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Post by jimkeene4 on Oct 26, 2013 19:53:35 GMT -5
29 degrees. 8:00am this morning, the water was cold. i dredged for about an hour an had to come up. warmed hands and went back down. had to warm up about every half hour until noonish. not gonna to give it up for winter, finding good gold. anyone with a wetsuit heater on there dredge, or recommedations, let me know. i gotta do something. jim
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Post by Gold Seeker on Oct 27, 2013 11:36:59 GMT -5
Jim get yourself one of these, these portable on demand propane water heaters, it beats the hell out of the "muffler" wetsuit heaters and you can set the temperature as you what it to be with no guess work and don't take the risk of getting scalded as can happen with the muffler heaters, and you also don't need a water mixing chamber that most use with the muffler heater to help avoid the possible scalding. Every dredger that I have seen that has tried or bought this type of water heater says that they would never go back to the muffler style of wetsuit heater. This is just one of the many brands of this type of water heaters, so shop around and look at reviews from user/buyers before buying and make sure the ignition is battery powered. www.atanklesslife.com/eccotemp-l5-portable-tanklessAnother brand.. www.amazon.com/EZ-101-Tankless-Water-Heater/dp/B003327HDK#productDetailsAlso the advantage to a propane heater is that you can use it for showering while camping!!! You can hook it up to your dredge pump and or use a small battery pump to supply the water, depending on when/how you use it, for a wetsuit heater I would hook it to the dredge pump, for using as a shower I would have a small battery powered pump. |
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Merc
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Post by Merc on Nov 3, 2013 23:04:25 GMT -5
That heater is to light to heat the water around here. I checked the btu's on it and it only increases the water a max of 40 degrees. Here is my first choice that I was going to get but I am going to build a heat exchanger system. www.ebay.com/itm/Tankless-Hot-Water-Heater-3-1-GPM-Propane-Gas-with-Digital-Temperature-Marey-/121193082119?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c37abad07My next is this one, there is only $10 difference and with the one above you can see the out put temperature. www.ebay.com/itm/Tankless-Hot-Water-Heater-3-1-GPM-Propane-Gas-RV-On-Demand-Marey-/141005833673?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d49a45c9Here are the questions I came up with and why I am not using one of these. Where do you hang the unit? Over the end of the sluice, make a rack to go over it so it hangs in the middle to equal out the weight? Both units require a vent and hood. What happens if you get caught out in the rain or god help the blaster nozzle gets loose and sprays the unit? Both of the above units have almost 80K BTU heaters and a dial to increase the time the water is spent in the heating tubes. The hand truck is harbor freight, they where $50 the last time I was there. If you are out and have a bank close by this would work. What happens if you have to go up or down stream for several hundred yards? Those are a few of the questions I asked myself. And what if you are in an area where the water is deep or like the Broad river in SC? Again you will need a rack or post to hang the unit on. The tank is not so much of a problem, you can tie if off on the side of the dredge and let it float. Hope this helps. Jerry |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2013 13:21:59 GMT -5
You guys are the best, get in the water and dredge  Ya all can long arm it supposed to be a bad winter this year Ya could always high bank |
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Post by cabarrusgold on Nov 4, 2013 18:54:27 GMT -5
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Post by goldgit'r on Nov 5, 2013 16:22:26 GMT -5
Fellas' I have no experience with wet suit heaters but I do have experience with steam!
If you have never seen someone burned by steam you have no idea what it can do to you. Having it come into a wet suit would be catastrophic.
All I'm saying is be careful messing with this stuff. Wes
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2013 14:39:29 GMT -5
Ya, you guys would definitely need to have a few fail safes for the steam issue. Art, just go old skool and do the long arming like ya used to do hahah I had to say that get some gold... |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2013 14:35:10 GMT -5
Just adapt your dredge to run off propane as well then bam ya can use both |
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Post by jimkeene4 on Nov 8, 2013 20:19:55 GMT -5
it can turn into steam. a pea gravel could go through pump, and possibly lodge in 3/8 copper coil in muffler heat chamber. this would cause water to stop flowing, turn residue into steam, then its to late. a mixing tank would delay, and possibly be ok. still a little weary. i think i will go with the triton 5 L. heavier, cost more, but alot safer. 114$ or possible 3rd degree burns? jim
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Post by Gold Seeker on Nov 9, 2013 16:52:04 GMT -5
Another tip that is used up in Alaska is to run your hot water hose inside of a old garden hose that has the ends cut off, this adds a little bit of insulation/air space/still air and keeps your hot water hose from being in contact with the cold water, which would otherwise lose some of the heat in the hot water before it gets into your wetsuit, be sure to seal the garden hose to the hot water hose so no water gets inside the garden hose.
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Post by Gold Seeker on Nov 12, 2013 17:55:46 GMT -5
The hot water line inside the water hose can be 1/4" tubing, it's much lighter and easy to slip inside your wetsuit, it doesn't have to be air hose, but if you use air hose you might be able to get it inside a 3/4" water hose, but it will be heavier than the tubing, install a control valve close to you so you can control the flow while under water.
Yes a hot shower after being in a cold stream most of the day is priceless for sure!!
I saw one guy who put tees on the tubing at his wetsuit so he could have a tube down his back, tubes into his sleeves and tubes for his legs, he could stay in the water longer than when you just put the one tube down to the middle of your back to heating your core, I sure you could tee off the arm and leg tubes to run a smaller tubes into your gloves and boots.
It would be nice to have a suit that had little capillaries built into it so all you had to do is plug in your hot water tube and you had warm water throughout your suit.
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Post by Gold Seeker on Nov 13, 2013 19:28:10 GMT -5
Water will be inside your suit no matter if you have a heater or not, it's a wetsuit, water has to get inside so it can warm to body temperature, the neoprene then insulates the body temperature water to help prevent your body's heat loss, better it be warm water than cold stream water, now your body will be able to adsorb heat from the water instead of heating the water, you will love it as long as everything is working correctly!!
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Post by cabarrusgold on Nov 13, 2013 22:05:08 GMT -5
Cool...knew that info. Hey did you see that gold show the other weekend where they dive under ice? One guys suit looked like a balloon. I guess he was pumping to much water in the suit.
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Post by Gold Seeker on Nov 14, 2013 6:17:13 GMT -5
The suits they use are drysuits, no water gets inside them unless they have leak, and then it time to repair it or get out of the water, they wear thermal clothing inside the suit which makes it a bit puffy.
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Post by cabarrusgold on Nov 14, 2013 17:22:10 GMT -5
Got cha...  |
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Post by Gold Seeker on Nov 14, 2013 19:48:44 GMT -5
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Post by cabarrusgold on Nov 15, 2013 6:41:13 GMT -5
LOL!!!  Tar Baby?
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Post by cabarrusgold on Nov 15, 2013 7:01:32 GMT -5
I think if that happen... I'd be laughing so hard I would not be able to help anyone or myself! Thanks for the laugh on a Friday morning! |
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Post by RWH on Nov 19, 2013 17:50:53 GMT -5
Have you used it yet? If so, how'd it do?
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Post by Gold Seeker on Nov 19, 2013 20:02:48 GMT -5
Looking great Art!
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Post by RWH on Nov 20, 2013 11:21:24 GMT -5
Ordered mine last night.
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Post by RWH on Nov 21, 2013 10:59:01 GMT -5
Planning on keeping mine land based or in my little boat |
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Post by RWH on Nov 23, 2013 10:49:36 GMT -5
Hope you get to try it out this weekend. Let us know how it goes if you do.
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Post by cabarrusgold on Nov 24, 2013 10:29:21 GMT -5
Got heater project on hold for now. My son's jeep, jumped out of gear, rolled down the driveway to my shop, droped off a 4' retaining wall, stayed on four wheels, traveled 35' and hit a oak tree! Damn, nosed in off drop, no body damage but... broke both motor mounts and ripped trans mounts all to hell, bent bumper in a U shape! WOW! I now have a serious project on my hands. Got to have jeep to prospect with. Thank goodness I had a heavy duty plate for wench across frame or I would have had frame damage. Crazy!!!!!  |
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Post by Gold Seeker on Nov 24, 2013 13:15:04 GMT -5
Dang Art that's not good, hope all goes well with getting it back right, hopefully you won't find any further damage!
I was coming on here to post that now would be a good time to test the heater with the weather being as cold as it is.
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Post by RWH on Nov 24, 2013 20:50:10 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about the jeep man. Sure glad no one was hurt.
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Post by RWH on Nov 26, 2013 23:09:32 GMT -5
It was like xmas today Got my heater today and started putting it together. I put some extensions on the input and output sides with quick connects on the supply side and pneumatic connecters with my extra air line on the output side. I'm using surgical tubing with a pneumatic connecter and ball valve shutoff to go in my wetsuit. Then I got a call and my new glasses were finally ready so now I can see again. Walked out to the mailbox and got a nice little paycheck so now I can start my next project!! A Toy Hauler  |
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Post by Savage on Nov 27, 2013 5:27:39 GMT -5
I spent many hours in a wet suit. I used to surf year round. When it was really cold, I would wear my spring suit under my regular suit. No heaters. I would think that you would need very little flow of warm water to keep warm. The whole concept of the suit is for your body heat to heat the water. How much water flow is needed. I am not familiar with heated suits.
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Post by RWH on Nov 27, 2013 12:53:08 GMT -5
Planning on getting a portable wench for steep banks. I also use a dredge cart which makes moving the dredge into the trailer super easy and no wear and tear on the floats from dragging. as far as piping the wetsuit, no sure that is necessary at the moment. I will have to try it out with a single feed line first.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2013 16:16:41 GMT -5
Planning on getting a portable wench for steep banks. I also use a dredge cart which makes moving the dredge into the trailer super easy and no wear and tear on the floats from dragging. as far as piping the wetsuit, no sure that is necessary at the moment. I will have to try it out with a single feed line first. The zip line is probably the best method, no strain to anything and easily put into the water |
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Ya all can long arm it 
