Showers and hand throttles..the answer

Yeah I offered that suggestion originally Collyn and got flamed for it..............lol.

Ah........OK, yeah that makes sense mate.

The ones my brother and i made have about 5metres of thin copper tube coiled up inside the heat exchanger so the cold water has a fair way to travel.

We ran our pumps in such a way as to get 20litres over a 6 minute period.

However we could have shortened the time or increased the ammount of water or both if we wanted...........its just that that was how we did the testing.

Cheers.

Hi Tim, Top Cat is correct, about 3 to 4 litres per minute is about all you will get for a 45deg shower, slow the flow to the shower with a ball valve and time 4 litres a minute, see what happens, What type of heat exchhange have you got?? Michael

Its a helton, I went with them as they were able and willing to customise it slightly quite cheaply (building it with certain inlet and outlet points at a particular end with elbows to fit in the tiny amount of room I had).
Took a look at their website and they have some graphs for temp Vs flow rate and 10L/m is way higher then it can handle without recirculating. I can only pressume others would be the same.
Tim

Hi Tim, I have a unit on my Gu 4,2 tdi, makes 48 deg at idle @ 3.3 litres a minute. Gu's are known for their cool running engine so these results are extremely good. At 3000 rpm it will take the skin off your back or will handle another liter or so per minute at the same temperature. If you have a petrol vehicle the results will be much better again and will support more flow through the showerhead. If you are serious about getting it to work at idle give me a buzz on 0438 26 01 57. best regards Michael.

The shower on my Petrol GU actually runs to hot at idle , I need to find a way to cool it slightly.

Mine now runs with both water and coolant running in the same direction.

Hi Flappan, is seems that some of the petrol engines do ok and some not, i suppose its a combination of engine water pump flow, temp the engine runs at and the efficiency of the exchanger. The coil type exchangers are of old technology, not a lot of the water that goes through them, actually contacts the coils. What flow through the showerhead are you running to get a "too'' hot shower? michael

I'm not 100% certain to be honest.

I have a flowjet pump (the smaller brother of the shurflow pump) , what are they . . . 6 or 7 litres per minute ?

When I had one of those 12v DSE ones , water temp was fine (less water flow). One of the issues I have , is that I have a Ti Patrol with climate control, you dont have as an exact a temp , as say a slide control. I find , for example , that 28 on the CC , is too cold, 29 is too warm . . . just , 30 and 31 wont get near it.

I'm going to change to a system thats "T" ed off the main hoses with a seperate slide heater control. That way , I wont need to muck around with the CC controls . . . be better able to be adjusted , and can be adjusted from the engine bay , not from inside the vehicle.

As well as closing the tap on the handpiece will slow down the rate allowing the water to be hotter. Generally If we base camp in the colder months we fill up some containers in the morning and they will heat up a bit through the day making a shower that little bit better especially for the minister of war and finance. :))

cheers

they are a bugger . . . I'll give you the tip . . . One is near the bellhousing.

Its doable though.

What do you mean by Ball Valve

I've seen a valve (or tap) used on watering systems. Only plastic though.

I though of using an actual heater valve. Can buy new ones for about $50. Connect a cable , and you can adjust the temp while in the shower. (i haven't proved this yet . . . just told about it).

You can buy one from bunnings or Pirtek, it has a rotating ball inside that shuts of the flow,smooth and accurate adjustment, about $10, you would need a 1/2" BSP ball valve and 2 only brass hose tails, being 1/2" BSP thread and 5/8" tail on the other end, available from Pirtek or Enzed, the hydraulic hose guys. You could set the ball valve up for your particular water temperature and remove the arm. The remote adjust idea sounds good but i dont know how practical it would be. Most peoples problem is they just cant get the water hot enough with a reasonable flow at idle. Nothing worse than the engine ringing in your ears when you are usually out away from it all to get some peace and quiet.. Michael

Thanks. I'll look into that.