Stovetop vented heater idea

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jimindenver

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This is a idea that I have been rolling around for a possible business venture for a while now. With my situation changing I will not be able to develop it, so I wanted to throw it out so that the concept might be used by someone here.

The stovetop heater should solve some issues with moisture and fumes. I had planned on using a mini keg as a prototype, cutting the bottom off, using the tap hole for a exhaust tube and the smaller hole in the bottom as a fresh air tube. In my trailer the mini keg would sit over a burner on my stove. I would remove the grill so that the keg sits flush with the stove top. a diffusing plate would sit over the burner forcing the heat up the sides of the keg at any setting. The two tubes would go up to the microwave vent. So I would have a heater that didn't exchange the air in the trailer to burn, didn't raise the humidity or smell and most of all won't kill me.

It could be set on a camp stove or any stove for that matter. Come to think of it, one could be made including the burner as a stand alone unit. It could be vented out most any window or vent with a insert to hold the tubes. More heat may be found by extending the exhaust tube to a vent farther away. Then it would be a cross between a gravity and a tube heater.

It's just a idea. I haven't workout optimal tube size and don't know of a way to make it thermostatically controlled. I've thought of running tubes through the keg as heat exchanges, adding fans, etc. I figure thin metal would transfer the heat better but thicker will last longer.

Hopefully someone here can take it farther.
 
I know of a means to make it thermostatically controlled! Have a system similar to the thermostatically controlled propane RV furnaces. Use an electric spark ignition to turn on the flame, and a servo motor to control the burner knob, controlled by the thermostat. When set temperature is reached, the servo motor turns the burner down to a minimum (pilot light) until the thermostat kicked on again, instead of putting the flame out after reaching temperature. Make it run from 2 D batteries (an electric spark ignition, servo motor and thermostat shouldn't take much energy) add in the safety systems to cover your ass (low-oxygen cutoff, CO alarm, knockover sensor to name a few), and port it with flexible tubing to make it a vented heater and you have a compact innovation to give MR BUDDY a run for their money!
 
If you made an air heat exchanger, you would have a greater market. Anyone using any kind of heater could use it.
If all the air in the vehicle is replaced say 10 times an hour, fumes should not be an issue. It would need a fan, but only a tiny one.
 
I ordered one of these today. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Portable-Min...558233?hash=item23320cd959:g:ObEAAOxygj5SgCWw

It's on the slow boat so I guess I can let y'all know in a couple of months if it's any good ;). I got the Camp Chef Everest stove which supposedly runs at 20,000BTU so if that with the heat exchanger is enough to heat the van then I won't bother buying a buddy heater and trying to run two things off of one tank.
 
that device from ebay is not vented. Be sure to provide a open window. and a CO detector.
 
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