| Author | Message | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
Rating: N/A |
This is a little "out of the box" thinking, brought about by another thread, so bear with: If any of you fellow bus nuts are contemplating building your own system that's similar in concept to an AquaHot, and are also intrigued by automation, here's a suggestion: Pool & Spa valves and automatic actuators. Huh? There is a tremendous amount of automation taking place in the pool & spa industry right now, including wireless control systems. It wouldn't be too difficult to incorporate some of this equipment into a hydronic system. Most of the valves are either CPVC or ABS Schedule 80, and they can withstand 180° water without damage. The actuators run on 24vdc, and the controllers are available in 120vac. Both the valves (commonly known as "Jandy Valves", but made by several vendors) and the actuators are extremely reliable and very simple to repair. Valves come in 1.5" and 2" ID sizes. It wouldn't be hard to install a few three-way valves in a system to divert water out of the Webasto or ProHeat to warm the engine, heat the coach, keep the waterbed toasty, etc. The actuators can also be adjusted to partially close a valve, if so desired. For example, maybe in "day heat" mode you want 80% of the water to flow to the galley and lounge area, and 20% to the bath & bedroom, while at nite you want the percentages swapped. Easy to do with this equipment. What I'm not sure about at this point (at least not without making a few phone calls), is whether the valves and their seals would react to the chemicals in DDA anti-freeze. Also don't think mounting these in the hot engine compartment would be a good idea, but should be OK in a baggage bin. The wireless controllers are also pretty slick - they make it easy to program the system to do whatever you want, and that includes lighting functions. One other point - whatever you do, consider including unions on the intake and discharge plumbing of the Webasto or ProHeat unit. Makes it a whole lot easier to get the unit out, should non-routine maintenance be required. Anyway, something different for those who are seeking ideas. . .  RJ PD4106-2784 Fresno CA | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
After 22 years of boat living , my concerns are always with a system that uses NO or minimal electric. For the real diehards , who want to winter in AK with 500gal of fuel and no genset there is always the Dickinson line of oil fired ranges and heaters. Superb , reliable & silent. But for the less adventurous that only need a couple of weeks of REAL silent heat it can be a lot less of a commitment. The folks that sell HW propane model water heaters (Paloma, Bosch et all) will have a model that will accept hot water in the Supply and function correctly. These are used for off grid folks that have a solar heater to pre warm the water. I would conect the smallest one of these to a 10 gal+ insulated tank. I have seen a std RV heater used as a furnace , but there not well built or efficent. I would have the tank deliver to a set of 1inch+ finned copper heat tubing from HD. The finned tubing would run all the side wall of the coach , and return. 30 or 35 ft each way. The U turn would be soldered 45's or refrigeration slow ells.(very wide radius). When the thermostat turns on the Ivan labs or Marche tiny circ pump would take heat from the hot tank and pump it thru the baseboard lines. Resistance would be low as the piping is so oversized . When the water cools enough the Paloma would kick on , and the circ pump would continue to run. The real trick to getting this to work well is a shocker. Install the heating pipes FIRST! Then locating the tank & burner can use the fewest plumbing fittings , slowing down the circulation (increasing electric needs) the least. The tank would be ABOVE the heater so thermosyphon would assist the tiny circ pump during heat firing. The finished unit would be running the circ pump 24/7 with the interior temp controlled by the temp of the circ water.Or simply cycled by the thermostat operating the circ pump for LONG times. ON boats I have built oil fired systems that use thermosyphon and NO circ pump , but it would be too hard with the 30,000+ btu needed to heat a coach at below 0-F. Roll your own? Maybe if you really have a need for no power heat. FAST FRED | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
Hmmm.... "Most of the valves are either CPVC or ABS Schedule 80, and they can withstand 180° water without damage. " Kinda' shoots the project down, right off, don't it? | ||
| Tim Stoecker (Zxt)
Rating: N/A |
Where can you get a 24v pump from? | ||
| Jim Stewart (H3jim)
Rating: N/A |
Dick Wright sells pumps, and almost any other component for the roll your own heating system. | ||
| Dale MC8
Rating: N/A |
Check the alternate energy sites like <backwoodssolar.com> for 24V pumps, etc. | ||
| Doug Dickinson (Dougd470)
Rating: N/A |
Got a web page for Dick Wright? | ||
| R.C.Bishop Rating: N/A |
Also might try Ronthebusnut.com...where I got mine. RCB | ||
| Rob King Rating: N/A |
Hi Doug Try http://www.wricointernational.com Rob | ||
| Jim Stewart (H3jim)
Rating: N/A |
Dicks webpage is http://www.wricointernational.com/ | ||
| joe padberg (Joemc7ab)
Rating: N/A |
Hi Tim The small pump for circulating applications that FAST FRED is referring to, is available from Dankoff solar. The one I am planning on using is the March 809 series, which is available in both 12 and 24 volts and has a power consumption of only 18 Watts. Compare that to a Suburban furnace 34K Btu 7.5 Amps @ 12 v which is 90 Watts. Power consumption one fifth of typical. Joe. | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
However these will only do a fine hob of pumping UNRESTRICTED tubing , add the maze of a heater core and/or defroster and you can spit as much as they will pump! It takes POWER to pump long twisted distances with tiny tubes, hence the BIG stock pump. FAST FRED |