Heating using the hot water tank.

[lrrowe]

Nice job. What water heater will you be using?
And can you share where you got the core? I cannot seem to find one that large unless it is an automoble one.

[Shadow Catcher]

6gal Atwood DSI and the heater core came from Autozone I had them trot out a number of them and just chose by size.

[lrrowe]

Were they aluminum?

[Shadow Catcher]

Yes all were.

[lrrowe]

Thanks,
I have cabin fever with this 8" of snow we just got yesterday, I will welcome the ride tomorrow to Advance Auto (the closest auto parts store to me) and see what I can find there.

And I am south of the Mason Dixon line but not far enough south to escape this darn white stuff. But then again, I should count my blessing and appreciate not being in the Northeast now.

[aggie79]

Nice job.

I agree!

[ryuandwings]

Nice job guys. I love seeing things getting developed.

Once question.
Is your systems going to be built into your campers? Or could it be portable?

I have a place for an window AC unit in my tongue box and I can make it removable so I can swap AC with this hot water tank heater if it can be made into portable unit.

[lrrowe]

Mine will be permanent, sitting over the top of the water heater. I guess you could make them portable, with snap in connectors from your heat source.

Shadow Catcher,
I struck out today at Auto Zone looking for a cooler there. They had them, but not the right size. I will still shop around including Auto Zone.

[ryuandwings]

Mine will be permanent, sitting over the top of the water heater. I guess you could make them portable, with snap in connectors from your heat source.

I was kinda thinking it all be portable including water heater, fan, pump and whatever else. All I would do is to set it up on a location and connect electrical and propane to use.
Is this doable?

[MtnDon]

Anything is doable. Sometimes it just doesn't seem worth the effort. Or other times, not worth the expense. Or both.

Ours will be a more or less permanent installation. I say more or less permanent because it will be relatively easy to remove. But I am not using any quick connects for the plumbing.

[Shadow Catcher]

The plumbing quick disconnects will be permanent, the everything else will be portable.
The pump arrived today I now need to shop for fittings and may be heading for Triad Technologies.
Triad/Parker has a 1/2 inch aluminum double shutoff quick disconnect, their 4200 series or for total non spill the FEM series http://www.parker.com/parkerimages/Parker.com/Divisions/Quick%20Coupling/Cat%203800-OEM%2006-10.pdf about page 17.

[lrrowe]

Their stuff appears to be first class.

[LandCommander]

Where will it be plumbed into the hot water? Sorry if I missed it in a previous post.

[MtnDon]

Where will it be plumbed into the hot water? Sorry if I missed it in a previous post.

Our trailer has the hot supply to the heater tee'd off the water heater outlet about 12 inches downstream from the tank itself.The return lineto the water heater is tee'd into the cold line going into the water heater; again about 12 inches from the tank itself. Why 12 inches? It was the easiest place to tap into both lines and have a straight run to where the space heating radiator was to be located.

[Shadow Catcher]

Parker's stuff is first class but unfortunately they do not seem to have what I need at a decent price. I can not seem to find a good second choice so I will come up with plan B. Thinking in terms of two CPVC ball valves and a coupling in between, it would also be a lot less expensive.

The good news, proof of concept.
I picked up 10' of 1/2" Nylobraid Watts brand hose at Home Depot (which is food grade has the temperature and pressure rating) along with two brass 1/2" female with hose barb fittings for the pump. The hose did NOT want to stretch to fit over the core ends so I heated them up to 165F in water and they really don't need hose clamps, but used them anyway. Filled up one side of the sink with hot water 120F and stuck the intake hose in the water and propped up the out flow and wire the pump and fan to a 12 Gel cell and I think, @#%$ the pump is a dud, can't hear a thing and ain't nothing happening, and I feel the pump and it is vibrating slightly so I prime it and it works really really well. I apologize for the pictures, the back drop out the window is SNOW and the flash can not compensate. You can see the flow from the goesouta hose in the second picture. From what can tell there is about a 1.5 F temperature difference between the goesinta and the goesouta and air coming out of the heater is noticeably warmer, I will retake the pictures at night. which I did.