System for Preheating Glass Melting Furnace Batch Materials

A system for preheating batch materials in a glass melting furnace includes: a preheater configured to receive unheated batch materials and to deliver heated batch materials, the preheater including an outlet configured to exhaust fluid from the preheater and an inlet configured to receive exhaust fluid from the glass melting furnace and exhaust fluid recirculated from the outlet of the preheater; a fan configured to provide ambient air to a furnace flue; a valve configured to control an amount of the ambient air to the furnace flue; a temperature sensor configured to sense temperature of exhaust gases in the furnace flue; and a temperature controller configured to control the valve and the fan responsive to the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor.