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Off Grid Water Heater for Tiny Cabin Sled- DIY Heat Exchanger + Snowmobile Camper
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- Опубликовано: 10 янв 2020
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I put together a DIY off grid water heater, using a copper coil, and ammo can. I use the heat exchanger to warm the inside of my snowmobile camper, which I plan to do some winter camping with this year.
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#cabinsled #tinycabin #offgrid
You could make some kind of a "cupholder" hole in the top of the ammobox, so you can partially submerge a food-safe aluminum bottle/canteen. 70-80c is certainly hot enough to heat some water "bain marie" style for warm drinks or reheating soup.
Ok good idea you have there. I would also have a propane back up heater because you never know when that copper is going to break. And I'm betting it's gonna break on the coldest night ever. To not have a back-up in very remote and cold place can be a real serious problem. Wish I was young enough to play like that. My mind is for it but my body might not be strong enough anymore. But very cool heating system I must say
Fill the system with glycol. Then you won’t need to bleed it out each time. You will need a couple of isolation valves on either side of the disconnects so you can transport without losing much of the glycol. Awesome project, very impressive!
Propylene Glycol.
That's what I was thinking too. But can glycol can be heaten up that much? Is it the same than Prestone?
There are lots of ways you can deal with the pressure, almost every house hot water heater deals with it. You can buy a pressure tank which is about the size of a soccer ball and it’s got kind of a bladder inside so when your pressure builds up it gives room for expansion and then as it cools it keeps a Tanks and all that from collapsing. The way to get around your valves with the rubber seals is to plumb it. Basically make a permanent radiator inside the camper and you can have a second water tank outside or an insulated tank outside and you can sweat or brace everything together so you don’t have to worry about seals. You can get hot water rated valves and put them outside, you could even put them in an area where you can pile of snow on them but outside they were cool a lot better. You can do things like insulate your pipes running over to the fire, you could have a smaller fire or build a specific stove to heat it like a little rocket stove or build A small wood stove with a flu and tight ventilation system to keep your wood-burning slow and not as hot all night. Another thought is you could do a fire pit and have wood set above it on the shelf and after a few hours you could just yank on the cable and dump that wood in the fire pit to keep it going longer. You could also have an external tank that you could mount on the exterior wall and insulate some and you could have that work like a boiler and put a small car radiator or something inside, maybe even a small motorcycle radiator. I like the idea of just using wood and mechanical devices and not needing electric but you could wire your snowmobile and or a small generator to charge a battery and you could heat the water in the tank with a diesel glow plug, you’d be surprised how much it will heat it and that way you could put it on a timer or even a thermostat and the car battery should run that for several hours. I’ve seen people make a water heater with a 55 gallon drum and heat 55 gallons with two small glow plugs within an hour or less. It would probably heat your ammo box in 10 minutes end it wouldn’t take much to put a thermostat on their aunt be able to control your temperature very well and make it last a long time. Since you’re pulling it with a snowmobile you could run wires off of the alternator through the trailer hitch and charge your battery that way and not need a solar panel or a generator and you would always have a battery back up for your snowmobile as well. You could even mount a couple of batteries on the snowmobile and use that to power the heater and lights in the camper. I love these projects, it will be fun to play with overtime and make improvements on. Now you’re gonna have to work on an air conditioner. ;)
Some great ideas fella - just seems a shame that the channel owner has not bothered to reply or comment on your [or amost anyone else's] valuable contribution(s)
I discovered your channel yesterday and I love it. Knowing this is 4 years old, I’m an old heating expert. Adding something to the water to keep down the boiling point is how a boiler works. Next, find a long hot water baseboard heater. It would need to be mounted inside the camper at an angle on the wall. This will make the inlet higher than the outlet so nature and gravity do all the work. These are small and light weight. This would distribute the heat more evenly.
You could mount say a 2 1/2 gallon container on the wall just head of the baseboard heater. This would be your water supply, much like your ammo container but smaller. This should eliminate the need for so much water.
This is a thought and I am quite sure it would work very well. I also thought you may want to remove the outer cover of the baseboard heater and just use the coil inside. If it isn’t too bulky, leaving the cover on would make it more efficient. Leaving the cover on will also eliminate the boiling problem. Either way, this would work quite well. In your area, I am sure there are many hot water heating systems in use.
I’m in love with your channel and all that you are doing. If interested, I’m almost 3/4 of a century in age.
Here is a thought: thermo floor heating run tubing on the wood floor and insulate the floor Like in a house. The floor will heat the camper and your backside while you sleep
I was just thinking the same thing. Rarely reply to these things but thought I should on this. Copper lines running back and forth either under the floor above the insulation or could be the wall. May be able to control the flow with another valve on outside or just inside with partially closing it to help control the temp. Also use some insulation on the pipes outside to help keep them from bursting. Maybe get a few fire bricks to set up just under the pot on the fire and possibly put some cobb around it to help further keep the heat.
Could still be used in combination with your ammo can.
This is why I love watching projects develop.... you've come up with how he ought to build the next model.
@@BrooklynAvenue not building the next model but improving on this camper add tubing to floor place styrofoam between tubing and add strips of 2x4 boards to hold up sheets of plywood above tubing
Exactly! Was thinking the same thing.
way cool .
if i may add a thought ,it almost looks like you need to build a rocket stove kind of thing on the front of your sled so you can keep that system installed all the time. then run some coolant instead of water so it can get cold.
Thought the same, a little boat oven with a metalbacking would heat the camper as well when you have 2 metalsheet backing you get a convection inside and you can cook on the out side..make a little flap over the stove and its all weather proof
can also be used as an emergency bong.
Inside a hotbox
Inside shady Shane's rv 😂
I suppose if Ur stoned being cold, frostbite, hypothermia or death won't matter.
NIce design. You can regulate the temperature with a standard plumbing thermo bypass valve, which will open at a preset temp (usually 38 C) of you can dial in various temps. Also, a pressure relief valve should be added in case you have a steam surge. Ive built engine exhaust water heaters for diving.
As far as adjusting the heat, you could use a vent arm like we have in our greenhouse that automatically opens when a certain temp is reached and closes when it cools.
Interesting idea!
Or perhaps something similar to what an automobile uses on the water line.
We have those arms on our greenhouse also.they work very well.can adjust them to desired temp.i think we got them from Johnny's greenhouse supply
Or a secondary water line, with isolating valves, to shunt the unwanted heated water outside to cool it off.
simple plumbing fittings with header tank and head stand would complete the heat battery - good idea !!
To set up a camp for a number of days you could add some anti-freeze to the water so there is not as much risk of the lines freezing.
Not if he plans on maybe wanting to drink something hot like tea or coffee from it. Breaking it down might contaminate the area he is camping in which is not good for the enviroment, I think hes trying to leave a Zero foot print while out camping like this.
Great idea! He wouldn't need to flush the lines every day...if the antifreeze can handle the heat(?) There would be no contamination of the environment unless it developed a leak.
@@GHumpty1965 He actually mentions that this is not a potable water system...he has no plans to consume the water. Also, if he doesn't have to drain it there would be no contamination (theoretically).
They sell environmentally friendly antifreeze at most hardware stores.
@@strietermarinesurvey1415 exactly.
and wood alcohol is the base ingredient in them, a naturally occurring product that has existing microbial life that eats it.
Closed circuit loop for transportation, fill with propylene glycol. Locking ball valves on the tank and use braided lines with locking ball valves so your lines maintain glycol. Having an open vent like that automatically bleeds the air properly from the loop and you've vented it at the systems highest point which is correct. Ultimately what you've done can remain an intact or disassembled fully portable heat source that does not require filling or draining with every use. Simply apply the few suggestions I've offered and see for yourself. Excellent video thanks for sharing.
The design can be improved IMO. You can attach a small woodstove to the one of the outside walls with the pipes already in it. Pipes could connect to the radiator on the other side of the same wall, inside the cabin. This way the pipes could be super short preventing the heat loss. It could make it much easier to use as well. You wouldn’t need to set anything up. All you would need to do would be to put the wood inside and start the fire.
I like you trial and error can-do attitude. I really enjoy your videos. Thanks for making fun content.
Love the system. Really enjoyed you showing and explaining the well thought out heater. Please say hello to your father. God bless you and your family always
You can insulate the copper piping for better results and more residual heat except if the lines are allowed to freeze up at any point which would cause longer system start up time. You can also install a heating element in the ammo can hooked to a solar panel on the roof to deep cycle 🔋 battery for daytime use.
You could also run copper tubing in a zig-zag pattern in the floor or one wall of your snowmobile camper with screw on connections on the outside of the camper. Connect one copper line from the heated water line so that the hot water travels through the camper before exiting and going to the tank. This way you don't have to store the hot tank of water inside your limited space camper and you get radiant heat. Could also add a faucet line from the hot tank and one from a cold tank to a dual valve and have temp controlled shower outside.
The correct definition of Water Hammer -
Hydraulic shock (colloquial: water hammer; fluid hammer) is a pressure surge or wave caused when a fluid, usually a liquid but sometimes also a gas, in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly; a momentum change. This phenomenon commonly occurs when a valve closes suddenly at an end of a pipeline system, and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe.
Now, that is a tiny home!
Xtra-kool, the cons you mentioned can be refined, still a great prototype...i was thinking anti freeze, clear fuel-type filter, a few anti-freeze tester balls to monitor flow, pressure cooker popoff or mr. beer machine valve instead of the vent. maybe a quick mount on the shed itself for usability and unclunkyness. i can think of 100 more im sure you can too...outstanding job kutgw.
If you don't mind commercial version of heated water heater, I recommend to see this - ruclips.net/video/Twr76VNywxE/видео.html
If you rotate your coil bucket 90 degrees so it's on its side, you'll get a lot of convection flow in the line - probably enough to switch the inlet and outlet and still have the water circulating a lot faster.
@@Nighterlev on its* side.
Add a couple of magnetic thermometers to the side of the tank. You could tell what it's doing.
Good luck,
Lee
Excellent video Outsider. Glycol system for extreme cold weather. Have your lines insulated using a PVC pipe and pool noodle with couplers on each end. Heat sink on ammo box Excellent work.
Good constructive comments are such a delight.
Definitely not ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol is sweet smelling, sweet tasting, attractive to animals and extremely toxic. Any leaks could be potentially fatal to wildlife.
@@ants9230 is there an environmental solution to stop the water from freezing but safe to the wildlife.
@@douggibson9084 I thought RV antifreeze would be safe. Could be wrong. Don't have any around at the moment to look at the label.
@@douggibson9084 drain the system when not in use
I'd weld copper pipes directly to the radiator inside, permanently mounted, to faucets outside the camper, with self-sealing quick disconnects. Replace the pot and coil with another ammo box that sits near or over the fire. Fill the whole system with antifreeze, and just hang the exterior ammo can on the side of the camper when not in use. Should be able to just grab it off the wall, and set it next to / on top of the fire and be good to go!
Could also put a radiator / heat sink on the outside of the camper with a mechanical bypass thermostat; if the antifreeze exceeds a certain temperature it's rerouted through the heatsink to cool it off and regulate the temperature.
Take all those kinks out of the flexible pipe, shorten the copper pipes and insulate all pipes. To control the temps just put less wood on the fire. Need to remove the valve from the vent line or one day it's going to be left shut.
My thoughts exactly. There are too many ways to build up pressure in the hot line and effectively creating a pipe bomb. An inline pressure release directly following the copper pipe would be my first safety add. Also, this is extremely overkill for a space that seems to be less than 50 cubic feet. Just insulate, then heat a pot of water and pour it into the ammo can.
@@Talkingworms The traditional way, at least in power stations is to fit a pressure relief valve to any pressure generator without any means of disabling that pressure relief i.e. valves. I would also be quite wary of that pressure relief valve operating in a water filled line since it would emit very hot water.
@@letrainavapeur A very good point. Honestly, I keep going back to "just heat the can of water, put a little insulation in the walls, and drag the can inside as a considerably massive thermal sink." Or even safer- skip the water and go directly to sand.
@@Talkingworms How about using some thermal bricks as used in electric storage radiators and just heat them in a custom frame on the fire, easier to handle and transport.
@@letrainavapeur Perfect.
Love how you have persisted in making this a great unit.
Far as a thermostat...a Bypass Valve connected to a thermostat.
I'm going to Save this for use in a future project.
3 way valve.
Thank you for sharing. Cool updates.
Couple of thoughts- 1. add some pieces of stone (soapstone or granite countertop scraps) or ceramic tiles to the outside of the water can to increase"battery" size.
2. Once you are happy with placement, consider replumbing so that the valves are outside and solder pipes directly to water can so that should the seal fail, the water will go outside, not on your stuff. Shouldnt be to much an issue having the valves outside since you have to go out when you shut it down anyway.
3. Add one of those fans for wood stoves since they operate from heat and not electricity. Better equalize the heat inside.
4. You could use a metal tripod and some chain to allow you to alter the height of the fire bucket to allow some control of heat.
5. Not doubt you already considered that you can add an additional coil to the inside of the water tank to allow you to make drinkable hot water, plumb it to a metal pot on the outside of the water can and you are good to go. Would also let you increase humidity inside during dry winter. Could be fun to experiment with. Could also just put a pot on top of the water can (grin).
Take care
As someone watching this from America, thanks for the temp conversions lol.
Also, that is an amazing idea. I think it’s practical for camping, would be good for a pop up camper if it had a fan behind it.
The Outsider, Tip, if you add Heat Sink Finns to the side of your Ammo tank it would give off heat more evenly and better, Also you could add a second one way valve and make a inner loop that you can turn a valve and send half the water back to the pot bypassing the ammo box. That would let you regulate the heat.
Great job. I enjoyed watching your ingenuity come to life! I'm sitting next to my fireplace watching with the temperature outside at -49* so my appreciation for the heat you created is at a heightened level! 😂
You could place the ammobox on some kind of tray fitted with a small hose out through your hole at the bottom of the cabin.
If any of the seals should leake the water could drain away so you don't have to sleep in water...
I dig it. You're right, not great for everywhere, but pretty good in it's place. Well played.
I've heard those same sounds coming from the ammo can when I was on the toilet. Quite relaxing. XD
It may not be practical but it is a "proof-of-concept". I can actually see this becoming more practical if more "tweaking" is done to it. It might actually be beneficial to bring outside expertise to help further mature the design.
Great job. I love the movable cabin. Your heating system could save lives
Looks like it works well as a proof of concept. Now drop the hose connections like they are. Simply plumb a couple valves on the front and connect them with a short flex line. This way you can simply attach your flex lines on the outside and be done, there is really not a huge need to move the tank in and out. It will also speed up the setup by not having to make connections on the inside. Same for the vent. Basically just need that leftover piece of copper line and attach it to the top and plumb it outside a little ways.
On the inside of the tank take another piece of the leftover copper and plumb it down to the far bottom corner from the input for better circulation so that the tank fully heats up.
Another advantage of this is that you can prep meals in some vacuum sealer bags and then drop them in the hot water to cook. Just have to make sure that the things you intend to cook like the temps you are getting in the tank on average.
This is the type of ingenuity I like! Not many ppl out there like us that won’t stop til we find a way to make it work. Great video skills too. Keep up the good work
Just to add data to your notes, add a little thermometer that has remote sensing leads and measure your inflow and outflow over the course of the night. If you get one with a memory, you can review the temps at your convenience.
It would be nice have that kind of data recorded over the course of the night. Could be quite helpful! Usually I just listen to the tank. As long is it's gurgling, I know that hot water is still circulating. If the tank goes quiet, then I'll know to maybe throw a bit more wood on the fire.
Great prototype, 2nd generation (sand in lobster pot), I see many applications and variations. My next tweak might be a rocket stove or wood stove to improve efficiency and all night warmth. I have thought up similar systems but I don't have the talent and money to make them happen, especially the talent. As good as buddy heaters are, some form of external fire and heat transfer to the inside would be better for lots of campers. and would pump less moisture and products of combustion into the camper.
It is such a joy to learn along with you as you tinker, adjust and improve everything! Thank you so much for sharing.
My thoughts, too.
Suggestion. Build a small enclosed insulated box on the end of your camper to house the ammo can heater, with a little space around it. Install a small solar powered fan and thermostat with some type of flap vent into the camper. A small computer fan would work. The thermostat will require minimal power, and the fan only needs to be strong enough to blow some of the warm air gently into your cabin space through the flap vent. Think about how the vent cover for a clothes dryer works. When warm air is blown against it, the flaps open and allows the warm air to pass through. When the dryer stops, the flaps close. So when the temperature in your cabin reaches the set temp on the thermostat, it turns on or off the fan and the flaps open or close. You could probably get by with the small 6v or 12v battery typically used in deer feeders. It would add another component or two to your kit, but it could all be permanently installed on the cabin, except for the coil and pot, and the exterior water lines. Get the light flexible solar panels that are used on sail boats. It may weigh a pound. Adding a permanent, insulated compartment for your heater will add some weight to the cabin, but it will reduce weight and occupied space on your snowmobile, and will also reduce your set up time. With the can already inside a compartment, and strapped in, you could install hook ups directly through the compartment walls. With a hinged lid on top of the compartment, you can easily add water or snow to your can. Then just hook up your hoses from your wall connections to your pot, and you're all set,...except for the fire, but you'll always have to do that step. If your battery, thermostat, or fan ever fails, you still have the option to move the can inside the cabin. You are welcome, and as a footnote, you may not need a solar panel and battery if you can figure out a way to use energy from the heat to power the thermostat and fan, but voltage would have to be regulated, perhaps through a small solar charge controller,...but then, you would need to be sure you don't exceed the input limitations on the charge controller. Ok, I went out there a ways. Just stick to a flexible 100 watt solar panel and a small battery. I recommend the 12 volt, 7 amp hour battery for deer feeders. If it turns out to not be enough to run the thermostat and fan through the night, get a second battery and wire the two together in parallel to maintain 12 volts while doubling your amp hours. The ammo can, connections, solar panel(s), charge controller, and batteries, can all be pre-installed and ready to connect the lines to the pot. Harbor Freight has a cheap solar charge controller to prevent overcharge of your batteries. Just my two cents. Good luck!
Edit to add: Here is how you wire it. Solar panel to charge controller, charge controller to battery, battery to thermostat and battery to fan. Keep in mind, when making these connections, you actually wire up everything before connecting the solar panel to the charge controller. Do that last. I just listed it in that sequence for visual references. You can install fuses and shut off switches if you like, but probably not needed for such minimal power draw.
Same thing as when a furnace comes on - noises associated with heat = comfort knowing your heating system is working to keep you warm. 👍🏻
Exactly!
Cant believe the obvious comments as well as the negative nannies.. this kid did awesomem.. it is a great video.. Thank you
Sycophant definition: a servile self-seeking flatterer. Does nobody any good.
I really enjoyed watching this. It is a basic boiler system used in home heating as a heating guy I have some thoughts. The first would be your open vent. if you are camping in sub zero temp. the outside can freeze up due to the condensation. As it leaves the hose it can collect water droplets, these droplets can start to freeze. If this happens it can clog the vent. I have seen this many times with a furnace. To prepare for this problem you should install a safety blow off valve at the top of the tank and plumped outside. It may never happen but if it does you have a closed boiler. I was reading another posting and it was suggested a copper coil on the vent this is a good idea. take it a bit further and add a tee and a line with a check valve back to the top of the can. take the top of tee to the outside (pressure relief). as it goes up the coil it will cool, the tee will let the pressure out and the line back will return some if not most of the liquid back. i move on. your valves on the side may be way to close. move that cold return down to as low as you can maybe even out the bottom this will help move all your cold back. add the supply hot closer to the top there again will help use all the heat stored up. one last thing. you may be able to use a simple temp control and a low voltage pump to help when the fire has died down to low. All this could be made to fit in the ammo can. Oh and insulate the rest of the tubing. Good job on coming up with this did like the moonshine still post. happy winter camping
I feel like you might want to put a quick connector between the inside and outside of the cabin. That way you don't have to crawl underneath a fumble with the hose. Just clip on outside and inside then its done.
and a faster set up
I know you discounted the use of cast iron radiators but have you thought of using a car or truck radiator, they already have an inlet, an outlet, a relief valve, and It disperses heat well. In floor or in wall piping might help too if you are still looking for improvement options.
Congrats on the great job so far.
BareFoot Ralph Yes, perhaps a radiator from a “crotch rocket” inline-six motorcycle would be about the right size and weight for the task
Great project and thank you for converting temperature to farenheit.
Alot of comments. Iam not going to read them all.
A couple questions/suggestions:
-Valves on both sides where you break off both lines
-a 50/50 water antifreeze , also has a corrosion inhibitor in the antifreeze
- thermostatically controlled bypass valve that would just recycle to and from the lobster coil. Set it in the camper for 23C
- your vent hose concerns me pointing upwards. As the condensation goes outside it can slowly freeze off. I would have it shorter and pointing downwards. Antifreeze as mentioned above raises your boiling point so should help with minimizing losses as well.
Your ammo tank being square doesnt have a good pressure rating so this is important not to freeze your vent off.
- a self loading log system on your fire. Looks like a W where the logs roll down.
Nice work though.
replace the ammo box with a Radiator heater should make big difference. Good luck out there and stay safe.
Great idea I will give that a try
Wonder if the radiator heaters already have a pressure release valve or maybe that’s taken care of somewhere else on those systems
Excellent system!! Great design!! Thanks so much for sharing!
As you lose water you can just throw some snow in to replenish and cool down a little the system.
It looks great! It's heavy but your pulling it with a sled...no problems. The best part is no chance of Co poisoning from the heat source. Stay away from gas/propane type heat in a sealed camper like that. Nice!
As a licensed plumber by trade for 47 years, you need to reverse the connections so the hot water enters the bottom & cooler water exits at the top, so that it works along the same principle of how a water heater works. The cooler water is forced to the bottom of the water heater & the hotter water exits the top water outlet back to the heating cool at the fire to be reheated. Hot rises, cold sinks, this is all based on thermal dynamics. The overall operation will be much better & less likely for water hammer to be a noise problem. Just a suggestion!
A very well thought out system. Smart solution and a smart looking video too. Stay warm my friend.
*SUGGESTION:*
*Just run a larger diameter steel pipe through the fire, and draw in fresh heated air.*
1) It would be lighter, and simple. This system is overly complicated and heavy from a mobility point of view.
2) It would not cause as much humidity problems.
3) You could still store heat with a water tank, but the water would be stagnant. No need to pump it outside, and back in. Air would be the "working fluid".
4) Fresh air
5) Safer for sleeping. This design runs risks of injuring yourself. *Especially dangerous when alone.*
6) Speed of assembly/disassembly.
7) Adjustable....it as simple as moving the pipe in/out of the fire. This can be done via a control arm from within whilst you rest out of the storm. You could raise the temp by pulling/pushing a control rod.
8) Easily exapndable. You could increase heat requirements by simply adding an additional pipe, and/or wrapping rockwool insulation around the pipe. Far lighter and easier than a water syphon system.
9) Heating pipes are not as hot....so they can be usedto dry clothing.
10) Additional pipes can be used to melt deep snow paths away from the fire. You are REDIRECTING heat from just flying straight up from the fire....out to whereever you require snow melt. Snowfall literally melting before filling in walk/work paths. Keep the lanes open between you and another, or maybe your restroom....even in the heaviest of snowfalls during the night.
You might be able to insert a secondary smaller (food safe) tank, and perhaps just hang it from the top lip filled with potable water. It would be near the top and equalize temp at the same rate as the ammo box. You could also fashion a spigot through both chambers and have hot tea any time👍☕
I have an idea to control the overheating without opening the door & losing the valuable heat. May work to make a jacket for the ammo box with an inner layer of Insul-Bright Insulated Lining. This is used when making lunch sacks. It reflects back the energy, hot or cold. It is flexible enough to sew into something that opens to allow more heat out & closes to allow less out. If you do not have to open the door your heat will last longer and the Insul-Bright will extend it too. Great video.
Great vid! Look up RUclips videos about “self-feeding campfire” that will keep your heater running all night.
I feel like some sort of quick connections in conjunction with shortening the copper pipes and having specific length hose would make it more convenient. Just buttoning everything up.
I did something similar using air. I built a radiator to lay in the fire and used dryer duct hose and attached it to a portable battery powered fan that uses lithium 18650 batteries. Worked great.
hey that's actually smart, I'm afraid of the water freezing during the night.
how did you build the radiator? I was thinking of just taking a big old water radiator, something that would kinda hold the heat, and instead of a fan I'd put a intake valve on top of the cabin with something that turns around kinda like you'd use on a chimney except it would point towards the wind to catch the flow.
But as he points out, I'd love to figure out something I could warm up with the warm air as a thermal mass.
but having only air powering the system would be neat to avoid anything going wrong (at least avoiding less fails)
@@svampebob007 Used two pieces of 4" schedule 80 pipe and welded some 1" schedule 80 cross pieces....looks similar to a Jeep grille.
Love the ideas here of running antifreeze and keeping a closed system with braided lines between the camper and say 1-2 feet from the fire. Can easily make this a permanent fixture with a place to store the pot and strap down the lines to the front of the camper. Just needs some kind of bladder or exterior low pressure relief or even something as simple as another valve in the top hole with a hose venting out and straight so you can keep the inside tank sealed and not have to smell the glycol. Overall a system that is no fuss, takes minutes to set up, and will never freeze during storage. Bingo.
Iam always happy to see new episode
Very cleaver use of an old technology that was used in my youth! Just a friend Ron
Awesome. What about 1. Some anti-freeze in the water 2. Permanently fitting the ammo crate in the camper with quick release valves on the exterior walls (Just for a quick set up)
Yep, that's what I was thinking anti-freeze I think would work well, basically like a car heater.
Thanks for the ideas! A couple of those ideas will help me build and use my own heater. I'm about to make myself a primarily recyclable-based home made paperboard chunk/waste wood chip/sometimes charcoal fueled window mounted space heater similar to this, but smaller. I think I might use a modified kettle grill (not a camp fire), a modified old and scratched up pressure cooker as the boiler, copper tubing as the coil and sand inside the pot like what you did there, and mine already has a sort of check valve so I can pressurize it for more efficiency. The space heater's window unit will probably be on the ground floor. It'd probably be a modified box fan with insulation around the edges and on the back of it. The back would be sealed with plywood or whatever's handy, 12 short hose sections would be put through holes in the fan box behind the blades, and routed to draw air from several inches beside the front of the fan. There will be a copper coil fastened to front of the fan with coat hanger wire. Hotter water will go through copper tubing from the top of the pressure cooker, through the top of the grill through the sheet metal window mounting bracket and insulation. It'll go into the top end of the larger diameter fan-front coil via coupler. The colder water will go from the bottom of the front-fan coil through another coupler, through the side of the grill's lid, and through the side of the pressure cooker. All points where pressure could escape will be sealed with gasket sealant from the inside (where the pressure's trying to escape), and all heat sensitive parts of the build (like the parts of the tubing that'd be attached to the fan box or near the window) will be wound with exhaust wrap. In the Summer I can use the grill for cooking and the window unit + a modified cooler or mini fridge for keeping soda cool and replacing my conventional AC on days that are just a little too hot for fans. Next year, I can make another space heater with 3 Fresnel lens boiler, blue or black dyed sand, and used frying oil to the system to track the sun and provide solar heat at another window. I'm doing this not because I think a small space heater or 2 will replace conventional gas heating, but because there's always a 10-15 degrees F. difference between my neighbor's place and my place in this duplex, their side is that much more efficient than mine, and the furnace is working too hard to keep me warm in Winter, too. I want to supplement the furnace without raising the utility bills much like I'm doing right now with a conventional forced fan space heater. It's up to the landlord if they want to insulate my place better or not, but it's up to me to decide how to keep warm until I get out of debt and get a new place, I est. about 5 years from now. In the meantime, I'm on a tight budget. There's also a building code, here for permanent builds/alterations to a property. I also don't want to either upset the landlord or do them any favors. When I leave I'm taking my heating/AC system with me, so I can continue to save money on heating and AC. Those are the reasons why I want to build a cheap and portable heat/AC system piece by piece. I'm in Iowa, so we have about equal need for both, depending on the time of year. Migrating for the seasons would be more expensive, though...
Awesome man. Enjoy your videos. A pioneer of the spirit of innovation!
Genius!! Glad it worked for you. Will be fun to see what it finally morphs into. Take care always. Much love to you and family. Hapoy New Year!!
You can heat and sous vide at the same time!
Hopefully you don’t ever forget to open your vent valve. Waking up to third degree burns alone in the dark trapped in your sleeping bag hours away from help is a scary thought. Cool build!
Bend one end end of copper pipe to hold water and fill with water. It will freeze and if you have a pipe the size you want you can bend copper without fear of crimping the soft metal. Nice set up!
Cold air coming up the hole in the floor is only happing because hot air is going up and out the holes in the gables. Its a good thing, I wouldn't totally plug it.
Great stuff. I am going to build a portable camping cabin for my car trailer in my next video. Heating is one of the main issues, so this is good inspiration.
Good constructive comments are such a delight.
I built one of these for my jeep and it has a box that goes in the tent. It uses the engine heat with two bilge pumps to move the coolant to the remote heater core. There are ball valve that bypass into the remote core while not int erupting the normal flow. The blower is a 5" dc fan from walmart. The hoses are just garden hose and have lasted over 10 years already. It has thermostat on the tent core side from a house and uses a relay to tell the jeep to start. To be honest though you can idle a jeep for days and days on a full tank in a JK anyway. It uses extension cords bundles with the hoses to run the fan and control.
I njoyed both vids. You can use copper mesh filter like in the end of kitchen tap to soften sound of gargling..
Anyway imagine you would mount 2 classic toilet flat radiators inside, on both opposite walls so it has enough space for water itself, and to properly connect everything so siphoning works as should + with fixed tubing leading outside at the back of the house. Fixed mounts prepared just for easy plugging both ends of hose at every camp (maybe even bajonet lock plugs like on beer tanks). One end with valve above radiators for filling system with water by funnel, and one end with valve at bottom for easy emptying the system and also for using water for washing during day.
Then to talk with a pro, where is best place to mount fixed copper tubing leading outside to the roof plugged somewhere between both radiators, those radiators are very cheap, u can try it at backyard or even to test whole design at positions you would place the radiators in the house to be sure before final mount in the house. And to test, probably putting it to hard heat so it even boils furiously to see if your pressure relieving chimney tube line works as should and steams or sprinkles out fury steam.
And also would be fun if u try to make nice custom stove, mounted on mechanism on arms and joints on the back of the house with tubing already included in it and hoses already plugged forever and all fixed to instant multipurpose water heating system. And with smart safety design would be even rideable just with red coals and time to time to add some small stick to not let coals die. And on the camp, u would wash yourself with lukewarm water from bottom valve, then refill system with new water and feed stove fire properly to preheat for the night sleep, then some coal from it to start cooking fire aside (or depending on stove design, cooking on stove). With stove you would be able to kick fire and keep it slowly burning choked down by lack of air. Like a king! :D
I would consider also some easy assemble tent entrance with zipper and telescopic aluminium stands from some older big tent from craigslist and few tiny hooks around door to place it
njoy, must be fun to work on it heheh
Thanks for the video. This is a great idea si you can stay warm. I always look forward to your videos. Hope this will be a good year on your cabin build. ATB
Having the gate valve open to relieve pressure is causing a massive amount of heat loss. You need some type of expansion tank on the system. Very cool stuff.
@valleywoodworker Yep, with a drip leg that exits out the bottom. Perfectly Safe and effective.
Nah, even more complication.
@@Ricopolico Its only complicated to someone who has no knowledge or experience with Hot Water Systems. Its actually quite simple and safe.
@@harrynut3044 - Lets see. before I got my BSEE, I worked on permit as a pipefitter then I got a boilermaker's book. I would have loved to keep working with the tools, as I was a natural at it, but fate intervened. So the closest I could get was engineering nuclear power plants. Perhaps I should have said, 'unnecessary complication."
@@Ricopolico So are you responsible for the 70%+ of All Nuclear Power Plants in the US leaking? No offense but most "Engineers" are beyond stupid, in my experience. 25+ year HVAC Contractor out of Chicago. If i had a Nickel, for all the Furnace's and AC units that i have had to put back together, because the so called "Engineer" , who was a customer, thought he was smart enough to fix the unit himself, id be rich...Oh wait, i am rich, never-mind. Jokes aside, that's real talk from real life experience. So, you can save your "I'm an engineer" pitch, i'm not impressed in the least bit, in fact, the total opposite.
Your my favorite , the most interesting and intelligent survivalist on RUclips , thanks so much for taking time to share every detail of your inventive projects 👍.
This is the heater system of a car, only you are heating the water not trying to cool it or using it in reverse (either way). The magic part is as you said. . ."heat capacitors" In my mind, the solution to that would be to find solid bars of hard metal (think iron gold bricks) and put two in the lobster pot and two in the ammo box. The water will transfere a LOT of stored heat to the metal. I think the solid metal would absorb a lot of heat WITH the sand. As I was typing I would self contain the plumbing system within the camper and have JUST external hook ups and since you have battery for lights and electric blanket, look for a low current draw circulation pump. It's all about using fluid to transfer heat to heat batteries. . . .EFFICIENTLY. So self containing the internal system and focusing on how to use that heated water to heat something inside (bar slats the entire length or heating a thick metal base plate (anything transfering heat to something that will hold a LOT of heat). You could make more of a round flat coil rotation with less coiling to reduce the boiling (bubbling noise) because you are circulating fluid not relying on the thermal effects of boiling water to move it as much. This configuration would be ideal for coals which is really when it comes into its own. Finally the lines from fire to camper. With fixed dual fittings on the camper, you can bundle and insulate the lines far more efficiently since you do not need to feed them up through holes with large air gaps. . .everything could be much more tight and insulated to retain the heat and efficiency.
I love your videos...hope you and your family are doing great!! I love your cabin and foraging videos!
This was a great test. It will be interesting to see how this gets modified over time. I wondered about maybe rigging the box to the outside more permanently and using copper piping in the inside as hot pipes,maybe some sort of boxing in etc. Just to maximise space and control it from getting too hot..anyway you it’s a brilliant idea as it is.
Is your camper Bear proof? Maybe you could have a bungee cord, or some band metal, attached to two screws on both sides of your Ammo box, so it won't fall over in your camper. Maybe you could have a shelf welded to the top of the Ammo box as a small stove top. You could have a pint sized pot with lid and have breakfast, lunch, dinner inside. A second "burner"area on this shelf could be holding an old fashioned percolator coffee maker. TIP, that expansion tube that you have running out the top of your trailer....why don't you extend the tube to reach your snowmobile and have heat pumped into your engine compartment to heat your battery and your engine. Maybe some sort of hot water bottle could be designed to allow this to happen. That way, when you go to leave in the morning with your trailer in tow, you could have a toasty warm snowmobile engine and battery. Great video ! Best of Luck.
Have you thought about using a check valve at the top? That way it will automatically open when enough pressure builds up, and close once the pressure lowers enough.
You are always up for a challenge and perform very well! Brilliant! 🌠
If your seals end up being a weak point due to the heat, you could potentially replace them with silicone seals which would be more heat resistant.
Great idea! Looks like works pretty good. You mentioned a radiator and the reason you chose to not use one. An idea that could be the best of both worlds: use a radiator with a low pressure relief cap and a drain tube. Place the radiator inside the ammo box and fill it with sand, salt, water, whichever medium that can store heat and is plentiful and cheap/free.
Also another idea, build the thermal battery into the floor to free up leg room. Heated floors in a cabin sled? Now that would be luxury camping!
Could add the vent, to a condensing coil on the roof, and then add the cool water, back to the loop, while eliminating pressure buildup with some cleverness, and avoid loosing water from the system
Might be an idea to make a 2 sided coupling through the wall with 2 caps
then you can vent the pressure (or prevent a vacuum) even when you packed the coil away without having the top tap open leaving moist air out, and the top vent of the cabin closed as well
Nice job my fellow Canadian can't wait to see how the cabin will turn out once you get it done 😀
Nice! Built one like this years ago to heat water for a shower at the bush campsite.
When cooking on a fire like that I use tongs to pull a few pieces of wood away from the fire to cool down the temperature, just like you add more wood to increase the heat. You also have snow which you can use to put out half of the fire, not all of the fire just half.
Bahaha. Ever more complex assemblages of copper pipe. It is like south park: always snowy. Looks fun!
No idea how I got here but glad I did, love camping and love enginuity this has both 😃 many thanks and you have a new sub.
Thanks Keith! Welcome to the channel. :)
Build a small woodstove for the other side of the wall on the outside of camper with a water jacket in it plumbed into your ammo can and then it's all self contained you could use hard lines alot more robust and it could be a little more regulated with the stove vents
Edit: better yet run pecks line around the inside of the floor of the camper plumbed directly to the water jacket on stove and you would have base board floor heat
I love the diy design, but given the portability of the trailer I’d say a cheap Chinese diesel heater would be perfect for the use. The ones with hot water would even supply water for washing.
For $99 shipped it's hard to beat those diesel heaters (better known as parking, bunk, cab and/or overnight-heaters). Not only are they extremely fuel-efficient, some even come with digital displays that feature a thermostat and a timer function. Hell, the smallest size they make (which is about the size of a loaf of bread) would turn that mini shelter into a sauna within minutes. HOWEVER (now that I think about it) there's a slight problem... those heaters require a constant 12v pwr source to power the electronics, the glowplug and the fan/blower :(
@@willk6274 Solar panel and a deep cell or gel-fill battery.
i would put the can outside, have some low power usb fans blowing the heat inside. You can control the temperature with a fan controller.
what? it's freezing temperature outside? it would not work for sure.
Build a mini log burner from a fire extinguisher, wall mount it, run it on kindling, chimney out the top, you could even build a back boiler from a gas canister or something and have hot water...
lol but that would actually be efficient and convenient.
Hydraulic line quick connect couplers would make an antifreeze solution manageable. Couplers would reduce the number of possible leak points. One could also mount an ammo can to the outside of the cabin to redirect the heated water for heat control. Install a simple valve inside to send hot water outside.
Possible idea for the vent line: have the line running to a small set of tubes outside the camper that will condense the steam out side and save it in a bottle in side the trailer for later use, maybe even drinking quality or just for refilling the tank
Great job! A few things: Definitely use glycol in the water. Consider radiant heat running through tubing on floor instead of or in addition to the tank. If you do keep the ammo can, and don’t do floor tubes, add heat sink fins to help radiate the heat from the can. If you hard mount the tank and hard pipe to outside quick connects, it would tidy up things and be a quick set up. Insulated wrap the outdoor lines. All in all awesome job!!
that is what i was thinking like running the hose through the shed its self so you dont have to lug that ammo box around also a much more even heating system
If I may...
Build an insulated storage space outside the cabin to put the ammo box and hook up the water similar to a house and use induction heat tubing like for house and wrap it on the same wall ammo box is on.
This makes it easier for quicker set up because the ammo box would be permanently placed and so would the inside coils.
You just need to hook up the outside and don't have to worry about burning yourself on the can.
Throughout Chinese history, there have always been people who preferred to spend their lives in the mountains, getting by on less, sleeping under thatch, wearing old cloths, working the higher slopes, not talking much, writing even less -- maybe a few poems, a recipe or two. Out of touch with the times but not with the seasons, they cultivated roots of the spirit, trading flatland dust for mountain mist. Distant and insignificant, they were the most respected men and women in the world's oldest society."-- Porter, Bill. Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits.With the author.On the 30th anniversary, I leave metropolis and go back to Bill's way and salute him.No team and photographic equipment.only me,only cellphone, Thanks.
When your spending a weekend at the cabin when it is enclosed you can use it so you can stay over night.