Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?
(Preferably something simple you dont have to weld)

[bruceT Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bruceT]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

Hi mate

If you are handy, you can make one of these in a weekend...: Don't be scared of soldering. If you can wax a board, you can solder

How to make your own heat exchanger

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

yeah thats the only one i know

i dont have the tools to weld/solder however

(and i have no garage to mess around in)

[spock505 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close spock505]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

I made this one !



Does it show

It goes around the veg filter and gets surprisingly hot, around 80c when a full pelt -

I used a pipe bender to make this but if you get the right grade of soft copper (annealed I think but just chk that) you can bend it around a fixed object without it kinking -

10mm ID with .8 wall is good, chk out BJ's site - he used a flask and no tools to produce a very professional job.

David

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

im doing pretty good running a blend of wvo/diesel but i just want to run more

i already have the injector heaters and was thinking about the glowplug one, i could even take another injector heater kit and wrap them around some pipe to make my own injector line heater (but i didnt want to draw too much)


i do drive from one side of the island to the other on the weekends so I was thinking about making a small one similiar to the coils spock posted

getting a 1 foot piece of straight pipe for the fuel line then coiling more pipe around it for the coolant lines.


plus i take time and money into consideration


maybe i could run hotter, longer-burning glowplugs too/instead?

[tbird650 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tbird650]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

Cheap and easy would have to be the hose-in-hose. I used about 5metres.........you may get away with less because higher ambient temps?
Fuel pipe to be steel or stainless 3/8in 10mm minimum. Water hose, use 5/8 - 3/4in(best) heater hose. All else could be made with brass fittings. I used combination braze and fittings. One end of H/E

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

was thinking that too

got a write-up?

[tbird650 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tbird650]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

Notes:

1/ Plumb the water hoses parallel to the heater, not in series!

2/ Make the Tee junctions all out of brass fittings if you don't have access to a welder. start with a tee, then add fittings for each hose and fuel line. The fuel line fittings need to be "through-drilled".

3/Make the point where the hot water enters the H/E, the point where the fuel is drawn off. Fuel may end up hotter this way (more efficient).

Anything else, just ask.

[Matt0 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt0]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

Thanks for this Tbird and other posters.

I think I read that junction off the coolant hose has to be Y shaped rather than T shaped. Can you confirm?

[tbird650 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tbird650]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

I use tees for both H/E and into the heater hoses themselves. There's plenty of flow and lots of heat.

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

Notes:

1/ Plumb the water hoses parallel to the heater, not in series!

2/ Make the Tee junctions all out of brass fittings if you don't have access to a welder. start with a tee, then add fittings for each hose and fuel line. The fuel line fittings need to be "through-drilled".

3/Make the point where the hot water enters the H/E, the point where the fuel is drawn off. Fuel may end up hotter this way (more efficient).

Anything else, just ask.

thanks for the info

can you draw a picture?
(kidding... kinda)

[bruceT Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bruceT]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

yeah thats the only one i know

i dont have the tools to weld/solder however

(and i have no garage to mess around in)

OK, wasn't aware of that. This could be your solution then. Basically it's called a hose in hose heat exchanger.

You can get these fittings from beer homebrew shops and just add your own hose with clamps. This pair of fittings is used to construct a counterflow heater, with a 3/8th compression fitting for the copper tubing, and 1/2" tails for the outer hosing. All you need is the copper tubing and the outer hose, which is standard car heater hose.

[tbird650 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tbird650]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

You can get these fittings from beer homebrew shops and just add your own hose with clamps. This pair of fittings is used to construct a counterflow heater, with a 3/8th compression fitting for the copper tubing, and 1/2" tails for the outer hosing. All you need is the copper tubing and the outer hose, which is standard car heater hose.

Bruce, just a query: is 3/8" tube inside 1/2" hose going to give enough flow of water?........ or is it even a big enough body of water? That's 1/16" clearance (concentric) for water to pass.
Through the actual 1/2" copper tails, the clearance would be even less!!

Approx calculation: if a tail is 12.5mm OD.....and the wall thickness is 1mm....... that leaves a 10.5mm ID hole into which the 10mm OD fuel tube has to fit AND pass water.

Am I missing something?

[bruceT Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bruceT]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

No, it's plenty, and typical of HIH applications.

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Does anyone have DIY plans for a heat exchanger?

i was also thinking about taking an injector heater kit and wrapping up a straight pipe for a fuel line heater