On Mar 2, 2007, at 11:17 AM, John Rodgers wrote:

> The tankless hotwater heater thread prompted my thoughts on
> alternative
> heat for the inside of the van when camping etc.
>
> Would not a circulating fan mounted behind a finned heat coil
> INSIDE the
> van - supplied with hot water from a source OUTSIDE the van - when
> camping eliminate a lot of problems related to other than under the
> seat
> gas or diesel fired heaters? No fumes, no CO, no  CO2, no water
> vapor to
> condense inside, etc. Just dry heat coming off the  coil.

Hmmm, or radiant heat thru heat fin tubes or continuous tubes in the
floor of the vanagon? grin
>
> The tankless water heater thread reminded me of having seen something
> like what I described mounted in a school bus in Alaska up near
> Fairbanks that had been converted into a camper. It worked mighty
> slick.
> The owner of the bus had plumbed it with copper tubing, installed heat
> coils and thermostatically controlled fans, DC circulating pumps, and
> shutoff valves and quick disconnects at the point where the plumbing
> entered and left the bus. System was filled with water and antifreeze.
> Outside was a drum fitted with a coil of copper tubing down inside and
> the drum was filled with water with some antifreeze in it. The drum
> was
> up on a steel frame with a half-drum wood stove underneath.  Wood of
> course was the fuel for this contraption. It worked well. Was not
> extremely portable, but it could be broken down and moved if needed.
>
> Would  not the principles applied in the school bus camper be a viable
> and safe-for-sleeping-in-cold-weather alternative to the underseat
> heaters, catalytic heaters, etc, that are often used in the Vanagons?

I have a building under construction now that is using ground source
heat pumps connected to 2 large wells (240' each deep)in the ground
that extract the water from 1 well, run it thru the heat pumps to
heat or cool  heat coils/exchangers which provide heated or cooled
air, then the water is injected back into the ground w/ the 2nd well.
Very energy efficient. Not cheap on the front end, but pays for
itself over 5-8 years+-.  My explanation might be a little
simplistic, as I am only the architect, & I rely on my mechanical
engineers to actually make these things work, but you are going to
see more & more of these alternative systems.

Now if you can just bring this whole system along w/ you, voila, your
have nice AC?

Tom B.
>
> Opinions, ideas, and suggestions, anyone???
>
> Thanks,
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver