| Author | Message | ||
| bob olson Rating: |
Has anyone used a water heater for space heating using heat exchangers? | ||
| PAUL COLLYER (Paso_1)
Rating: N/A |
I use a electric water heater to heat a 24 x 18 x10 building I use for a paint booth. ( no souce of ignition) works great till about -30 F then it's harder to maintain 70 F ( runs lots )I have a simple 2 zone piping in the concrete. I zone going thru heat exchanger with fan behind keeps everything toasty great for kneeling on the floor. once the air is out it's trouble free. | ||
| Ron Walker (Prevost82)
Rating: N/A |
Aqu-Hot & Hydro-Hot (vehicle systems) use this setup for busses. Ron | ||
| Bill K. Rating: N/A |
I used a Precision Temp tankless waterheater, I have baseboard and three kicktoe heaters, I can heat the coach, the eng. and the hot water or just one. also can use the coach eng for all above while traveling. | ||
| Jason Whitaker (Jeepme)
Rating: N/A |
Bill, Could you give us some more information about your setup. Where did you mount the waterheater? How does it work? It must be plumbed directly into the engine cooling lines? I'd love to have hot water and engine heat without having to use the gen set when boondocking. Thanks, Jason Whitaker | ||
| bob olson Rating: N/A |
I was going to use a atwood 6 gal heater.I live in calif.Would be used to keep the chill off. | ||
| Bill Glenn
Rating: N/A |
Hey Bob I can speak from experience, the 12,000 btu's won't cut it. I love the even, and quick response hot water baseboard heating systems with thermostatically controlled fan coils provide. I installed my heat system with that same heater. (hard headed) Ran nonstop and could not keep the chill off @40 degrees. Installed a webasto 45,000 btu's ,,,, Huge difference. 3rd time was the charm with my plumbing. Hopefully you will be happy your first time around. Bill Glenn | ||
| joe padberg (Joemc7ab)
Rating: N/A |
Hi Bill K: I like the sound of your set up, but I have a question, whether the coolant temp set at a typical 115 F. is hot enough, or put another way carries sufficient heat energy to heat your coach adequitly in very cold temperatures I am thinking in the order of 0 F. or thereabouts The BTU input level seems adequit unlike a standard HW heater setup I saw installed in a 4905 from Vancouver Island this summer, which was supplemented with a standard forced air unit. what is the approximate lenght of baseboards that you used? From a boondocking perspective this unit seems very attractive, with a current draw of only 1 amp. Joe. , | ||
| Bill k Rating: N/A |
When I order the precision temp unit I told them what I was using it for and they set it up, Iam not sure how hot it was set, it has been some time but I did turn it back. I put all the base board in that I had room for and that was only up one side that is why I added the kicktoe's. I use a heat exchanger inside my hot water heater and I also have a electric unit in the water heater, I built the water heater out of ss it is apx 15 gal. I have a valve set up, this is how I select what function I want the heater to supply. Also we do not use the hot water for consummation just incase there would ever be a leak. Matter of fact we don't even use the water holding take for consummation, carry other water for that. and then there is always beer. lol. | ||
| joe padberg (Joemc7ab)
Rating: N/A |
Hi Bill one more question, did you use a March pump 12v. or equivalent ? Tnx Joe. | ||
| Bill K Rating: N/A |
Joe I use a small 110 unit like in a home application. but I would think that the March pump would work, Probably use less elect. I have not use mine for a long period of time with out the gen set or shore line. Would depend on your battery bank. | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
This would be an IDEAL setup for a camper that wanted maximum endurance with minumum battery drain. The largest size baseboard 1 1/4 and sweeps (or 45deg fittings ) would be best to hold pipe leginth equavilicy down . The refrigeration folks sell "Slow Ells' that would be worthwhile. The Marche or similar pump would run 24/7 and the temp would be controlled by varing/maintaining of the circ water. I have a gravity (Thermosyphon) circ system on my boat , and the circ water needs to be HELD at 135F to be comfortable inside from -17F to about +50F. Great way to go , an RV hot water heater as furnace would be cheaper to renew than the Euro oil truck heater derivatives would be for an anual. FAST FRED | ||
| Adame Rating: N/A |
Take a look at this. www.solarhaven.org/HPArticle.htm | ||
| joe padberg (Joemc7ab)
Rating: N/A |
More Questions! FRED Could you please elaborate a little more in your previous post regarding Slow Ells and Sweeps ? I have been looking for awhile to find something that would make a good workable system, minimal smell or noise and low power consumption and hopefully reliable as well. this set up appears to be covering all bases. Will be getting a Servel Consul tomorrow, used a little, but at less than half the cost of new. Tnx Joe. | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
In very low flow apps the legnth of the pipe is figured by the feet of straight pipe AND the number of elbowes , as they add resistance and reduce the velocity of the water . Look in any really really old plumbing book (mine is 1900) and they will have the formulas for a thermosyphon system (that has only gravity flow). The methods they use to "ballance" the system will be of interest.AS will the relationship between room size and radiator area. A sweep or "Slo ell" is used in refrigeration work to allow cold oil to be returned . With a La Marche or similar tiny amount of power actually pushing on the water , the easier it is to get flow , the smaller the DC pump can be , the longer your batts will last. Or the better the chance of solar repower. The first question to answer is how many sq feet of radiator surface is on a foot of the heat pipe your going to install? Bosche and Paloma both offer furnaces that will accept warm water and still heat (made for solar preheat). A dumb RV HW heater unit wont care , and might be an OK choice as the 120v element could work during stays at the power pole. FAST FRED | ||
| Vin (Billybonz)
Rating: N/A |
I have tried a home brewed hot water setup. It's a military surplus heater made by Benmar, 24vdc, diesel fueled, 40K BTU. The whole setup, heater, fuel pump, harness and stuff to build the control box was about $120. Before you get too excited, this heater is new old stock...meaning parts availability is always in question. At the moment there is no problem but tomorrow...who knows? To test the unit I used a 30 gal drum, the booster pump from the bus, automotive heater core and fan. The heater runs until the thermostat in the drum reaches 180 degrees. The heater shuts off and the heater core fan and water pump keeps running. When the coolant in the drum drops to 100 degrees, the heater fires up. At this point I don't have any data on fuel consumption since this was a simple bench test but I can say that hot water heat is the way to go. It took little time for the 30 gal to get to 180 and I will probably get a Webasto (or similar) heater in the future when I can afford it. I will keep this unit around as a possible back up, maybe for engine preheat when 120vac isn't available. Vin | ||
| Brian Brown (Fishbowlbrian)
Rating: N/A |
Thanks Adame for the link. Very interesting info, there. I like the guy's boostrap ingenuity. Billybonz, I've seen the Bemar surplus heaters on eB*y periodically. IF one can tinker, it might well be the "poor man's Webasto". As for me, I'm looking at big Skoolie heaters for coach heat. I bought a huge Bergstrom model from Kevin Webb... great price AND service (shameless plug). Here's the unit I bought to start with. 96k BTUs or so ought to warm things up a bit. The trick would be to be able to use these while parked... creating a poor man's hydronic system of some type. I think I'd need to use a separate fluid than the bus coolant. So, there'd have to be a heat exchanger somewhere. For heat sources, I'm considering a tankless water heater when parked. And the big Detroit when rolling, obviously. I'd sure like to get rid of the two forced air furnaces, since they burn a lot a propane and 12v juice. Just some more food for thought, BB | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
"I'd sure like to get rid of the two forced air furnaces, since they burn a lot a propane and 12v juice. Heat is heat A BTU a BTU , so you would take many winters to get a savings from tossing heaters that are 75% or 80% efficent for ones that are in the 90% range. BUT the hydronic would be far better on the battery set!!!, And Quieter with more even heat. FAST FRED |
