Endless hot shower from your vehicle

[BigAl]

I have reconnected the heater core so coolant only flows through the heat exchanger when the heater dial in the vehicle is pushed to hot. This has made it possible to control the temperature of the water passing through the exchanger so you can turn down the temperature of the water if it is too hot. Will post some pics over the weekend

[Dikwiel]

Bought a Glind heat exchanger, product ex Aussie,
from Baillies 4x4. Tapped into cabin heater flow.
Heat up very fast, recirculate water in container,
thus regulating temp.
Permanently mounted in engine bay.

[BergKwagga]

Hi Craig. Made the exchanger up myself with lots of trial and error - kinking the copper pipe becomes expensive!!!. A friend has asked to me to make one up one for him, so I will do a more accurate costing and post when I have finished. Dimensions of the exchanger are 420mm long and 120mm in diameter at the widest point.

Subscribed!

Thanks for sharing.

BergKwagga

[BigAl]

any chance of some pics for those of us with no youtube access at work?

Hi Brendan, have attached some pictures in the word document.

[BigAl]

I have done some costing on this project. Please see the attached file

[BandK]

I have done some costing on this project. Please see the attached file

? No file ?

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner

[daveb_1]

What is the cost of a complete kit?

[hapichap]

I have been toying with the idea of fitting a heat exchanger to my defender to make hot water for a shower when camping in remote places. I have battled to find one locally so decided to make one myself. It works really well and fits neatly into the void under the turbo on a TD5. The exchanger heats river water to 40 degrees Celsius in real time on one pass through while the engine is idling. I have uploaded a video to Youtube showing how it works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj10ZyKWRaY

Sure makes for happy camping in remote places as hot showers are no longer a prerequisite.

I just use the good old BUNDU SHOWER screw it on your gas bottle put sub pump in water light up and in 8 sec you can shower and if gas and water permits you can shower the whole day

[Die Skim]

This works for us.
Hot shower in 30min.

[BigAl]

I have had some concerns expressed regarding the risks of compromising the vehicles cooling system. I am of the opinion that the exchanger is nothing but a tank installed in-line with your vehicle's cabin heater core. Not sure what the rated pressure of the cabin heater core is (or radiator hoses for that matter), but the heat exchanger "tank" is rated to 14bar pressure. This should be more than adequate to handle the pressures of the cooling system.

Can anyone offer some advise on the risk of corrosion? My understanding is that galvanised pipe is relatively resistant to corrosion. It is also exposed only to the coolant (antifreeze) which has anti corrosive properties.

[Johnny Bravo]

We've just returned from a 10 day trip to the West coast and Richtersveld and met a couple from Austrailia with the shower rigged up.

Came to us with a BYO water and shower offer which we took up and this is amazing =)

[BigAl]

I have found that the best way to regulate the temperature is to control the speed at which the water (not coolant) flows through the exchanger. With the pump setup I have, the maximum flow rate achieved is 3 litres per minute and the water actually gets too hot. When starting with water at about 10 deg C, it is heating to 43 deg. So if the original water is say 18 deg then the water gets too hot.

This weekend I made a smaller exchanger for my work vehicle (Mazda BT50) and it is working great. The smaller size is giving me a more usable water temperature and gives more options where the unit can be installed. I also bought and modified one of those camping shower kits which includes a pump, showerhead, wiring, switches, etc. This shower head also includes a flow control, so now it is easier to slow the flow rate to make the water hotter if needed. I will post some pics this week and give a better idea of what a complete kit would cost with all the fittings.

[4x4tripping]

Yes, the only way is to use a switch to mix cold and hot water...

Here is our solution:



We have too an heat exchanger.

Surfy

[heine]

I don't like messing with the flow rate, as it effects the quality of your shower. Mine is set to 2 l/pm and I can regulate the water temp from 25 deg to over 60 deg, depending on ambient temp, by using the heater box control

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Tapatalk 2

[BigAl]

Hi Heine

On mine, the heater box control does work, but I find it takes a bit long for the temperature to respond so have to keep adjusting.

[Sandboarder]

This works for us.
Hot shower in 30min.

Ek verkies ook daardie Boesman TV metode. "Simplier is always better"

[heine]

Or - any fool can be uncomfortable

[BigAl]

I have put a kit together which includes an exchanger, necessary radiator hoses, heat resistant elbows, clamps, flow rate adjustable shower head, submersible pump, quick couple fittings and all other necessary hoses. I have loaded a picture which shows what the kit consists of. As each vehicle's engine layout is different, it is difficult to make a universal bracket to mount the exchanger. Therefore in addition to the "kit" you will need to make up a suitable mounting bracket to suit your vehicle.

The cost of this kit is R2950.00

I have also loaded some pics of how I mounted the exchanger in my BT50 showing how I plumbed it into the hose leading to the heater core. I should get a chance tomorrow to upload a short video of the system working. The port for connecting the quick couple fittings is located on the chassis behind the front wheel. This is reasonably accessible with no need to open the engine bay.

[heine]

Very reasonable price , if I consider what mine cost me to make up ,and nicely done too

[BrendanR]

Hi Brendan, have attached some pictures in the word document.

thanks, BigAl!