[P @ F]

In what way does it look unsafe other than no heat shield yet ?
With regard to temps I’m getting  30 at the brush with the average amount of hose off , this then rises as th day goes on , as the tank empties the return to tank water gives the heater a higher temp feed
These pics were first job at 10 then at 1.30

[a900]

Very interesting. Nice one. So many questions come to mind😂

Is the tube exchanger lagged with insulation?
Do you run the water from the pump in the coolest side from the burner toward the hottest side?
Does the restriction effect the burners running?
Do you loose much heat through the original heatsink on the burner?
I would imagine that the burner alone set up like this could heat your van below freezing

[dazmond]

It actually works by jiggery  😁

good for you rich.......its gotta be safer than a gas shower heater,well done mate! .....and it works!

[P @ F]

This is what is inside the chrome pipe!

[P @ F]

It is basically a chinese air heater with a breakfast bar leg on it , inside the one I am using is 2.5m of 10mm copper pipe , the above pic is 5m , but it was to wide to go in the tube , so with a better sourced bit of tube later on the 5m will go in giving me more heat again .
The flow is probably better than before I cut the original heat sink body off , it appears to run as it was intended , but it does get quite warm in the van if shut up , even with the fan on the burner going !
Might have to have a rethink for summertime , but then I dont suppose I will need to run it then will I . 

[P @ F]

Cheers Daz , I told you I would do it 
And all for about 200/250 and a bit of tinker time  , still it gave me summat to do while CIU was down !

[High-Tower]

Did you use a 2kw or 5kw heater?

[P @ F]

Did you use a 2kw or 5kw heater?

It was the 5kw , but if you are thinking of doing similar just remember that fab and welding is involved that has to be air tight or the van will fill with the exhaust gases which  you dont really want !

[High-Tower]

Thanks.
Have you also run the exhaust through the ‘heat exhanger’?

[Splash & dash]

Thanks.
Have you also run the exhaust through the ‘heat exhanger’?

I think it’s the exhaust that’s heating the coil ??

[P @ F]

It is just one big exhaust really , all i have done is done away with the big lump of finned alloy that made it an air heater and channeled all the heat through the tube with a copper coil in it , this then was mated to the original exhaust and exited through the floor .

[davids3511]

It is just one big exhaust really , all i have done is done away with the big lump of finned alloy that made it an air heater and channeled all the heat through the tube with a copper coil in it , this then was mated to the original exhaust and exited through the floor .

No issues with errors or codes with the heater? I think a webasto would have a fit if you took a saw to it.

[P @ F]

It is just one big exhaust really , all i have done is done away with the big lump of finned alloy that made it an air heater and channeled all the heat through the tube with a copper coil in it , this then was mated to the original exhaust and exited through the floor .

No issues with errors or codes with the heater? I think a webasto would have a fit if you took a saw to it.

I had my fair share of error codes , E10 mainly , but there was no fuel issue as I could see it pumping fine , it was down to the positioning of the heat sensor , it was just a case of remounting it in a place that gave the temp it wanted to see , if it was in the wrong place then the fuel pump would shut down and the unit would go into cool down mode , once i found the position all was well .

[P @ F]

What is a pity though is I cannot fit the original case as yet as the fan cools it so well that it prevents the unit from cutting power to the glow plug which in turn stops it from firing up also , I will get around it by means of some type of draught preventer , but for now it works fine so it can be looked at later .

[a900]

Do you really need the fins on the main unit tho? Might help you get more heat transferee to the water if it’s not lost as an air heater as it’s designed

I’m quite impressed. You’ve been thinking outside the box

Also thought could you have an internal baffle rod that forces the hot air over the coil rather than down the middle off the tube and coil?

[P @ F]

Do you really need the fins on the main unit tho? Might help you get more heat transferee to the water if it’s not lost as an air heater as it’s designed

I’m quite impressed. You’ve been thinking outside the box

Also thought could you have an internal baffle rod that forces the hot air over the coil rather than down the middle off the tube and coil?

To be honest I think that removing any more of the fins would be asking for trouble , the unit might get too hot then , I have already had errors due to it being too cold to jump to full heat mode , also the motor and PCB are sat right in front of the fan and I dont want a meltdown due to overheating .
The baffle is something to look at but to be honest there is way more heat to be had yet with a few tweeks to the main tube , one  is upping the size of the tube to accomodate that 5m coil i have  .
As i have it now with the 2.5m coil which is hard up against the sides of the chrome tube I am losing heat that way , I reckon if I can get the 5m into a wider tube that it does not touch the sides I will be home and dry , I predict that with this I can take 15 feed water to 40 on its first pass , this will then get hotter as the day goes on as every time I shut the univalve off that 40 water will dump straight back into the tank .
But what I am most pleased about with the whole thing is that 1. It only uses 400ml per hour and , 2. This is all powered by my single 85 amp MF Numax , I have been averaging 6 hours of constant running of the heater , pump , and starting the van , all without the need to charge the battery at night , mind you this is my starter battery so it gets the alternator charge and help from 120W MPPT solar setup .
But if you are wondering what the power draw is of the pump and heater then my pump draws 3 amps per hour and the heater takes max of 5 amps per hour , apart from initial fire up when it pulls 10 amps for 3 minutes until the glow plug shuts down .
 

[P @ F]

I wonder if you’ve got a Chinese heater and using the hot air output to heat the water

I’ve just got myself another uk exchangers plate heat exchanger for £16 on eBay. Bargin.

Still waiting for parts myself to set up the frostat and idle circuit

Just read back through the thread and saw that you had me sussed out early on 

[a900]

I wonder if you’ve got a Chinese heater and using the hot air output to heat the water

I’ve just got myself another uk exchangers plate heat exchanger for £16 on eBay. Bargin.

Still waiting for parts myself to set up the frostat and idle circuit

Just read back through the thread and saw that you had me sussed out early on 

Haha. Only because it was an idea I already had in some degree. I was thinking off leaving it all intact and blowing the output over a air to water heat exchanger. Couldn’t think how I would implement it without welding skills

That reminds me. I’ve set up my frostat and idle circuit. Both work well.

Altho my heater has stopped working because the burn chamber is all clogged up. Pretty sure it’s my own fault for using way to much waste oil to start it up cold. I think if it started fine it would soon burn off the carbon but a couple of failed starts and it would not be able to get hot enough to clear the carbon therefore creating more carbon and snowballing.

It was late when I took it apart and I took the mesh out from the burn chamber not thinking it should stay in there and destroyed it. Waiting for a new one from AliExpress.

Haha. So just thought I would make a YouTube vid of it since I can’t upload photos to cleanitup. The video quality is laughable but hey ho 😂😂

https://youtu.be/Fwo-epOGYCo

[P @ F]

Glad the frost stat bit worked for you matey , I dont think I really need to go that far , Im way down in the SW so we dont see the kind of temps that Ooop North sees , couple of quilts do the job , saying that though my heater has a 7 day program timer so i could just use that to come on once during the night !

With regard to spares for me , I looked into getting spare fuel pump and motor and PCB , but at £135 for the whole heater I will just order another one giving me 2 of everything 

[dazmond]

some of you are wasted as window cleaners.......well done for experimenting.....thats how new innovations are created/found...