Home made shower heater

[rebelone607]

Found the photo of the heater after the cowl was put back on, hadn't hooked the hoses on at this stage.
Merv:

[rebelone607]

Originally Posted by TAXI

hot water system is really good I had one already in the paj when I bought her they come in very usefull

Hi TAXI, just saw your thread in the bits and pieces forum. Said you were going to post some pictures, would be interested in seeing them. Assume you have worked out how they work by now
Merv

[03gallagherj]

Hey Merv just wondering if you had any photos of the showering unit in action, looks like you did a pretty sweet job on it, how much do you think it cost you to make up in total?

i've been thinking about doing the same with the paj i own its got the 2.8 TD in it, while i'm doing it i'll give the good old heater core a bit of a flush out too

how have you got your heater hoses running? from the block to the exchange??? or block into the heater core then into the exchange?

cheers Jackson

[rebelone607]

Originally Posted by 03gallagherj

Hey Merv just wondering if you had any photos of the showering unit in action, looks like you did a pretty sweet job on it, how much do you think it cost you to make up in total?

i've been thinking about doing the same with the paj i own its got the 2.8 TD in it, while i'm doing it i'll give the good old heater core a bit of a flush out too

how have you got your heater hoses running? from the block to the exchange??? or block into the heater core then into the exchange?

cheers Jackson

Hi Jackson, sorry no photos of shower working but as pointed out in previous post it is just one of those cheap ones you can get from BCF etc, Primus do one also but found they leaked around the little slide button you start and stop the flow with. I used one of the heater hose lines under the driver side floor pan, it originates just at the back of the engine block (real cow and skined knuckles to get the clamps off) and goes down onto one of those steel pipes. Replaced and totally bypassed that particular steel pipe with new 16mm heater hose, but it does follow the same path as original, brought it up behind that light metal heat shield thing that is there and then curved it across onto one end of heat exchanger - no tight bends. The other end of the exchanger connects by short length of hose that goes through firewall, it is the top one of the two and will be the only one you can get at, (unbolting the fuel filter makes it a lot easier)you will need to replace that one also as it is formed shape, fairly tight bend on that hose so use unicoil to stop hose flattening out. Sorry but other than the photos in previous posts can't really describe it better than that. Am running out of time to do things before NT trip in two weeks but if I get a chance I will try and take a couple of photos of shower working.
Merv

[03gallagherj]

cheers sounds like a pretty good install, brilliant idea too might i add. well enjoy your trip to NT

[rebelone607]

Thanks
Merv

[nifty]

Just a thought, but would the water heat faster if the hot water from the engine ran around the OUTSIDE, and the water to/from the shower/bucket went through the middle of the exchanger? Wouldn't there be a larger ratio of hot water to cold water doing it this way, and the cold water would be surrounded by the hot?

[rebelone607]

Originally Posted by nifty

Just a thought, but would the water heat faster if the hot water from the engine ran around the OUTSIDE, and the water to/from the shower/bucket went through the middle of the exchanger? Wouldn't there be a larger ratio of hot water to cold water doing it this way, and the cold water would be surrounded by the hot?

Hi nifty, have only just got back onto forum after trip away and saw your post. What you sugest may be true I am not sure but it would certainly be a lot more difficult to make. However I work in the dairy industry for the past 40 years and our factory has dozens of heat exchangers and all work on the principal of opposing flow and very thin fluid film thickness over large surface areas. My construction employees basically the same principle, that is the inner tube containing the heating medium ocupies most of the space inside the heater therefore giving "large surface area" the liquid to be heated travells through the approximately 2mm space left therefore creating the "thin film thickness", therefore I have an awful lot of hot surface in there compared to the volume of water I am trying to heat. As for the opposing flow I have it plumbed so that the radiator water is travelling from left to right through the inner tube and my shower water is moving from right to left through the outer tube, on such a small heater this may not make much difference but every little bit helps. On one earlier heater I made for a mate I tack welded a length of stainless mig welding wire in a spiral around the inner tube, this meant that the cold water effectivly had to travell a lot further within the heater and it worked probably 50% better than straight flow, however it was very difficult to weld such fine wire and I had to file the top side of the entire length of wire down enough to get it to fit inside the outer tube so I only ever made one like that. Phew - got on a bit of a role there, so hope I have not confused you with the principles of heat exchangers.
Regards Merv

PS Used it several times on my trip and it worked fine but my brother inlaws Primus gas one was heaps better and faster.

[hewy hacket]

Merv,
Just wondering about your home made boat loader, any chance of some pic's and info.
Thanks

Steve

[rebelone607]

Originally Posted by hewy hacket

Merv,
Just wondering about your home made boat loader, any chance of some pic's and info.
Thanks

Steve

Hi Steve, I have just mailed off a heap of photos of my home made loading system and portable boat trailer to another forum member so if you pm me your postal address I will do the same for you as there is about 34 photos plus a description with each one so file is a bit big to upload.
Regards Merv