shower questions
Submitted: Friday, Aug 01, 2003 at 08:33
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mike
been looking at heat excchanger showers
the helton model looks great for the money
will fit
well in my 4wd with its design
my only concern is i live in the uk
as im sure your aware its cooooold even in our so called summer
is anyone running the helton red hot water model as a shower
im not sure if the blue model will get the water hot enough for uk
my pump runs at about 4 l per min
my car is a defender 2.5 l 300 turbo diesel
runs at about 82 c when fully hot
any help thoughts / advice would be much appreciated before i order one
mike the pom
Reply By: Tuco69 - Friday, Aug 01, 2003 at 10:37
Friday, Aug 01, 2003 at 10:37
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!
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