Fitting immersion heater

[Nabsim]

Therein lies another story, I have an Eberspacher D5W under passenger headlamp that is wired to heat the engine up more quickly (not preheating). I keep looking at that for heating my water as it is all connected to the engine coolant anyway but not got the knowledge or confidence to break into the OEM wiring

 

[SquirrellCook]

Therein lies another story, I have an Eberspacher D5W under passenger headlamp that is world to heat the engine up more quickly (not preheating). I keep looking at that for heating my water as it is all connected to the engine coolant anyway but not got the knowledge or confidence to break into the hem wiring

When I get to that stage on the Betty Build I'll try to make it as clear as possible as to what I'm doing. Just driving the calorifier with 5 Kw might be a bit much and you need expansion capacity too. They are easy to start, it's only a one wire momentary connection.

 

[Nabsim]

My system has both an accumulator and an expansion tank built in, previous owner spent a lot of cash to have it all fitted out

 

[SquirrellCook]

My system has both an accumulator and an expansion tank built in, previous owner spent a lot of cash to have it all fitted out

That's good, but I was talking about the heating circuit.

 

[Nabsim]

That's good, but I was talking about the heating circuit.

So am I or at least I think I am. Both tanks were fitted next to the calorifier at the same time along with the heat exchanger and the Eberspacher D4. Hot water is always smooth running but get sputtering on cold once tank gets to around 3/4 empty which makes me think its all on hot side.

 

[SquirrellCook]

You normally have an expansion tank on the hot side as there should be a none return valve to stop the hot water heating the cold. The other expansion tank is placed after the water pump. When it’s pressure is set correctly it will reduce the pump on time and smooth the flow of water.
Do you have a heat exchanger between the eberspacher and the calorifier?

 

[Nabsim]

Yes I have a Eberspacher heat exchanger close to the calorifier that the engine coolant runs through before (I think) going in the tank.

Don’t think it needed to be close to the tank just convenient position under the bed where coolant pipes are

 

[SquirrellCook]

Seems a strange way to do it with the heat exchanger, unless they were worried that the habitation side would leak and the engine would loose water.

 

[xsilvergs]

Our Motorhome has a Truma blown air/water (240V & or gas) heater, I'm considering having the option to run the water heating element at half or third power. Our inverter isn't large enough for full power and I really want to use spare solar energy.

If the solar can heat the water even by a few degrees it will save gas.

 

[wildebus]

Our Motorhome has a Truma blown air/water (240V & or gas) heater, I'm considering having the option to run the water heating element at half or third power. Our inverter isn't large enough for full power and I really want to use spare solar energy.

If the solar can heat the water even by a few degrees it will save gas.

it would be a useful option
With the 12V Heating Elements they are often a pair of elements wired in parallel. When I was trying out a DIY option I wired one of these with two switches so I could use one or both.
On the 240V I tried using one of the variable motor controllers on the heater to reduce the load (I can't recall what they are called) but the Inverter really didn't like it

 

[xsilvergs]

it would be a useful option
With the 12V Heating Elements they are often a pair of elements wired in parallel. When I was trying out a DIY option I wired one of these with two switches so I could use one or both.
On the 240V I tried using one of the variable motor controllers on the heater to reduce the load (I can't recall what they are called) but the Inverter really didn't like it

Motor controllers can create noise (electrical) as they don't switch at the zero crossing point and yes may upset an inverter. One option is to try removing alternate AC cycles which effectively halves the power. If I remember correctly the Victron 12/500 peaks at 900W but mean power would be half the elements normal power. Whether the inverter would be happy I don't know yet.

 

[SquirrellCook]

I managed once to buy a 750 watt element for a calorifier, I hope to do it again or even get a 500 watt one.

 

[trevskoda]

I tried last week to power my carver with a 1200w inverter and the alt belt on engine started to slip and squeel like mad,no use so wont be fitting it.