The invention is a heat exchanger system suitable for iron making furnaces and their supporting exhaust and cooling system. The heat exchanger has at least one panel of sinuously winding piping having an inlet and an outlet, an input manifold in fluid communication with the inlet of the at least one panel, an output manifold in fluid communication with the outlet of the panel, a cooling fluid flowing through the piping, and a stream of hot exhaust gases flowing over the piping. In application, the heat exchanger system has at least one panel that is mounted to an interior side of a wall, and is in fluid communication with the output and the input manifolds that are on an exterior side of the wall. The wall typically is a wall of a steel making furnace, a furnace roof, a smoke ring exhaust port, a straight section of an exhaust duct, and a curved section of an exhaust duct. It is anticipated that the heat exchanger has other applications, such as cooling exhaust gases from converting plants, paper manufacturing plants, coal and gas fired electrical power generation plants, and other exhaust gas generators, where the gases are cooled for the purpose of capturing one or more components of the gas, where capture is effected by condensation, by carbon bed absorption, or by filtration. The heat exchanger system is preferably fabricated using an aluminum bronze alloy. Aluminum bronze alloys have been found to have a higher than expected thermal conductivity, resistance to etching by the stream of hot gases, and good resistance to oxidation. The operational life of the heat exchanger is extended. Corrosion and erosion of the heat exchanger and related components is reduced, when they are fabricated with aluminum bronze alloy.