On board shower using exhaust heat?

I see what you are after now. I converted my houses to on demand hot water.(Renai). Uses almost nothing to ignite,just need pressurized water source. But what you are after looks totally cool.

 

Bought all the parts today except hose etc
Can't wait to get this thing set up!

 

If you come across this thread, go find the
On Board Water thread by SkyGear- rather than chasing down info on 4 different ones I'm moving all questions and progress to there.

 

Wow. um... just make sure theres a Heatshield where you decide to put the copper if you do.

 

Here goes nothin

 

Son, you're gunna shoot your eye out with that thing.

 

I'm opting for the larger surface area version and less plates as to not hinder the flow/ run into pressure issues

 

While I agree with your logic,
I could whip out my nitrogen flow meter test gear from work & give a legitimate figure as to the resistance of this thing

Or I could just tell you I went the old fashioned way and blew really hard in one end & felt very little resistance.
I'm not sure exactly what pressure / flow rate the stock system circulates at, but I think this is gonna work perfectly.

I'm about halfway through wrestling with putting fiberglass on it so expect a slow update for a couple days.
I've gotta get this thing done before deer season opens though we're camping outta this truck for 8 days!

 

It was mentioned before me

 

Step one:
Find a spot for your heat exchanger
I chose next to the battery- close to the splices on the heater core hose & out of the way.


This doodad was in the way.
Found this


Appears to be the fuel pump resistor & safe to relocate without screwing with VSC or airbags etc



You need to pull it up, remove this L bracket, flip it over to mount upside down & put it off toward the fender in the hole that the wire loom clip was in.

Here's where it went.


Wires around it were zip tied up away from it for safety- this thing has heat sink fins on it for a reason & I don't want to know why when it's too late.

 

I built a onboard shower using the same concept.

You will need a thermostatic mixing valve on the output. If you turn the shower off to lather/conserve water or something, the water will sit in the heat exchanger and become scaulding hot. It can severly burn you for the first few seconds!! With all those plates in that beast of an exchanger, I would seriosuly consider a thermostatic mixing valve. Will prevent scaulding and maintain a regulated temp. Especially if other people are going to want to use it (they will)

They aren't cheap, but nothing in the project is. Worth the $$ though.

I found you need to raise your engine idle slightly too. 1050 to 1100 seems to work fine. At idle, I find the engine doesn't circulate enough hot water to get the shower water more than lukewarm. A camera tripod against the seat works nicely

I have used mine many times now. It works flawlessly, and is amazingly refreshing. Great backcountry camping mod. Let me know of you have any questions.

 

Spencer, what is the purpose of the fiberglass and where are you using it?

Thanks.

Curious about your setup. Did you write it up by chance? I've seen quoted posts by yourself in Skygear's On Board Water thread.

 

If you click on the view original if you are on tapatalk, it takes you to the original thread/post. Same if you click the little blue arrow in the quoted text on a computer

 

I've got a thermostatic mixing valve just for this purpose! Glad to know I'm on the right track.
My question now is
Which of these is the supply / return? More specifically, which way does the water flow? My setup is using a 3 way ball valve & a hydraulic check valve so if I do it right, I'll have an idiot proof bypass & if I do it wrong, I'll have a busted tacoma.

Any help would be appreciated! Standing here with fittings in Hand scratching my head

 

As far as I know, the top is input to heater core and bottom is return. I tapped into the bottom line, right where the factory splice is (why did they do that? ?)

All I did to verify was turn the heater fan on full blast, the bottom hose was noticeably cooler. You may want to verify if you are using a check valve, why is the check valve necessary?

 

This.

My design has a check valve & one three way valve (labelled but not pictured )
That way, it's idiot proof. No matter which way you turn it, engine is getting circulation. No chance of accidentally turning them shut & damaging something. And in case of damage, anyone could pop the hood throw the valve and keep it running.

 

Assembled version of poorly illustrated photo above.

 

Spencer, does that heat exchanger use 1/2" hose barbs? Is it model B3-12A?

Did you find out what sized fittings the Tacoma uses in the factory heater core hoses?

Edit: According to a search at auto parts online the Tacoma factory heater hose is 5/8". Can you confirm that?

Thanks is advance.

 

I got the 1/2" barbed model heat exchange to save me 4 fittings.

The stock hose fits 5/8.... But not as tight as I'd like.
I'm gonna use a good set of hose clamps & should be fine. It's likely some metric size I don't have access to readily in the states.
But I worry too much as is. It works fine.