Water heating for washing and showering.........

Rodeo

Has anyone tried fitting and/or making a heat exchanger that plumbs into,say, the van heater pipework?
Or what about a diy solar water heater permanently fitted laying on the roof?
Has anyone seen the water heater made from a length of wound copper pipe?
 
Last edited:

FULL TIMER

havn't tried it but you can buy calorfiers as used in boats and I believe the eberspacher or webasto water heaters, I believe alde also do a set up. easy enough to plumb in.
 

Rodeo

They are nice,but all those fancy names mean big money! I was thinking along diy lines.
 
maingate

maingate

Forum Member
Burstner make one for their vans but it is not cheap. I have a system that blows warm air into the hab area while driving, again a Burstner accessory.

It is basically a calorifier and could be rigged up by any capable amateur. Hot water from the engine cooling system pumped through a vessel containing cold water would give you hot water on arrival. Excess heat could be funnelled through a radiator to act as a heat sink (possibly using a small circulating pump). There are a few ways of doing it.
 

Rodeo

Yep,thats basically what I was thinking. Another idea Ive seen is a straight piece of black plastic tube ,say 4" diam and 10ft long bolted up on the roof (like electricians have for their conduit etc) tap underneath,plumbed to the sink. Down side is having to fill it up there,but could be sorted.I reckon that would warm up on a sunny day in UK ,and a lot quicker in full heat of abroad.
 

Firefox

A large kettle makes a pretty good boiler... even a small one, you'd be surprised how a little hot water can go along way. And cheap to install too.
 

FULL TIMER

Rodeo said:
They are nice,but all those fancy names mean big money! I was thinking along diy lines.
Click to expand...
calorifier can't be that hard at the end of the day its only a coil of copper tube inside a tank that the engine coolant travels through and heats the surrounding water, thing is for me I don't fancy running a 3.9 litre diesel engine everytime I want hot water,
 
n brown

n brown

Forum Member
hate to be boring,done them all- you don't want 4'' pipe ,a nice coil of 22mm irrigation pipe with a drop in pump supplying water from a container will give you hot water as long as the sun shines. 10mm copper pipe wrapped round your woodburner flue,fed the same way,also good. extend your vehicle cooling system through a heat exchanger- great if you run the engine a lot
 

wineciccio

There was a chap that I used to buy electrical bits and pieces when I restored old cars, based in Derbyshire somewhere unfortunately moving to Liverpool I lost his contact, he had some fantastic stuff in the catalogue for campers and boats alike, and yes I have seen the water heater that actually wraps around the exhaust pipe and heats the water as you drive or move slowly along on a canal on a barge, he also had an extra water heater for the habitation for big campers and motorhomes that looked easy to fit, I wish I could get hold of him again:dog:
 
Tezza33

Tezza33

Forum Member
Before we had dogs we used to spend the Summer at Leucate Plage in the South of France, we stayed for 8 weeks and never heated water except 2ltr plastic bottles which had black tape on half of it and laid across the windscreen, at the end of the day it burnt you if you just tried washing up with it without adding cold water, I am not saying use this but it is worth planning something similar but larger and with a pumped system on the roof, try it with a few bottles in the UK and it will surprise you
 
n brown

n brown

Forum Member
irrigation pipe is a good price,and works well when the sun's out. In Portugal I had to paint a lot of it white as it was coming out the tap dangerously hot. I had a 50 metre roll of it cost about 30 euros
 
oldish hippy

oldish hippy

Forum Member
lee cant remember his moniker had a tank on the top of his delica and used it like a jungle shower{thanks to dave for this phrase} it heated up the water during the day and he used to shower with saw it at the fixit meet in ilfracombe this year
 

Rodeo

Copper round the exhaust pipe sounds good,didnt think of that one! Some of that soft wrappable stuff. I suppose the water could be drawn from one plastic can to another whilst on the move,therefore no need to run engine when required?
Theres a vid of a copper pipe wrapped round the flue of a wood burner that supposedly gives good hot water.Same principle.
The bottles of water on the dash ,heard about that one.Cant get much simpler can it?
I know my garden hose left trailing round the garden gets hot in the sun and heats the water left in it.Seen someone with some alkathene on roof of a farmyard building same thing. Irrigation pipe cos its convoluted therefore more area?
 

ronste

Can recommend the portable camp shower as long as the sun shines,holds 20 litres and just lie it on the roof through the day.
 
n brown

n brown

Forum Member
the irrigation pipe used was black and smooth,but mainly cheap and tough,semi rigid, the copper pipe I got a roll of 10mm,annealed it,and wrapped it round the flue,in both cases I put a drop in 12v pump in the water container to push the water through,although the flue one could have a header tank I suppose
 

Rodeo

Lots to think about there for me! Will look into it in more detail once Ive finished the basics.
Genuine thanks to everyone!
 

Older Gurna

One for Summer only........Dead simple ('cos I'm Thick....& Lazy!!!)
20lt. Black Plastic Containers (cleaned out WELL 'cos they used to contain liquid chlorine!)
Water Temp. when filled; 70 deg.F..........Approx. 6hrs. later, sitting in the sun.....92 deg. F!
I've got loads of these if anyone wants?.....Noticed You're also in Essex....
 

Rodeo

so you just sit them outside then? Ive got some black containers,was wondering if the volume of water being higher than a smaller dashboard plastic bottle would work just as well. Thanks
Yes, Im in mid Essex.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Top