DIY: Water Heater

[ChamNovice]

Ok, I wanted warm water, and I didn't want to spend much money. I used some supplies I just had laying around, but I'm betting this could be made fairly cheaply.

Required Parts:

1 - 1g container with lid.
2 - 1/4" couplers
1 - aquarium heater(this one is 25w)
1- Temp Control (not required, I just wanted more control without pulling everything apart to adjust the heater. This one is also modified with a waterproof temp probe.)
25' - 1/4" Tubing (use more or less to your liking. I had 20' laying around, so that's what I used.)

Drill holes in the lid of the container, just big enough to force the 1/4" couplers through and a thrid hole in the center big enough to fit your heater through. Its not in my photo because I skipped this accedentally and had to do it later.

Coil your tubing and put it inside the container, attach both ends to the couplers on the inside of the lid.

Screw on the lid and put your heater through the hole in the center, suspend it about midway so it doesn't touch the coiled tubing. I dont think it would melt it if it touches, but just a precaution I took.

Fill with water, attach 1/4" hose to one coupler on the lid from your pump or hand sprayer(as shown in another DIY thread).
Attach the other coupler to the 1/4" hose going to your misters.

This method should allow you to heat the water well to 100+ if you want.
Yes it will evaporate, so watch it, so your heater doesn't burn itself up. The lid and small hole sizes will help slow down the evaporation.

Concerns about algae and film on the water? Add a little bleach to the water when refilling from evaporation. the bleach never comes in contact with misting water, so no worries about spraying bleach on your plants and chameleon.

Any questions/comments feel free to post or PM me.

 

[Jason4045]

Interesting.....I likes.. How long have you been using this contraption?

-Jay

 

[ChamNovice]

I actually just built it, it's kind of the same concept as an inline Hydor type heater, just with more hose for more contact time to heat the water to the temp I want. I don't believe with the low volume of water going through the misters that I will clear all 20' of tube of heated water. I'll be testing it and filling in as I go along.

 

[summoner12]

I'd like to hear from you how well it works. I'd like to see some notes on the temps you see.

 

[Mesnik]

Very nice idea, Andrew!!!

You can use that in line with a 5 gal bucket... hmmm....

I wonder if painting the outside all black so light doesn't get in would reduce/stop lime and other bad stuff from forming?

 

[ciafardo 4]

lime doesn't come from sunlight its already in the water.

 

[ChamNovice]

First testing:

I heated the water in the container to 95.4 F(coralife digital thermometer)
Mist measured at about 3" from nozzle was 84.7 F (coralife digital thermometer) Mist maintained this temp for about 3 min. Then started dropping about a half degree about every 20 sec.
The temp in the jug also did the same thing as the cooler room temp. water made its way through the tubing inside the jug.

Conditions of testing:
Water in jug - 95.4 F
10' of 1/4" tube from pump sprayer to heated jug
20' of 1/4" tube in jug
10' of 1/4" tube from jug to mist head(shorter tubes should yeild slightly higher nozzle exit temps)

Mist was measured at 3" becuase I couldnt get enough water collecting on the temp. probe to notice much temp. change at farther distances. I'm sure the water was still warm, just to fine to collect for temp. measurement.

I will be upping the temp in the jug to 100+ and get some measurements from that, I'm assuming there is about a 10 F temp drop from jug to mist head. which will vary with tube length. Expected mist temps are about 90+ F.

 

[ChamNovice]

I use all RO/DI water, with less than 10ppm of disolved solids, most of the time it's "0". I am not very concerned with lime and other growths like algae and the film that gets on top of the water. Just add a little bleach to the water to prevent those.
For an example of the cleanliness of RO/DI water(and lack of minerals), anything less than 10 ppm can be used to clean and then rinse a window(let it sheet down from the top), and will not leave streaks or spots
when just left to air dry, no squeegee required.

 

[ChamNovice]

Very nice idea, Andrew!!!

You can use that in line with a 5 gal bucket... hmmm....

I wonder if painting the outside all black so light doesn't get in would reduce/stop lime and other bad stuff from forming?

I would believe the same concept should apply to a 5 gal. bucket. Just require a larger heater, and could use even more 1/4" tubing inside a bucket that size. If I were to use the bucket method, I have a couple lying around that salt for a marine aquarium comes in. They have airtight lids to prevent moisture from getting to the salt. Drill the small holes and such like on the smaller version, just the lid keeps the moisture in the bucket instead of out now. I will be toying around with this for a while, would like to make a cleaner looking more sealed version, experiment with aluminum or copper pipe(better heat transfer than polyethylene tubing) for the coils. I don't know if going through a metallic tube would introduce something unwanted for chameleon care. I know for marine reef aquariums copper is a HUGE no no.

 

[ChamNovice]

I have raised the temp in the jug to 105.7 F
I will hopefully be able to edit this post and update with findings. I'm expecting I will keep the 10 degree drop or less.

Update: 2nd Testing:

Same conditions as in post #7
I was able to get the temp to max out at 108 F, averages 106.3 F though. Testing was done at 106.3 F
I maintained the "about" 10 degree temp drop I was getting.
Mist temps on nozzle exit were 95.4 F @ 3" as in previous test

This is all done in testing, I have not applied this to use yet.
What is everyones thoughts on an ideal temp. of the misting water?? (could a poll be made?)
I will continue to modify and check findings.
A nicer looking version will eventually come, I will post pics of it as soon as it is completed.
I would prefer to use copper tubing for the coils also, for better heat transfer. Are there any known issues with using water that has passed through copper being used to spray?

 

[summoner12]

Try making a bigger jug and longer tube. I would also increase the tube size that is inside of the jug and then step it back down to 1/4" after the jug.

A way to keep the water warmer in the tube as it is removed would be a higher output heater to maintain the jug water temp.

 

[ChamNovice]

I only mist for 1 min. at a time currently, I have no temp drop of the jug for that time period, it holds steady for about 3 min. I only tested longer for those that mist for longer time periods. Thanks for the input though for those that have longer misting requirements. I was concerned with pressure drop going from 1/4" to 3/8" or 1/2" and then back to 1/4". So I stuck with the 1/4" tube on this version. I am using the DIY mister system design in the thread by "summoner12"(https://www.chameleonforums.com/diy-hd-auto-mister-18660/)

 

[ChamNovice]

The new heater, a little cleaner design, larger hot water capacity(this one holds about 3 gallons), copper tubing for better heat transfer to misting water.

Parts List:
2 - 1/4"OD X 1/4" MIP(Quick connect male adapter)
2 - 1/4"OD X 1/4" FIP w/insert(Ander-lign compression coupling)
1 - Ice maker/humidifier installation kit(w/copper tubing)

Parts used:

Drill (2) 1/2" holes to fit the 1/4"OD X 1/4" MIP pieces through.

Coil the copper tube to fit your container, avoiding kinks. Attach the 1/4" OD X 1/4"FIP w/insert to each end of the copper tubing. Then thread those onto the Quick connect pieces you put into the holes you drilled in the container. earlier.

Place an aquarium heater in the container, fill with water, and then let it heat to your desired temp. Use in the same manner as the original post.

Note:
A tubing bender would make the process of fitting the copper to your container easier, but is not required. I did not use one, but wish I had just for a cleaner tubing look.

 

[summoner12]

The new heater, a little cleaner design, larger hot water capacity(this one holds about 3 gallons), copper tubing for better heat transfer to misting water.

Parts List:
2 - 1/4"OD X 1/4" MIP(Quick connect male adapter)
2 - 1/4"OD X 1/4" FIP w/insert(Ander-lign compression coupling)
1 - Ice maker/humidifier installation kit(w/copper tubing)

Parts used:

Drill (2) 1/2" holes to fit the 1/4"OD X 1/4" MIP pieces through.

Coil the copper tube to fit your container, avoiding kinks. Attach the 1/4" OD X 1/4"FIP w/insert to each end of the copper tubing. Then thread those onto the Quick connect pieces you put into the holes you drilled in the container. earlier.

Place an aquarium heater in the container, fill with water, and then let it heat to your desired temp. Use in the same manner as the original post.

Note:
A tubing bender would make the process of fitting the copper to your container easier, but is not required. I did not use one, but wish I had just for a cleaner tubing look.

So how well is this working compared to your other setup?

 

[summoner12]

I only mist for 1 min. at a time currently, I have no temp drop of the jug for that time period, it holds steady for about 3 min. I only tested longer for those that mist for longer time periods. Thanks for the input though for those that have longer misting requirements. I was concerned with pressure drop going from 1/4" to 3/8" or 1/2" and then back to 1/4". So I stuck with the 1/4" tube on this version. I am using the DIY mister system design in the thread by "summoner12"(https://www.chameleonforums.com/diy-hd-auto-mister-18660/)

I don't think you'd see much of a pressure drop going to a larger tube and back down again.

According to my calculations..... you could see a 1.62 PSI drop

I hope the DIY works out well for ya!

 

[eidolen]

Hi,
Just wanted to drop by and say thanks. I took your idea and went a little further with it and it's working fantastic so far. I haven't gotten a respectable mist nozzle yet for my system which means I am using alot more water than I want but still do not run out of nice hot water.

A lot more pictures can be found here

Details can be found in this thread.

Cheers,
Eidolen

 

[summoner12]

Hi,
Just wanted to drop by and say thanks. I took your idea and went a little further with it and it's working fantastic so far. I haven't gotten a respectable mist nozzle yet for my system which means I am using alot more water than I want but still do not run out of nice hot water.

A lot more pictures can be found here

Details can be found in this thread.

Cheers,
Eidolen

The PVC tube is EXACTLY what I was looking for when I was thinking "how do I keep these damn tubes straight?'

that is awesome! I plan to snag that idea if ya don't mind!

 

[eidolen]

Please have at it. I'm happy to help in any way I can so feel free to ask. I'm not sure if you read the link I posted where I went over the details, but you might want to consider a mechanism to support the PVC tubes once they are put into the jar. Even though I didn't use any *yet*, it would be very helpful in keeping the coils located in the jar exactly where you want them. The fact that the tubes are not connected to each other in any way makes it easy to collapse them together, almost flat, so they can be put into the jar easily and then re-expanded.

My thought was to get a couple PVC end caps and epoxy them to the bottom of the jar with some JB Weld, but the mouth on the jar I used was almost too small the get my hand into so I put it off until I knew everything would work first before spending too much time on it. Of course it's not critical to do this if the jar won't be disturbed very often, just something I wanted to do to secure the coils better.

Good luck, and please let me know how it works out for you.
Eidolen

 

[summoner12]

I will let ya know.

Something I tried... I used aluminum foil around my plastic 'jar' and it helped keep the temp steady. The heater I am using also has a built in pump to move the water around.

 

[Khammy87]

Idea for insulation?

Just an idea, I know I have alot of marinas around here.. They have these nice compressed styrofoam blocks for supporting boats with.. Maybe if you can get your hands on a scrap piece of one, then hollow a hole in the middle to hold the jar you are using nice and snug, would be a great way to insulate!