I‘ve done the same with an EGR heat exchanger and a Webasto DW50 water heater for heating my shed, works great!!! Just ensure condensate after the egr cooler has a way to drain!
I bought one 6 years ago. No fuel line cracks and it has been very reliable. The pump stopped pumping a couple days ago, so I ordered a new one. I also saw an entire kit for $85 CDN, so I bought it also as a backup.
@@Dave5843-d9m chatgpt told me aluminium heat exchangers can crack because of acids, I'm putting between a ceramic catalytic converter to test. I'm going from the standard 24mm to 50-52mm (2") with a food grade piece of machined stainless steel. And I'm using sturdy 2" clamps meant for exhaust repair. It's a little bit more expensive, but I'm testing if I can make a simple & safe diy project when caching the exhaust heat. I could catch damp and do a pH test; is that sufficient? Or is there a chemical that is reactive with aluminium? I could soak the water in aluminium foil. I never he'd any chemistry class, so please don't mind my ignorance 😅 I'm willing to learn though (as long as it touches a subject that I'm actually interested in; my brain will soak it up like a dry sponge soaks water 👌 )
It is true that you get 110% of the heat out of the fuel if you cool the exhaust gas to room temp. But in doing so you are condensing the acidic fumes and collecting them in your vicinity. You are making acid water and probably dripping it just outside. The idea of getting 100% effect out of the fuel is to account for the dispersing of the acid. That is why copper stuff turns green faster in cities than in urban areas.
Your EGR recuperator is clearly working, because your outlet exhaust temperature is down around 50C without boiling the coolant. A better fan will cool it further. But you’ll not get much more heat. Your rad would wok better with inlet and outlet at the bottom. Hot water will rise to the top but you’ll get more fin area seeing hot water.
On a Russian site they calculated 1.25KW can be recuperated from the exhaust at full power on the 5kw model - they used a big old cast iron radiator tilting it down at the exit as it drips acrid water vapour condensate.
I guess i just can’t understand how it could only be 1.25kw. I saw the video as well. I would think you would be doubling the heat output. I’m working on doing the same concept. I’ve got a heater core, just need to get an egr and a couple hoses.
@@Fubarpapa Now that would make sense 5kw potential in oil used - 3.5 kw heat from the heater and with a radiator exhaust heat recovery giving 1.25 kw that would leave 0.25kw (250 watts) lost out the exhaust - the odd thing is that my 3 ton RV camper stays lovely and warm with just a 800watt electric oil rad - so these units are very oversized for their use and must spend much of their time on low
I have several of the ESPAR D1L heaters that use conventional thermostats and the controller is mounted away from the heater chassis and not under the hood. Makes it a bit safer so it’s not prone to overheating the circuit board. The thermostat also has a fan only switch so you can use a ventilation system. One issue is that most of these heaters use a one speed fan that not only provides the air movement in you application but the same motor also runs the combustion chamber air. There is a pump alternative that does not use the solenoid pump but instead a peristaltic pump that can be controlled by a variable speed control. One has to be careful so as not to starve or over fuel the burner or you could wind up sooting up the burn chamber.
I'm going to use some flexible dryer duct and put it around an extended exhaust (I already have both) and run a small DC fan at the bottom of the heater where the exhaust starts and split it off before it goes outside. I should be able to nearly double my heat output from 1 heater depending on the CFM of the fan.
VW Beetle, T2 T3 T4 + Porsche all used used air blown thru finned enclosed heat exchangers for cabin interior heat. Fiat 500 aircooled just engine cooling air directed over the exhaust manifold. Citroen aircooled also used exhaust heat to heat air for the cabin.
My plan is to heat a 55 gal drum of water as a heat sink in my greenhouse. I think it will work fine just as a thermosiphon no pump needed if I find the right cooler. I may add the Afterburner.
If your heater is being blown out when you turn your generator on is because you have no valve in the exhaust so this is allowing exhaust gases from the generator to flow through the heater into your work space .it is okay to run the heater because the gases are blown not forced and the generator has valves so gases can't be forced passed them into your work space .Put a valve in your exhaust to isolated the heater exhaust from the generator and get a CO2 sensor
I had hoped it would flow out the outlet and not up but oh well. The heater combustion air intake is routed outside as well so there’s no way for exhaust to get inside (same as a heater flame out). But yes if this was a dedicated work space/sleeping space a CO2 sensor would be important.
If you place a long exhaust tube inside an air duct. As sealed as possible. Then, rout the heater outlet into the duct and out through small vents into the area you want heated. It will increase the amount of heat produced. It will also give better distribution to the area.
@chevy6794 water is fine and all. They do make heat exchangers. But that is not an EGR. Exhaust gas recirculation system. Returns the exhaust to the intake of an internal combustion engine to improve emmisions by placing inert gasses into the combustion chamber displacing oxygen and lowering fuel consumption. It also clogs the intake runners with soot and carbon deposits. This system is a thermal heat exchanger. The water absorbs heat, and then it should flow to another exchanger where air is forced through it. What I am saying is that a pot of warm water will not be efficient to heat the room alone. It will help. Forced air is more efficient, and adding humidity to the forced air "feels" warmer. The idea I had was the cool the exhaust with forced air from a source without using more electricity than is used. No extra fan. My diesel heater uses a forced induction system to run the main chamber in then along exhaust pipe inside another to feed the intake so the air is warmed on entry to the units heat exchanger that blows into the room. So it sucks warm air from the exhaust into the heating chamber and then the room. Well, the sleeping area of the tractior trailer, rv. Mine is a real wabasco bunk heater. It is intended to heat an 8x8x10' area to 90°f in minutes during freezing events.
@@mrheart4242 thanks. I know what an EGR is. EGR cooler. An EGR cooler cools the exhaust gas with coolant before it is brought back to the intake. The reason why they use coolant is because it has way better heat transfer. 23.5 times. I never said anything about a pot of water. In this set up he is using a heat exchanger to pull the heat back out of the water that was heated from the EGR pulling the heat out of the exhaust. As he shows in the video the delta T on the cooler and the exhaust is very good. He also mentioned in the video he does not want humidity. So what I was saying is he is doing the same thing you mentioned except he’s using water. Water is better because it’s has exceptionally better thermal transfer and you don’t have the concern of an exhaust leak being pumped back into you living area. To get the same efficiency with air you would need a huge exchanger. One draw back however like you mentioned is complexity. In your truck it might be advantageous to use that system to heat your glycol and keep the trucks engine warm for start up.
@chevy6794 that is. The issue. The heat exchange is air to air. Moving it to water, then back to air, is a thermal net loss. Calling it EGR is a falsehood. Moving heat through water is fine in mass. Using a heated coolant. Circulating it. Then, returning it to air for heating purposes. On a small scale, it is inefficient. On a mass scale. It is functional. If it was efficient, then your lawnmower would have a radiator. Some of the larger ones do. The small engine (heater) may benefit from liquid cooling. But it is negligible to the power consumed by the fluid Moving system. The fluid must be circulated. It requires a pump, heat exchange into the coolant, a heat exchange from the coolant to air, and an air pump/handler to move the air past the. Exchanger to circulate the air. I am not saying it can not be done. To minimize power consumption and to maximize efficency. An air to air heat exchanger. Using the flowing air from the unit. Just extra material. No increase of power consumption. A smooth pipe radiates heat. A finned pipe has a greater surface area of witch radiation, which is greatly increased. A 2' section of pipe. With aluminum cooling fins attached. A thermal conductive layer between. Should remove a greater ammount of heat. Using the alredy present and running fan. You know what. I was waiting for the frost to melt. I'm out. Chat with yourself. The end I win. By the way. I am a retired structural engineer. I enjoy travel horsemanship and fixing broken junk. Masters in engineering drafting and design. The math is simple. Give it a go. Love ya.
@chevy6794 BTW. He went right to a pot of water with a coiled exhaust tube. Getting heat in is easy. Getting heat out is expensive. Thermal batteries. In theory. Yes. In practice, not so much. That is why the 4 that were built are scrapped or abandoned. Easy in. Expensive out.
Just a thought the electric pump might be overclocking meaning you're moving the water too quickly through the radiator and heat exchanger to scavenge all the heat if you slowed the pump down you could get more heat scavenging you could put a dial gauge on and adjust it until you hit the sweet spot
I was thinking about that a few nights ago, i finally have a good fan set up and controller so im going to play around a bit and see what temps im actually absorbing and dissipating all the heat.
Yes it would make it simpler but you would require an all aluminum rad and large enough runners. Another person had commented using more coolant as a “heat storage” so the fan could continue to run and heat even after the diesel heater has shut off prolonging the turn back on time.
You can change the fuel and air ratio the is a code you have to program into it and it will show you the air and fuel. There is a YT that discusses it. maybe on google too.
Only some will accept a code, these are 3 digit and there’s people that have tried every digit and it won’t accept it. The 3 blade fan is apparently the easiest way to see if it’s non programmable.
I love the idea of the egr cooler. I have been toying around with the idea of hooking one of to preheat my truck but could not think of a cost effective way to make one heat coolant. it just so happens I just removed the egr cooler from my alh too. what did the coolant pump come off of?
you can change that controller there are more settings i saw another vid on you tube same controller somewhere is push hold 2 switches on the controller you get a picture top right corner of mountains thats alpine mode for high altitude
i built a heat exchanger for the exhaust that heats more air , provided by a second fan - no need for water - exchangers core is a solid steel pipe with heat baffels - positive preassure prevents any fumes from mixing with the air blowing into the house - vids on my channel
I tried a zigzag 2 x 1m copper pipe at the exhaust and found that the end was still really hot. (+/- 50°C) (meaning to me that the copper couldn't get rid of the heat) I saw a Polish man who did better and used a small ex-radiator from a central heating. His gasses were super cool, coming out. That means the radiator dissipates the exhaust gas heat enough Just a comment that there is condensation that drips down inside and that drilling in a small 1/4" hole for a purge to run it off from time to time solves this So I'm asking my plumber friend for a small radiator (often seen in people's toilets) and I'm going to wrap carefully in bubble wrap, and use 10cm flexible air duct to draw that air up into the heater air inlet at the back. There it will be "added" to the flow which will be blown out warmer still. This would mean that 99% of the burner energy will be used to heat my cabin At least, that's the idea...:-)
That sounds like it would work nice and easy, I forgot to talk about the condensation in the video. Everything’s sloped downwards slightly when hooked to my vehicle so it all flows out the tail pipe.
I can already tell you that it won`t work with single panel radiator. Tested with two different setups with same result -black smoke and lost efficiency. Didn`t have time to confirm but most likely single panel radiator have too small throughput and block fumes
I wonder if you could put the outlet air from the heater through the heater core and get the same scavenging? You could probably use household hvac duct adapters since the heater core is square. Also I wonder if running the pump slower with lower voltage would let the coolant linger in the egr cooler longer? I bought what looks like the same Bosch pump of Amazon and it has quite a bit of flow.
My main thought with that was the body temp is 200c and the heater core was only 50, I’m not sure what the air temp was but it was uncomfortable to have my hand in front of it. I’m hoping to find a little trans cooler fan and give it a try
I wonder if it would be advantageous to have a large holding tank? That way you could circulate and heat the glycol while the heater is running. When it gets up to temp you can shut it down and the hydronic system can maintain that heat until it’s depleted. Then heater back on. It could save a lot of energy as those heaters need a lot to fire up. May also help with the temperature fluctuations of turning that thing off and on?
Yes I’ve found that now, the systems only 3-4L. I’m waiting for a cold day to show my updated version. Using 2 thermostatic relays to control pump and fan and using a tranny cooler fan for more air flow. Right now I have the pump kick on at coolant temp of 25C and the fan kick on at 50C/off at 30C. Even with the heater on 6 the fan pulls enough heat out that it drops back down and kicks the fan off. I can put my hand on the exhaust comfortably so there’s no heat loss just too small of a “reserve”.
Does anyone have a link to a controller exactly like this one? My Vevor one broke and the company only sells complete units. All of the matching ones off amazon throw an E-07 fault for blue wire.
@@JoshsJettas Thanks Ill check that out. Great idea with the egr, btw, definitely going to try this. We love our mk4, just rolled 220k and had it painted!
If you are in a northern climate the fuel is usually winter fuel with a lower cloud point. If not you could add k1 kerosene or fuel conditioner additive to lower the cloud point
Yes we have winter diesel here so no issues with it gelling, anti-gel additive is quite cheap as well. With the tank inside even without winter diesel I think it’d be fine.
@@GM-fv8bn Im not sure at what temp winter diesel gels at but ive never had issues down to -30. I know my cars the return fuel which has been warmed from the pump goes to the filter first, diesel can get waxy blocking filters before fully gelling.
I'll have to wait and see, the generator T's in at 60 degree downward angle down through the floor with no restriction. It seems to create a low enough pressure at the T to pull fresh air through the heater intake so I dont think i have to worry about exhaust going the other way.
Josh, Re - your dislikes. Filter works. Yes, cheap - but what do we expect for a low-cost heater from China? Base plates are adequate if installed correctly/safely. Seals are, I suspect, are not fitted precisely by many - they just plonk it in position taking no time to position/adjust the lip properly. Otherwise no real problem. Wiring works. Nothing spectacular, but can be altered, if required. The chinese insulation covering is a bear, mind! The cheap(er) (presumably) was introduced for just that - cheapness. Also, maybe to prevent unskilled tinkerers from making inappropriate modifications for purposes for which these heaters were not designed. There is an even more basic controller, with only 3 buttons, being fitted now. Tank - fitting just below the heater and using a dip-tube, for fuel out-take, instead of a gravity feed can reduce leakage risks. ---- You have a good installation for a non-inhabited space (the CO monitor is good) - exhaust pipe and connections, inside, are always potentially bad news. The smaller (2kW) variant would have been adequate for your installation? Reverting to low output at the desired temperature would be less likely to continue raising the temperature? Plumb in a separate exhaust (with exhaust gas heat recovery?) for the generator? I watched your vid hoping to see some definitive figures for the waste heat recovered - best guesses are around 600W at full output for the 4kW heater you have.
Your greatly misinformed....... As the video states, he is correct on the physical size of both heaters being identical...... Only difference is in controller programming.
Too complicated for what it does.....there is a simpler way.......why not transfer heat directly from the exhaust pipe to the air without the water system.
Heat the water as a by product of heating the trailer or just use the heater for heating water? Using the exchanger to heat water as a byproduct of works great, it’ll boil the little water that I have in this system quickly. If just wanting to heat water they sell diesel “coolant” heaters which would be much more efficient.
I‘ve done the same with an EGR heat exchanger and a Webasto DW50 water heater for heating my shed, works great!!! Just ensure condensate after the egr cooler has a way to drain!
Yes I have to make sure I keep the trailer somewhat level, my summer tires are larger so it slopes back and would have a spot for it to pool
I bought one 6 years ago. No fuel line cracks and it has been very reliable. The pump stopped pumping a couple days ago, so I ordered a new one. I also saw an entire kit for $85 CDN, so I bought it also as a backup.
Mine cracked on the second year, I’ve switched it all out. I also bought one in the summer similarly priced just for a spare.
@Joshs_Jettas Is it cracking because of the acids?
@@FORMERxZOMBIE I haven't removed the pump yet to inspect it
Low sulphur diesel causes only a weak acid in the exhaust. Mostly carbonic rather than H2SO4.
@@Dave5843-d9m chatgpt told me aluminium heat exchangers can crack because of acids, I'm putting between a ceramic catalytic converter to test.
I'm going from the standard 24mm to 50-52mm (2") with a food grade piece of machined stainless steel. And I'm using sturdy 2" clamps meant for exhaust repair.
It's a little bit more expensive, but I'm testing if I can make a simple & safe diy project when caching the exhaust heat.
I could catch damp and do a pH test; is that sufficient? Or is there a chemical that is reactive with aluminium?
I could soak the water in aluminium foil.
I never he'd any chemistry class, so please don't mind my ignorance 😅
I'm willing to learn though (as long as it touches a subject that I'm actually interested in; my brain will soak it up like a dry sponge soaks water 👌 )
It is true that you get 110% of the heat out of the fuel if you cool the exhaust gas to room temp. But in doing so you are condensing the acidic fumes and collecting them in your vicinity. You are making acid water and probably dripping it just outside.
The idea of getting 100% effect out of the fuel is to account for the dispersing of the acid.
That is why copper stuff turns green faster in cities than in urban areas.
Your EGR recuperator is clearly working, because your outlet exhaust temperature is down around 50C without boiling the coolant. A better fan will cool it further. But you’ll not get much more heat.
Your rad would wok better with inlet and outlet at the bottom. Hot water will rise to the top but you’ll get more fin area seeing hot water.
On a Russian site they calculated 1.25KW can be recuperated from the exhaust at full power on the 5kw model - they used a big old cast iron radiator tilting it down at the exit as it drips acrid water vapour condensate.
I believe it, doesnt take long on high to make the coolant lines too hot to touch. I need to work on a way to dissipate the heat better
I guess i just can’t understand how it could only be 1.25kw. I saw the video as well. I would think you would be doubling the heat output. I’m working on doing the same concept. I’ve got a heater core, just need to get an egr and a couple hoses.
@@robcolumbus5330 I'm afraid it gets worse - they established the 5kw is more like 3.5kw
@@trevortrevortsr2 5kW could be intake from oil.
@@Fubarpapa Now that would make sense 5kw potential in oil used - 3.5 kw heat from the heater and with a radiator exhaust heat recovery giving 1.25 kw that would leave 0.25kw (250 watts) lost out the exhaust - the odd thing is that my 3 ton RV camper stays lovely and warm with just a 800watt electric oil rad - so these units are very oversized for their use and must spend much of their time on low
I have several of the ESPAR D1L heaters that use conventional thermostats and the controller is mounted away from the heater chassis and not under the hood. Makes it a bit safer so it’s not prone to overheating the circuit board. The thermostat also has a fan only switch so you can use a ventilation system. One issue is that most of these heaters use a one speed fan that not only provides the air movement in you application but the same motor also runs the combustion chamber air. There is a pump alternative that does not use the solenoid pump but instead a peristaltic pump that can be controlled by a variable speed control. One has to be careful so as not to starve or over fuel the burner or you could wind up sooting up the burn chamber.
I had seen the adjustable pump posted before, I had figured if I ever had running issues I’d switch to it but this has been great even non-adjustable
only few wires not hard to chop them and extend
I'm going to use some flexible dryer duct and put it around an extended exhaust (I already have both) and run a small DC fan at the bottom of the heater where the exhaust starts and split it off before it goes outside. I should be able to nearly double my heat output from 1 heater depending on the CFM of the fan.
As long as the exhaust is sealed up that sounds like a really simple idea. It’s amazing how much heats in the exhaust yey
Hope you do a series of more then two videos!
Thanks, I've got a few more parts coming for it so there'll be a couple
VW Beetle, T2 T3 T4 + Porsche all used used air blown thru finned enclosed heat exchangers for cabin interior heat. Fiat 500 aircooled just engine cooling air directed over the exhaust manifold. Citroen aircooled also used exhaust heat to heat air for the cabin.
My plan is to heat a 55 gal drum of water as a heat sink in my greenhouse. I think it will work fine just as a thermosiphon no pump needed if I find the right cooler. I may add the Afterburner.
Yeah I’d think that’d work, on this set up you can feel the heat moving without the pump
For your egr fan, need a fan for a server cpu cooler, relatively low current draw and move alot more air than standard computer fans.
Ill have to take a look thanks, alot of the trans cooler fans were 10-15 amps.
I am a master at pinching it off quick.
I have the exact same idea with the egr cooler. Have the heater and the cooler purchased, but not set up.
I just finally got it dialed, I ended up getting thermostatic relays to run the fan and pump at set temps. Hoping to do a video on it shortly
If your heater is being blown out when you turn your generator on is because you have no valve in the exhaust so this is allowing exhaust gases from the generator to flow through the heater into your work space .it is okay to run the heater because the gases are blown not forced and the generator has valves so gases can't be forced passed them into your work space .Put a valve in your exhaust to isolated the heater exhaust from the generator and get a CO2 sensor
I had hoped it would flow out the outlet and not up but oh well. The heater combustion air intake is routed outside as well so there’s no way for exhaust to get inside (same as a heater flame out). But yes if this was a dedicated work space/sleeping space a CO2 sensor would be important.
If you place a long exhaust tube inside an air duct. As sealed as possible. Then, rout the heater outlet into the duct and out through small vents into the area you want heated. It will increase the amount of heat produced. It will also give better distribution to the area.
That’s what he is doing with the EGR cooler except with water. Water was better heat transfer and it’s safer because you don’t need to worry about CO.
@chevy6794 water is fine and all. They do make heat exchangers. But that is not an EGR. Exhaust gas recirculation system. Returns the exhaust to the intake of an internal combustion engine to improve emmisions by placing inert gasses into the combustion chamber displacing oxygen and lowering fuel consumption. It also clogs the intake runners with soot and carbon deposits. This system is a thermal heat exchanger. The water absorbs heat, and then it should flow to another exchanger where air is forced through it. What I am saying is that a pot of warm water will not be efficient to heat the room alone. It will help. Forced air is more efficient, and adding humidity to the forced air "feels" warmer. The idea I had was the cool the exhaust with forced air from a source without using more electricity than is used. No extra fan. My diesel heater uses a forced induction system to run the main chamber in then along exhaust pipe inside another to feed the intake so the air is warmed on entry to the units heat exchanger that blows into the room. So it sucks warm air from the exhaust into the heating chamber and then the room. Well, the sleeping area of the tractior trailer, rv. Mine is a real wabasco bunk heater. It is intended to heat an 8x8x10' area to 90°f in minutes during freezing events.
@@mrheart4242 thanks. I know what an EGR is. EGR cooler. An EGR cooler cools the exhaust gas with coolant before it is brought back to the intake. The reason why they use coolant is because it has way better heat transfer. 23.5 times. I never said anything about a pot of water. In this set up he is using a heat exchanger to pull the heat back out of the water that was heated from the EGR pulling the heat out of the exhaust. As he shows in the video the delta T on the cooler and the exhaust is very good. He also mentioned in the video he does not want humidity. So what I was saying is he is doing the same thing you mentioned except he’s using water. Water is better because it’s has exceptionally better thermal transfer and you don’t have the concern of an exhaust leak being pumped back into you living area. To get the same efficiency with air you would need a huge exchanger. One draw back however like you mentioned is complexity. In your truck it might be advantageous to use that system to heat your glycol and keep the trucks engine warm for start up.
@chevy6794 that is. The issue. The heat exchange is air to air. Moving it to water, then back to air, is a thermal net loss. Calling it EGR is a falsehood. Moving heat through water is fine in mass. Using a heated coolant. Circulating it. Then, returning it to air for heating purposes. On a small scale, it is inefficient. On a mass scale. It is functional. If it was efficient, then your lawnmower would have a radiator. Some of the larger ones do. The small engine (heater) may benefit from liquid cooling. But it is negligible to the power consumed by the fluid Moving system. The fluid must be circulated. It requires a pump, heat exchange into the coolant, a heat exchange from the coolant to air, and an air pump/handler to move the air past the. Exchanger to circulate the air. I am not saying it can not be done.
To minimize power consumption and to maximize efficency. An air to air heat exchanger. Using the flowing air from the unit. Just extra material. No increase of power consumption. A smooth pipe radiates heat. A finned pipe has a greater surface area of witch radiation, which is greatly increased. A 2' section of pipe. With aluminum cooling fins attached. A thermal conductive layer between. Should remove a greater ammount of heat. Using the alredy present and running fan. You know what. I was waiting for the frost to melt. I'm out. Chat with yourself. The end I win. By the way. I am a retired structural engineer. I enjoy travel horsemanship and fixing broken junk. Masters in engineering drafting and design. The math is simple. Give it a go. Love ya.
@chevy6794 BTW. He went right to a pot of water with a coiled exhaust tube. Getting heat in is easy. Getting heat out is expensive. Thermal batteries. In theory. Yes. In practice, not so much. That is why the 4 that were built are scrapped or abandoned. Easy in. Expensive out.
Just a thought the electric pump might be overclocking meaning you're moving the water too quickly through the radiator and heat exchanger to scavenge all the heat if you slowed the pump down you could get more heat scavenging you could put a dial gauge on and adjust it until you hit the sweet spot
I was thinking about that a few nights ago, i finally have a good fan set up and controller so im going to play around a bit and see what temps im actually absorbing and dissipating all the heat.
The higher the flow the better the efficiency
I loke what you've done apart from the adding of the generator exhaust it's going to steam up the generator IMO 👍
Ideally I’d of went with 2 separate exhausts
That is awesome.. if you ran just Exhaust Through the radiator wouldn't that make it hotter than trying to heat up all that water?
Yes it would make it simpler but you would require an all aluminum rad and large enough runners. Another person had commented using more coolant as a “heat storage” so the fan could continue to run and heat even after the diesel heater has shut off prolonging the turn back on time.
You could try a sand battery.
Have you seen any issues with the exhaust being too hot for the exchanger??
They are rated for lower temps than the exhaust puts out
You can change the fuel and air ratio the is a code you have to program into it and it will show you the air and fuel. There is a YT that discusses it. maybe on google too.
Only some will accept a code, these are 3 digit and there’s people that have tried every digit and it won’t accept it. The 3 blade fan is apparently the easiest way to see if it’s non programmable.
I love the idea of the egr cooler. I have been toying around with the idea of hooking one of to preheat my truck but could not think of a cost effective way to make one heat coolant. it just so happens I just removed the egr cooler from my alh too. what did the coolant pump come off of?
Pump came off a 12v VR6 Jetta, 99-02 or so not sure when they switched to the 24v.
you can change that controller there are more settings i saw another vid on you tube same controller somewhere is push hold 2 switches on the controller you get a picture top right corner of mountains thats alpine mode for high altitude
i built a heat exchanger for the exhaust that heats more air , provided by a second fan - no need for water - exchangers core is a solid steel pipe with heat baffels - positive preassure prevents any fumes from mixing with the air blowing into the house - vids on my channel
Can you give some info on the parts you used to do it?
I tried a zigzag 2 x 1m copper pipe at the exhaust and found that the end was still really hot. (+/- 50°C) (meaning to me that the copper couldn't get rid of the heat)
I saw a Polish man who did better and used a small ex-radiator from a central heating. His gasses were super cool, coming out.
That means the radiator dissipates the exhaust gas heat enough
Just a comment that there is condensation that drips down inside and that drilling in a small 1/4" hole for a purge to run it off from time to time solves this
So I'm asking my plumber friend for a small radiator (often seen in people's toilets) and I'm going to wrap carefully in bubble wrap, and use 10cm flexible air duct to draw that air up into the heater air inlet at the back. There it will be "added" to the flow which will be blown out warmer still.
This would mean that 99% of the burner energy will be used to heat my cabin
At least, that's the idea...:-)
That sounds like it would work nice and easy, I forgot to talk about the condensation in the video. Everything’s sloped downwards slightly when hooked to my vehicle so it all flows out the tail pipe.
Careful with the condensate. It isn't just water
I can already tell you that it won`t work with single panel radiator. Tested with two different setups with same result -black smoke and lost efficiency. Didn`t have time to confirm but most likely single panel radiator have too small throughput and block fumes
Josh, how did you insulate your trsiler to avoide thermal bridging condensation ?
I didn’t, I’m not sleeping in it or anything it’s just a work space but I don’t seem to have issues with condensation
I wonder if you could put the outlet air from the heater through the heater core and get the same scavenging? You could probably use household hvac duct adapters since the heater core is square. Also I wonder if running the pump slower with lower voltage would let the coolant linger in the egr cooler longer? I bought what looks like the same Bosch pump of Amazon and it has quite a bit of flow.
There is a kit available that does that. It is meant to heat water for your typical hot water uses. It is aimed at rv'ers and van dwellers
My main thought with that was the body temp is 200c and the heater core was only 50, I’m not sure what the air temp was but it was uncomfortable to have my hand in front of it. I’m hoping to find a little trans cooler fan and give it a try
I wonder if it would be advantageous to have a large holding tank? That way you could circulate and heat the glycol while the heater is running. When it gets up to temp you can shut it down and the hydronic system can maintain that heat until it’s depleted. Then heater back on. It could save a lot of energy as those heaters need a lot to fire up. May also help with the temperature fluctuations of turning that thing off and on?
Yes I’ve found that now, the systems only 3-4L. I’m waiting for a cold day to show my updated version. Using 2 thermostatic relays to control pump and fan and using a tranny cooler fan for more air flow.
Right now I have the pump kick on at coolant temp of 25C and the fan kick on at 50C/off at 30C. Even with the heater on 6 the fan pulls enough heat out that it drops back down and kicks the fan off. I can put my hand on the exhaust comfortably so there’s no heat loss just too small of a “reserve”.
@@JoshsJettas that’s super cool. Looking forward to an update.
Could I run my hot water supply directly through the EGR without a heat exchanger for a shower? Just a flow regulated pump to regulate temp?
I can’t see why not, you might need a small holding tank to be able to regulate the temp somewhat
You can put them in alpine mode with that controller
I have ran it in alpine mode but case temps drop, I think if ran for long periods of time it would result in sooting
Why not use a small intercooler style radiator directly on the exhaust with a fan behind the intercooler where u have the EGR cooler now?
I didn’t have one and was concerned with longevity of aluminum at that temp.
At which temps are you concerned?
You can set this type of controller to alpine mode, than it will run the pump a bit slower.
I tried that but on low its about 90C burn temp, i had read that 120C is about the lowest you want for a clean burn/low soot build up.
That’s hilarious I have a 01 ALH and I thought to use the egr for something similar
It’s not being used on the alh so may as well use it somewhere
I can program the burn on that unit 👍
Does anyone have a link to a controller exactly like this one? My Vevor one broke and the company only sells complete units. All of the matching ones off amazon throw an E-07 fault for blue wire.
from what i saw its best to get the controller and motherboard as a set from aliexpress or others. I got one in a few weeks.
@@JoshsJettas Thanks Ill check that out. Great idea with the egr, btw, definitely going to try this. We love our mk4, just rolled 220k and had it painted!
What do you do for anti-gelling? General question
If you are in a northern climate the fuel is usually winter fuel with a lower cloud point. If not you could add k1 kerosene or fuel conditioner additive to lower the cloud point
Yes we have winter diesel here so no issues with it gelling, anti-gel additive is quite cheap as well. With the tank inside even without winter diesel I think it’d be fine.
@@JoshsJettas Would there ever be a case that a fuel heater is needed?
@@GM-fv8bn Im not sure at what temp winter diesel gels at but ive never had issues down to -30. I know my cars the return fuel which has been warmed from the pump goes to the filter first, diesel can get waxy blocking filters before fully gelling.
👍
That green "fuel" hose is actually oxygen hose. That's why its green, to differentiate it from IV hose. Poor, cheap, excuse for fuel line.
That'd explain why it falls apart then
Your exhaust on the generator is going to blow through your heater and out the intake pipe. And melt the heaters intake fan.
I'll have to wait and see, the generator T's in at 60 degree downward angle down through the floor with no restriction. It seems to create a low enough pressure at the T to pull fresh air through the heater intake so I dont think i have to worry about exhaust going the other way.
Josh,
Re - your dislikes.
Filter works. Yes, cheap - but what do we expect for a low-cost heater from China?
Base plates are adequate if installed correctly/safely.
Seals are, I suspect, are not fitted precisely by many - they just plonk it in position taking no time to position/adjust the lip properly. Otherwise no real problem.
Wiring works. Nothing spectacular, but can be altered, if required. The chinese insulation covering is a bear, mind!
The cheap(er) (presumably) was introduced for just that - cheapness. Also, maybe to prevent unskilled tinkerers from making inappropriate modifications for purposes for which these heaters were not designed. There is an even more basic controller, with only 3 buttons, being fitted now.
Tank - fitting just below the heater and using a dip-tube, for fuel out-take, instead of a gravity feed can reduce leakage risks.
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You have a good installation for a non-inhabited space (the CO monitor is good) - exhaust pipe and connections, inside, are always potentially bad news. The smaller (2kW) variant would have been adequate for your installation? Reverting to low output at the desired temperature would be less likely to continue raising the temperature? Plumb in a separate exhaust (with exhaust gas heat recovery?) for the generator?
I watched your vid hoping to see some definitive figures for the waste heat recovered - best guesses are around 600W at full output for the 4kW heater you have.
Are you running on waste oil
No just straight diesel. From what I’ve read the cons out weight the pros with waste oil
@@JoshsJettas how's that?
ALH 1.9 TDI = W
Wrong! 8kw have a bigger heat exchanger than the 5kw. The do pit out more heat. The 5kw is more like a 4kw. The 8kw is more like a 6.5-7.
Your greatly misinformed....... As the video states, he is correct on the physical size of both heaters being identical...... Only difference is in controller programming.
Too complicated for what it does.....there is a simpler way.......why not transfer heat directly from the exhaust pipe to the air without the water system.
That’s hilarious I have a 01 ALH and I thought to use the egr for something similar
Is this feasible to heat water and store water for a shower? I’m reading it might be best to use heat exchanger for separate water tank?
Heat the water as a by product of heating the trailer or just use the heater for heating water? Using the exchanger to heat water as a byproduct of works great, it’ll boil the little water that I have in this system quickly. If just wanting to heat water they sell diesel “coolant” heaters which would be much more efficient.