Technomad
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Been exploring doing a hydronic heating system but was having trouble sourcing a heating element— these are made for the RV and Marine industries, but didn’t seem to be available at retail.
The trick to this system is that all the other components are readily available— as they are made for building liquid cooling PCs.
A system consists of:
- fuel fired instant hot water heater
- coolant
- A reservoir
- A pump
- Heat exchangers
The PC industry has nice little radiators for their systems built just the size to use PC fans (I’m in the room with two such radiators right now, and despite being sensitive to noise they don’t bother me- the fans are 120mm and run rather cool, the radiators are very efficient)
You can also use regular heat sinks as a form of radiator if you want a completely radiative system— just run the coolant thru aluminum pipe and attach the heat sinks. But sticking to off the shelf, use the PC radiators where you want your heater vents to be.
The reservoir is good for keeping the fluid air free, and for adding fluid to the system, many of these have pumps built in.
And now for the missing piece— to heat the water we need a fuel powered instant hot water heater, and I just stumbled upon that:
Camp Chef HWD5 Triton Water Heater https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001J4AU2E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_eD9DAbR3SFDFF
Would need some support items like adapters and hosing and maybe a motor controller for your pump, etc, but nothing too bad.
The system could be built off the shelf using amazon parts right now for well under $500. Probably under $250 if you wait for sales or buy used stuff.
I’ve covered a lot of ground here, and like I said, some experimentation is necessary— I think you will want to make sure you drop the temperature of the water returning to the system enough so things don’t get too hot.
Fortunately the heater is adjustable and rather than thermostatically controller this would be a case of finding a good equilibrium between heat output and fuel usage and turning it in and off yourself, but a programmable thermostat with a relay could be rigged up to do it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The trick to this system is that all the other components are readily available— as they are made for building liquid cooling PCs.
A system consists of:
- fuel fired instant hot water heater
- coolant
- A reservoir
- A pump
- Heat exchangers
The PC industry has nice little radiators for their systems built just the size to use PC fans (I’m in the room with two such radiators right now, and despite being sensitive to noise they don’t bother me- the fans are 120mm and run rather cool, the radiators are very efficient)
You can also use regular heat sinks as a form of radiator if you want a completely radiative system— just run the coolant thru aluminum pipe and attach the heat sinks. But sticking to off the shelf, use the PC radiators where you want your heater vents to be.
The reservoir is good for keeping the fluid air free, and for adding fluid to the system, many of these have pumps built in.
And now for the missing piece— to heat the water we need a fuel powered instant hot water heater, and I just stumbled upon that:
Camp Chef HWD5 Triton Water Heater https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001J4AU2E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_eD9DAbR3SFDFF
Would need some support items like adapters and hosing and maybe a motor controller for your pump, etc, but nothing too bad.
The system could be built off the shelf using amazon parts right now for well under $500. Probably under $250 if you wait for sales or buy used stuff.
I’ve covered a lot of ground here, and like I said, some experimentation is necessary— I think you will want to make sure you drop the temperature of the water returning to the system enough so things don’t get too hot.
Fortunately the heater is adjustable and rather than thermostatically controller this would be a case of finding a good equilibrium between heat output and fuel usage and turning it in and off yourself, but a programmable thermostat with a relay could be rigged up to do it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk