On board shower

[dogcar3]

Just some FYI, straight from Duda Diesel:

What Size & How Many Plates?

More heat exchanger length means much higher efficiency. The longer the better.
More plates on a heat exchanger adds some extra heat transfer, but is intended to reduce pressure drop. Pressure drop reduces flow rate which reduces heat transfer.
More width on a heat exchanger allows for much less pressure drop.
Please see below description for further detailed information

http://www.dudadiesel.com/heat_exchangers.php


I have the B3-23A on my setup, and it works great. I just placed it in the return line from my heater core, no valves. I was able to use the stock heater return line without cutting it, so if needed I can return to stock very quick on the trail.

I bought it off Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EBSUJ0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[cruiseroutfit]

The helton units work, but take up more space and I read somewhere they're not as efficient as a plate heat exchange. no idea if this is true or not, but I can say the square plate type I got was very easy to mount rather than a round cylinder type and took less space.

Fwiw tube-in-shell heat exchangers such as Helton, Pirhana, Decker, etc are very efficient means of heat transfer without creating too much head pressure on both the coolant and fresh water side. Additionally they are very resilient to high pressure, vibration and even dings/dents whereas many plate style heat exchangers have thin materials and small passageways. That isn't to say plate style units won't work and in fact many, many DIY users have build kits utilizing them with great results. As for space, I'd love to know some dimensions on your plate exchanger but based on the pics, I'd guess that the Helton's are in fact less total volume (~6.5" x 3"). I'm yet to find a vehicle we couldn't mount one on with some creativity. There is a very different price between the two, a Helton for example is 100% copper with nearly 15' of 1/2" copper tube wrap on the inside. All fully enclosed and pressure tested up to 100psi.

 

[Crom]

Congrats to Spencer on his project. Looks good! I will probably go a similar route later this year. Thanks for sharing details of your project.

Helton for example is 100% copper with nearly 15' of 1/2" copper tube wrap on the inside. All fully enclosed and pressure tested up to 100psi.

A half truth? According to your website, only the fresh water supply line is tested to 100psi, the coolant side is only tested to 25psi. Compare that to the Duda Diesel plate exchangers which are fully tested to 290psi!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...A half truth? According to your website, only the fresh water supply line is tested to 100psi, the coolant side is only tested to 25psi. Compare that to the Duda Diesel plate exchangers which are fully tested to 290psi!

Good catch, I'm about 6000 miles away from the shop right now and had to look up the specs on my phone when I posted. Regardless if your cooling system pressure is over 15 PSI, you have much bigger problems i.e. a radiator blown apart . The fresh water side needs to be much higher as pumps in the 50 PSI range are common.

 

[ssssnake529]

I've got a Helton. Used it for several years.

Never had even the slightest problem with it.

Highly recommended.

 

[spressomon]

^ same here...it just works. I'd easily make the same decision again if/when.

 

[Tigglebitties]

I was going to put on a quick disconnect to the rv hose I had before realizing how small the inner hose was..
Then realized how short the hose was in the first place and decided to make double use of my on board air hose.


After using, I just blow the water out of it and bam. Saved a little room by not stowing the rv hose.

 

[keepmoving]

Great write up. I was thinking of doing a closed loop system on my van. I plan on two holding tanks for water. One cold and one as an insulated hot tank. Turn on the pump while you are driving to camp and have hot water when you arrive. I found this kit that has almost everything but the mixing valve. It's good to see someone pulling this off.

http://www.synergymfg.com/Synergy-Suspension-Sit-Shower-Shave-Kit-p-30485.html#.VItty9m9LCQ

 

[Tigglebitties]

Great write up. I was thinking of doing a closed loop system on my van. I plan on two holding tanks for water. One cold and one as an insulated hot tank. Turn on the pump while you are driving to camp and have hot water when you arrive. I found this kit that has almost everything but the mixing valve. It's good to see someone pulling this off.

http://www.synergymfg.com/Synergy-Suspension-Sit-Shower-Shave-Kit-p-30485.html#.VItty9m9LCQ

Might get way too complicated and dangerous if your tank stays in the loop and the water gets up around 175 after running by the coolant heat.
I'd save the room, or double your capacity by using only one tank or daisy chaining both together, and splitting the feed off into one "cold" side of the mixing valve and one into the heater core and back into the hot side input of the mixing valve.
No giant tank of scalding water, and in reality, a water pump will kill a battery if the motor is off. A dual battery will help, but you'll pull into camp, run a shower or two then finish killing the battery as you run lights etc. With the motor on, you get consistent heat, consistent voltage and pressure. And somehow, when you manifold the hot and cold input sides off of the same pump output line, the temperature levels off and stays PERFECT after you get the mixing valve right.

 

[Tigglebitties]

Great write up. I was thinking of doing a closed loop system on my van. I plan on two holding tanks for water. One cold and one as an insulated hot tank. Turn on the pump while you are driving to camp and have hot water when you arrive. I found this kit that has almost everything but the mixing valve. It's good to see someone pulling this off.

http://www.synergymfg.com/Synergy-Suspension-Sit-Shower-Shave-Kit-p-30485.html#.VItty9m9LCQ

Also, a filter is a MUST!
learned the hard way after 10 days of hunting

Wed pack the cooler up every morning, hunt all day, come back at night in 30 degree weather, throw the intake hose into the ice water and have 101 degree shower.
Until the third night when I was butt nekkid and had 2 minutes of hot water come out and suddenly start dumping ice water out because little bits had clogged the hot input side... Almost gave me a heart attack.

 

[Aquafbody]

My radiator has provisions for an oil cooler but I don't use it so I just used that as my heat exchanger. Works great, I use a pump system with a Y adapter to modulate hot and cold and only using one pump. My only problem is I ether have to pump out of a stream or lake or out of a bucket I would like to have some kind of onboard water tank.

 

[Tigglebitties]

Ok learned my lesson today....<br />
<br />
If you're gonna do this project, get a pump that can ACTUALLY prime itself when dry. <br />
Or, get one of those big bladder bags with a hose outlet. My pump is riveted to the undercarriage so changing pumps will Be costly and a pain in the *** <br />
I was two minutes into a nice shower, turned the shower nozzle off, covered myself head to toe in soap and then the pump lost it's prime. Stood there nekkid, cold and covered in soap cussing myself for not getting the bladder bag that wouldn't let air into the line.<br/>

 

[Tigglebitties]

Fixed my pump priming issue with a 15$ bass pro jug. 7 gallons and it runs just under 10 minutes at a constant 104 degrees at the showerhead.
Only possible downside to a system this efficient is how well it pulls heat from my engine.. During this 10 minute test, it dropped my engine temp 30 degrees or so. Not sure if that could hurt it.

 

[mp_tx]

I really need to adapt this setup to my ambo. Nice job.

 

[Tigglebitties]

I really need to adapt this setup to my ambo. Nice job.

What's an ambo?
It really is a simple project in concept. Find something hot and put a heat exchanger in plus a failsafe bypass method.