Date:         Wed, 7 Feb 2007 09:47:59 -0800
Reply-To:     neil <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         neil <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Air cooled heater idea/questions
Comments: To: Greg Potts <greg@pottsfamily.ca>
In-Reply-To:  <B2EC8A46-38FE-4ECA-8C9B-6BF225905949@pottsfamily.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Hey Greg.

Yah this was intended more as a thought/learning process than anything
else. It was a nagging idea i needed to purge from my brain!

Re: conductivity. One obvious stumbling block I didn't fully realize
(though I sort of did in back of my mind) was that it wasn't a
straight tube in heater box. The tube has fins.

If I had tried it, I'd have put an expansion tank in circuit, so
pressure wouldn't have been an issue.

Water changing directions?

Doesnt' the water travel one way?


Neil.

On 2/7/07, Greg Potts <greg@pottsfamily.ca> wrote:
> Hi Neil,
>
> Pressure is going to be an issue. So it thermal conductivity.
>
> 1. If the copper pipes aren't kept in contact with the exhaust header, there
> won't be much heat transfer.  So you'd have to wind the copper very tightly
> to the exhaust in order to maintain contact..
> 2. Every time you make the fluid change direction, it takes more energy to
> push it through the tubing.
> 3. You are going to need a powerful water pump.
>
> This topic has come up on the type2 list; apparently it was done
> successfully on a baywindow bus used at a scandinavian airport decades ago.
> It seems to me that a BA6/Southwind/Propex furnace would be a better
> solution.
>
>
> Happy Trails,
>
> Greg Potts
> 1973/74/77/79 Westfakia "Bob The Tomato
> www.pottsfamily.ca
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 4-Feb-07, at 9:22 PM, neil wrote:
>
> Hi all.
>
> BION (believe it or not) I have an actual Vanagon question.
>
> On a 2L AC engine. An idea that's been on my mind.
>
> How crazy is this:
>
> Open up heater boxes,
>
> wind 3/8" or 1/2" soft copper pipe around each exhaust pipe,
>
> assemble/install boxes, (plug hot air outlets)
>
> connect copper coils to create a circuit
>
> install pump, heater core, etc.,
>
> run coolant through to provide interior heat?
>
> Other parts would include an expansion tank, fan etc. Likely the
> biggest cost would be the pump.
>
> Hard to answer, but would there be enough heated coolant present in
> system to provide any appreciable amount of heat?
>
> Purely hypothetical, though i do have 2 spare heater boxes.......
>
> Likely someone has tried this before, but I am curious.
>
>
>
> Pax,
>
>
>
>
>


--
Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia.

http://web.mac.com/tubaneil