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heat exchangers

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David Lesher

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Feb 10, 2010, 6:04:30 PM2/10/10
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I'm sure I've seen heat exchangers on small engine
exhausts; the idea being to recover the generator's
waste heat while running things in the house.

It may have been on a RV generator, but I don't recall.
Does this ring a bell with anyone here?

--
A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

John R. Carroll

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Feb 10, 2010, 6:05:45 PM2/10/10
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David Lesher wrote:
> I'm sure I've seen heat exchangers on small engine
> exhausts; the idea being to recover the generator's
> waste heat while running things in the house.
>
> It may have been on a RV generator, but I don't recall.
> Does this ring a bell with anyone here?

Chris Craft direct replacement heat exchanger allows use of hot water cabin
heater in cooler climates.
http://www.go2marine.com/category.do?no=14018


--
John R. Carroll


John R. Carroll

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Feb 10, 2010, 6:09:19 PM2/10/10
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David Lesher wrote:
> I'm sure I've seen heat exchangers on small engine
> exhausts; the idea being to recover the generator's
> waste heat while running things in the house.
>
> It may have been on a RV generator, but I don't recall.
> Does this ring a bell with anyone here?

http://tinyurl.com/yd6vntz

--
John R. Carroll


David Lesher

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Feb 11, 2010, 2:55:20 PM2/11/10
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Alas, neither cite fits the bill. One is a marine
water-to-water unit, it appears; the other URL is a
paper on engine heat. Neither is useful on a 2 cyl.
aircooled generator.

David Billington

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Feb 11, 2010, 3:11:24 PM2/11/10
to
David Lesher wrote:
> Alas, neither cite fits the bill. One is a marine
> water-to-water unit, it appears; the other URL is a
> paper on engine heat. Neither is useful on a 2 cyl.
> aircooled generator.
>
>
Original VW beetle heat exchangers maybe. I don't know the details from
having one, although I know some people that have, but they used exhaust
heat exchangers to heat the cabin air. IIRC the only problem was when
the heat exchangers became perforated and started passing exhaust into
the cabin air.

Pete C.

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Feb 11, 2010, 3:22:53 PM2/11/10
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Yes, any plan to capture generator waste heat should include redundant
CO detectors. If going this route, the entire generator should be
enclosed to capture the heat radiated from the block as well, with
combustion air ducted in to the carb from outside, the exhaust routed
through a few turns of oversized pipe and then outside, and fan forced
cooling air over the whole mess.

David Lesher

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Feb 11, 2010, 6:44:43 PM2/11/10
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The VW ones were air to air; the inner exhaust pipe was cast iron,
like a manifold. The outer part was sheet metal and soon leaked, but
that was not a hazard...it just reduced the output.

I'm hoping to heat water with the exhaust. I saw one once; I assume it
had a tubing coil wrapped around the pipe, but just got a glance at
it years back.

cavelamb

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Feb 11, 2010, 6:48:05 PM2/11/10
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David Lesher wrote:
> The VW ones were air to air; the inner exhaust pipe was cast iron,
> like a manifold. The outer part was sheet metal and soon leaked, but
> that was not a hazard...it just reduced the output.
>
> I'm hoping to heat water with the exhaust. I saw one once; I assume it
> had a tubing coil wrapped around the pipe, but just got a glance at
> it years back.
>
>

Check the marine engines.
We do this all the time to keep salt water out of the engine cooling jackets.


--

Richard Lamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb/

David Lesher

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Feb 11, 2010, 9:29:18 PM2/11/10
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cavelamb <cave...@earthlink.net> writes:


>Check the marine engines. We do this all the time to keep salt water
>out of the engine cooling jackets.

But those are for liquid-cooled engines; this is not one.

Artemus

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Feb 11, 2010, 9:30:42 PM2/11/10
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"David Lesher" <wb8...@panix.com> wrote in message
news:hl24pb$5in$1...@reader2.panix.com...

There are industrial ones that are pricey like these:
http://polarpowerinc.com/products/heat_exchanger/heat_exchanger.htm
http://www.ejbowman.co.uk/products/ExhaustHeatExchangers.htm

I suppose you could also adapt a standard household gas fired water
heater. One of the ones with the helical gas coil inside would probably
be more efficient than the straight tube up the center type
Art.


Gerald Miller

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Feb 11, 2010, 9:49:55 PM2/11/10
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To the best of my knowledge, the VW heating system directed engine
cooling air into the cabin, and very little of it at that. In 1963
they started installing a gasoline fired heater which I found totally
unreliable although the latter models were somewhat improved.
On the other hand, an "after market" accessory for the model "A" Ford
was a cast iron shroud around the manifold ducted to a butterfly valve
through the firewall into the area of the front seat passenger's
knees.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

Ed Huntress

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Feb 11, 2010, 9:58:21 PM2/11/10
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"Gerald Miller" <grmi...@rogers.com> wrote in message
news:7vf9n5552f4mgcv0f...@4ax.com...

> On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:11:24 +0000, David Billington
> <d...@djbillington.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>David Lesher wrote:
>>> Alas, neither cite fits the bill. One is a marine
>>> water-to-water unit, it appears; the other URL is a
>>> paper on engine heat. Neither is useful on a 2 cyl.
>>> aircooled generator.
>>>
>>>
>>Original VW beetle heat exchangers maybe. I don't know the details from
>>having one, although I know some people that have, but they used exhaust
>>heat exchangers to heat the cabin air. IIRC the only problem was when
>>the heat exchangers became perforated and started passing exhaust into
>>the cabin air.

> To the best of my knowledge, the VW heating system directed engine
> cooling air into the cabin, and very little of it at that.

They were exhaust heat exchangers, Gerry, as Dave Billington mentioned.
Living in Michigan when I had my '64 VW, I became intimately familiar with
them. <g>

They had insufficient output, especially for the windshield defroster. By
the time the air got up there is was barely warm and the flow rate was
feeble. The original equipment just bled a bit of cooling air from the
high-pressure area under the sheet metal cooling shroud.

The cure was one or two blower-boosters that we usually bought from J.C.
Whitney. You could get one for each side. They worked like a charm.

--
Ed Huntress

Ned Simmons

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Feb 12, 2010, 12:03:39 AM2/12/10
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On Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:29:18 +0000 (UTC), David Lesher
<wb8...@panix.com> wrote:

>cavelamb <cave...@earthlink.net> writes:
>
>
>>Check the marine engines. We do this all the time to keep salt water
>>out of the engine cooling jackets.
>
>But those are for liquid-cooled engines; this is not one.

But they do cool the exhaust as well. There are water jacketed
exhausts with two coaxial pipes. The exhaust runs thru the inner pipe
and water circulates in the space between the two pipes.

Then there are water injected exhausts that have a sort of upside-down
u-trap after the engine's exhaust manifold. Water introduced into the
exhaust at the downstream side of the trap cools the gases and the
plumbing enough that rubber hose can be used beyond that point.

The water jacketed system would be the most practical for reclaiming
exhaust heat.

--
Ned Simmons

Ecnerwal

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Feb 12, 2010, 12:28:08 AM2/12/10
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One approach is to take a (non-leaking) gas-fired hot water heater and
pipe the exhaust to go up the stack of it (in place of the burner gas
flow). You could do the same with an old oil-fired boiler, or with a gas
instant hot water heater exchanger.

You can probably find something in the boat industry, but it might be
just as fast/cheap to get one tigged up. Best if it breaks the exhaust
stream up into multiple streams, and the closer it is to the headers,
the better. Before/instead of the muffler, not after it, preferably.

One of those stainless steel flat plate heat exchangers would probably
work fine (if a large enough one was selected) until it coked up - they
are not great for cleaning.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

oldjag

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Feb 12, 2010, 1:15:34 AM2/12/10
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On Feb 10, 6:04 pm, David Lesher <wb8...@panix.com> wrote:
> I'm sure I've seen heat exchangers on small engine
> exhausts; the idea being to recover the generator's
> waste heat while running things in the house.
>
> It may have been on a RV generator, but I don't recall.
> Does this ring a bell with anyone here?
>
> --
> A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8...@nrk.com

> & no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
> Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
> is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

I have not seen them for small, ie less than ~50 Hp, but exhaust to
water exchangers are common for exhaust heat recovery on larger
engines. One thing you might want to watch if making one, is that the
water vapor in the exhaust will condense, and it will be corrosive due
to sulfur content in the fuel. Hence the unit should be made of
stainless or something else that won't corrode. A simple shell and
tube unit would be easy to fabricate from some tubing. Be sure and
have a T & P valve or relief valve in case water circulation is lost.

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