Tuco69 replied:

Mike - We have a Glind heat exchanger in our diesel Toyota Surf, and are very pleased with its performance. See also http://www.glind.com.au

There are a few variables that will affect the end result temperature of any heat exchange system that is plumbed into the heater line of your vehicle.

The ambient temperature of the water that is being drawn in will have a direct relationship to the temperature that comes from the shower head. Obviously water at our tropical 25-30 C is much easier to heat than water taken from a snow filled stream at 0-10 C. In the case where the ambient water temperature results in insufficient heat at the shower head, then the way to overcome the problem is by 'recirculation' - use your pump to pull from the stream and run the output from the heat exchanger into another container - buckets, etc. The resulting warmed water can then be run through the heat exchanger again to achieve the desired comfortable temperature. The more times it is circulated through the exchanger - the higher the temperature. You definitely dont want it to get as hot as the 82 C that the cooling system is at.

Another variable that will influence the tempeature is the flow rate of the water from the pump through the exchanger. A slow pump will have the temperature coming out hotter than a faster pump. This is because the smaller volume is easier to heat than the larger volume. By using a larger pump (our Glind uses a 12 LPM Flojet vs a friend has a smaller 4.3 LPM Flojet ) then the flow at the shower head can be reduced for a hotter supply.

A point worthy of mention, as a safety concern, is when changing users - if the shower has been turned off - when the new user first starts the pump - it will be BOILING HOT! This is because without flow through the exchanger, the small amount that is in the exchanger will rise in temperature very fast. All users should be made aware of this, and not to stand under the first burst from the shower after restarting. Because of this it is better in many instances (especially with children) to use the 'recirculation' method to heat the water first. Once the water in the container/s is at the desired temperature, then the motor can be switched off - and you are simply using the pump and shower only without adding extra temperature into the water.

Once you have owned one you will wonder why you took so long to get it!

Great product!

Member - Rohan K replied:

Mike, email Helton. They were extremely helpful when I posed my particular problem (no space to mount the thing) to them and provided a number of possible solutions. Smile, you're on ExplorOz
Rohan (Sydney - on the QLD side of the Harbour Bridge)

Gordon replied:

Mike
I bought a Helton recently. Tony was very helpful and he ships his product all over the world - a real success story. He's a member so I wouldn't be surprised if he chimes in on this one - he usually signs off as Tony & Helen so look for his answers to other questions on the forum. As it turned out his workshop is just 10 minutes down the road from me - small world! I think the exchanger is designed for 2.5 l/min and at this rate I found its works fine if the engine is at full operating temperature. One option if you want hotter water is to circulate through the exchanger in multiple passes until it gets hot enough for you eg. pump from bucket through exchanger and return to bucket - keep circulating until hot enough. Good luck.

Member - Tony and Helen replied:

Hi Mike
As explained above it will depend on the input temp, if it is cold then you may need to recycle thru a shower unit. If you expect to use very cold water then I recomend a hot water unit, we have now included a valve in these kits to allow the flow thru the heat exchanger to be reduced and this will allow you to shower directly from the unit and still have the hottest water available at the turn of the tap.

Ps Thought about becoming a member! We offer a 10% discount to explore os members, on a kit thats 3/5 of the membership fee.

Cheers
Tonyshe said you're
not going
down there with
me in here!