Dredge Hot Water Heater

[easy goer]

I will be dredging in cold water and will need either a dry suit or a hot water system. Due to the fact that it will never be warm enough to dive without either I think a heater system is the way to go.
Having cooked about a million pounds of crawfish I would prefer not to end up in the pot, much better to be on the outside looking in!

My question is in regard to the size of the copper tubing necessary to provide enough hot water. I would also like to build a system large enough to support two divers. I will be using two Honda V twin motors. On each motor the two exhaust ports on each motor are merged into one muffler that is approximately 4 inches in diameter and approximately 16 inches in length( I will update when I have exact dimensions). I will have a mixing tank after the heater and the hot water will feed from the top, the water to the diver out of the bottom to hopefully eliminate the possibility of steam.

Any suggestions as to copper tube size? Have you built one of these? Pointers? I would really appreciate any input. I have some ideas, working on getting the drawings onto paper.

Thanks

Easygoer

[chickenminer]

Easy...
Have you searched on Youtube for dredge hot water heating systems?
I'm not a dredger but I've sure heard enough horror stories of guys building their own
system only to get burned, literally! So be careful with that project.

[Geowizard]

easy,

You said...

"Having cooked about a million pounds of crawfish I would prefer not to end up in the pot, much better to be on the outside looking in!"

You are right, better to be on the outside looking in... thinking... "Steamed crayfish"...

I'm curious, if you don't have the basic knowledge of how to design a wet suit heater without asking, then how can you expect to build one and maintain it?

You are asking for public opinion about a LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM and you're the one in the "POT".

Geowizard. how would YOU design a wet suit heater?

Assume we know nothing... It's a "recirculating bath"!

A recirculating bath starts with a bath tub!

Yeppers, Really! I'm serious!

In this case, in the first instance, a galvanized tub with a capacity of 50 to 100 gallons. The tub has a PID controlled heater. The tub must be indoors - like an insulated tent. one line out and one line in. An inline water pump circulates the water. Digital temp gauges on the tub, on the outlet, and on the inlet. The tub should have a circulating pump or in a second instance an external hot water heater that is circulated through the tub. The external hot water heater is controlled by the PID controller. The system has screen filtration to screen the output water. A safety feature is a temperature monitor that will ALARM if the tub temperature gets outside of the upper or lower limit. The best monitor is a reliable human.

Circulation (flow) through the wet suit is controlled by the diver using a valve.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Bill of materials;


Tub:

https://www.amazon.com/Behlen-Country-S ... +tub&psc=1

Water heater:

https://www.amazon.com/Reliance-SOMS-Ga ... ter+heater


PID Controller:

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Temperat ... =pid&psc=1

Pumps: 2 each

https://www.amazon.com/SHURflo-Industri ... M4DBPVETPE

Strainer:

https://www.amazon.com/SHURFLO-255-313- ... 4TWDDZ2HNR

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Schematics/plumbing;

If you need help on schematic drawings or plumbing tips... I'm here...

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

V-twin heaters;

Considering the 23 HP Vanguard V-Twin heaters...

23 HP = 17250 watts... If the engines are 50 percent efficient, the heat output is 8650 watts. To capture that heat is practically impossible. The heat is radiated in all directions including an oil cooling radiator employed on that engine. The problem that leads to personal injury or fatalities in using engines for heat sources that circulate heat through a wet suit is the inability to CONTROL the heating of the circulating water.

The engine (exhaust) heater is not a practical option in this case.

The second possibility is when a large, "water cooled" engine driven water pump or power plant can be used to heat water that is circulated through a heat exchanger immersed in the tub. The heat exchanger is connected in parallel with the radiator of for example, an 80 KW genset.

CONTROL of the heat produced by the heat exchanger is accomplished with a PID controller and an on/off solenoid valve that opens or closes on demand.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

The diver is always in control;

The diver has a valve that controls water entering the wet suit. That valve has to be at all times accessible and a single twist to shut off incoming water. By the same means to INCREASE flow if needed.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Heat exchanger;

A common radiator is a "heat exchanger"...

https://www.amazon.com/JSD-Universal-Al ... ator&psc=1

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Philosophy;

The philosophy used here is that a HUMAN is never directly connected to the heater...

There's TWO separate circulation loops... One is heater to tub. Two is tub to diver.

The tub is a "buffer zone" where MIXING of heating and CONTROL of heating takes place.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

GFCI;

This system uses 120 volt AC to power the heater, pumps and controls. The power unit (genset) must have a GFCI outlet and a three line AC power system utilized. Before suiting up, run a GFCI safety test to ensure that the GFCI works properly.

- Geowizard