If you would like to read about the difference between inline and waterbed heaters for float tanks, click here.
One of the most common questions I get from floatrepreneurs is what kind of inline heater I use for my Floatarium float tank. Of course I’ve forgotten what brand it is and all of its specifications whenever someone calls or e-mails asking about it, so I always have to go check it out each time. I snap a picture of its label and then email the person back. I always save the image somewhere on my computer and then like a squirrel, simply hope that I remember where that specific nut of data has been buried. I hope this provides some insight to my organizational prowess...
Instead of repeating this cycle, why don’t I just make a post about it?
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My Inline Heater with knob temp control[/caption]
How does an Inline Heater Work in a Float Center?
An inline heater basically heats any water that's pushed through it like an inline heater for your home, or more basically like a super-charged electric tea kettle. As soon as your pump starts pushing water through it, the coils turn on and heats up your water. It usually takes about 5 minutes for the water in our tanks to heat back up to temperature in between floats (check out my post on
float temperatures). As soon as the water is at the correct temperature, it turns off and the filtration system continues to work as usual. After we close up shop, the temperature drops quite a bit overnight. In fact, it can drop so low that we created a rule so our water doesn't crystallize: the tank lid must be left closed overnight. So long as our pump isn't locked up from crystallized water (which can happen), increasing the water temperature back to normal is not an issue. Assuming a consistent crystallization-free flow of water, our inline heater will bring the temperature back up to normal floating temperatures within 20 minutes (or less if the lid was closed).
My inline heater I use can be viewed
here.
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Coates Inline Heater ST with Digital Temp Control[/caption]
One Big Gripe
As much love as I have for the inline heater we have, there I do have one gripe: the temperature setting is changed with a knob. This knob has no numerical values around it, so it can be really difficult to judge where the perfect temperature setting is. This wouldn't be so bad with a little trial and error if it wasn't also very imprecise. A small movement in either direction will have an unpredictable change on the temperature. Once you find it, you're golden, but if you adjust your temperature with any regularity, you're going to to be spending far more time than you'd like fine tuning the temperature. In my opinion it is absolutely worth the extra cost of the
digital version if you are running a commercial center.
