FJ Cruisers of Northern California

On Board Hot Shower

Well after many years of wanting to build my own OBHS heat exchanger i finally did.As i found out it was alot harder then i anticipated.After many designs in my head and on paper and after building 6 prototypes and testing.I setteled on one that i was really happy with.As i found out real soon copper is really expensive :( But the results are well worth it for me.The heat exchanger is made out of 2" copper tubbing and is 12" long and has 20' of tubbing inside the 2" tube.The water has to pass 3 times inside the 2" copper tube before it goes out to the shower head.That is only running the water thru the heat exchanger only once.I spliced the OBHS exchanger using the bottom hose coming out of the FJ heater.The OBHS exchanger heats supply water 59F up to 120F with the FJ at only 1500rpm.Still working on a flip up shower arm from my ARB bumper.Let me know what you guy's think

Attachments:

OBHS1.jpg, 1.2 MB
OBHS2.jpg, 775 KB

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Permalink Reply by Overlander36 on March 8, 2012 at 7:48pm

1. Eliminating it will give you BIG problems with CARB (California Air Resource Board).
2. Air tank for onboard air

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Permalink Reply by The Josh on March 8, 2012 at 7:57pm

Yeah it Is for emissions, what does it do? Who the hell knows!!

Actually from how it is plumbed I've gathered this: there is a vent that comes from Thr gas tank that goes into a inlet on the charcoal canister. Then there is a outlet from The canister that runs up to vent where The fuel door is on the driver side. there is a third hard line that comes from somewhere in The engine bay (I can see it run all The way from front to back) and lastly there is a wiring harness that plugs into a sensor on The box. Inside The black charcoal canister is thousands of black charcoal beads.

I'm sure someone would be able to chime in with a better answer but my estimation is that fuel vapors from The gas tank are filtered through The canister and then vented into open air. On what The sensor detects I'm not sure, it could be vacuum or a type of air/gas vapor parameter

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Permalink Reply by paraextreme on March 9, 2012 at 9:37pm

The only way i could go is if i went really early.i have to b at work 4pm in san jose.i would leave from boz's and go straight to work.how long does it take to drive to san jose from his place?

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Permalink Reply by paraextreme on March 9, 2012 at 9:42pm

Just checked gps looks like i would have to leave by 230pm.if that will work for everyone i will go

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Permalink Reply by The Josh on March 10, 2012 at 12:40am

Actually if I come I'll have to leave by 2 also

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Permalink Reply by manoweb on March 10, 2012 at 9:08am

I think that if we meet in the morning, I would say 9:00 but it's up to Bozly, we have plenty of time to see under each other's hood and discuss what is the best way to take a shower naked in the desert, then we put together a BBQ and by 2PM we should be done...

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Permalink Reply by Overlander36 on March 10, 2012 at 7:13pm

Sounds good to me - I'll check with Bozly on Monday.

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Permalink Reply by daPitbull on March 11, 2012 at 9:20pm

^^^LOL...

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Permalink Reply by manoweb on March 11, 2012 at 9:51pm

Oh if you have never tried you have to. It's so liberating! My wife (Monica) was skeptical at first but she agrees it's wonderful.

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Permalink Reply by paraextreme on March 10, 2012 at 7:28pm

If it a go i need to start tidying up my ride.between work and daily life i haven't cleaned the inside for some time.i need to also put the final touches on my OBHS that i have kept putting off.so whos all going to go and what times?

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Permalink Reply by The Josh on March 11, 2012 at 7:15pm

If next Sunday happens, if there anybody that has the capability of welding? My system is delayed til I get a few brackets welded in the rear to support my crossmembers