal energy that the system can generate.

In this case, the Tempco exchangers work both on the jackets, with a brazed plate exchanger, and on heat recovery from exhaust fumes, with a shell and tube exchanger.

After 11 years of work, the customer then called us requiring a replacement of the gaskets on the flanges, which had worn out over time. At the time of installation, Tempco had supplied the exchangers, while the customer preferred to rely on another supplier for the gaskets, although to be fair, these are anyway components subject to wear and therefore requiring maintenance.

Overall, we can say that we are very satisfied with the successful application realized for this customer.

L'articolo Exchangers in cogeneration plant operating for over ten years proviene da Tempco Blog.

This happened because the user had committed a serious imprudence: following the intervention of the high temperature safety thermostat, he had in fact ignored the alarm ‘bypassing’ it. The alarm was caused by poor oil circulation, for reasons related to fouling of the plant.

The scarce oil circulation therefore caused the intervention of the maximum temperature thermostat. By bypassing it, the customer caused the electrical resistances to break. Fortunately, everything was resolved with a shutdown of the thermoregulator, but the imprudence could have had even more serious consequences, for example if the oil had caught fire…

Preventive maintenance, evaluation of the manufacturer’s alarms, requesting the intervention of the service or telephone assistance, would have prevented everything.

L'articolo Preventive maintenance and the importance of alarms in thermoregulation proviene da Tempco Blog.

However, with time and continuous use, the plates can accumulate deposits and the seals can deteriorate, compromising the performance and integrity of the entire system.

One of the key aspects of maintaining the transfer efficiency of plate heat exchangers is the replacement of gaskets. Gaskets are essential components that guarantee the tightness of the system. There are two main types of gaskets: glued and clip-on.

Glued gaskets: these gaskets are permanently attached to the plates with an adhesive. They allow for easier on-site plate washing operations, but replacing them can be more laborious and requires careful cleaning of the surfaces before applying the new gaskets.
Clip gaskets: these gaskets are designed to be easily removable and replaceable without need of adhesives. Clip-on seals are more convenient for periodic maintenance as they can be quickly removed and replaced, reducing system downtime.

The market is now dominated by clip seals.

It is essential to carry out regular inspections to detect any signs of wear or damage to the seals, such as cracks, swelling or loss of elasticity. A compromised seal can lead to fluid leaks, contamination and heat transfer inefficiency.

In conclusion, preventive maintenance and timely replacement of gaskets in plate heat exchangers are essential to maintain optimal performance and extend the useful life of the system. Investing time and resources in regular maintenance not only prevents costly breakdowns, but also ensures efficiency and safety of industrial operations.

L'articolo Importance of maintenance in plate heat exchangers and replacement of gaskets proviene da Tempco Blog.