Pre-Heating Fresh Water

[WISE]

My Prochem Legend SE is a great lil machine...however, on some of the larger commercial jobs here lately (cold winter nights [cold being Charleston cold like in the 30's; not Michigan cold!]) the heat x just can't keep up. Does anybody make like a 15-20 gallon metal box that could pre-heat the fresh water to the machine? First, I guess I should ask if that would work with the rest of the system. I am not a big fan of propane, but I guess that is about the only option to heat this thing if doable.

Suggestions on getting some fire to my Prochem please.

Thanks in advance--WISE

 

[WISE]

Maybe like the box on John's Hot Heat Exchanger site...the stainless mix tank? That is 4.5 gallons...not sure if any heating is going on there tho.

WISE

 

[Greenie]

Is the propane option just not convenient, fear of a flame in your van, or is it a space thing?

If nothing else, it's an extremely reliable, constant form of high heat, and best thing yet, you can have scorching heat without aging the components of your unit, you can also make use of high flow, which is one road, once you venture down you can never turn back.

These heaters come and go, this month I am reconditioning two #2s, and one #4.

 

[Matt King]

John could probably help you figure out a pre-heat system. Why don't you like LP though? It would probably be cheaper and it's such a simple set up to do. A nice 2ht or 3ht wouldn't take up much space at all. You'd have all the heat you desire at the control of a dial. I know most here would disagree but I truly think LP and Kero heat are going to make a comeback in our industry. Perhaps not on a large scale but you'll see more of it in the future...

 

[WISE]

I really don't have a major issue with propane...a friend of mine blew up his new TM and van however...but then again he's an idiot.

Space is not an issue...it is in a 14' Mits box truck.

How difficult is that to install? What temperature would you want to preheat the water to? How many gallon box is nec.? Propane tanks have to be stored outside the truck box or no?

Thanks again

WISE

 

[Johnnyone]

I have a legend also and the same issue with not enough heat in cold months. Some times I can hook up to there hot water heater and that get the heat up fast. I have also tried insulated tape on the exhaust and that get a few more degrees also.

 

[-JB-]

Does that unit have a heat exchanger? And what type of diverter system does it use to shut down the hot water when it does reach temp?
I had a 97legend that had a diverter valve that used to just dump the fresh hot into the waste tank when it reached temp., a piss poor set-up, I assume they have changed that by now, anyhow I put a splitter on the "dump" line running to the waste tank, so that the hot water was re-deposited into the fresh water tank. That thing got wicked hot! It actually melted the solder off of the in line filters, that's fraekin hOt! Got so hot I had to turn the exchanger off by mid day, or else it would overheat, forcing the unit to shut down until I ran cold water in the heat box.
I know I probably shouldn't oughta done that, as most will and have told me, but I ran it that way for 6+ years, and over 4k hrs, so I musta got pretty damn lucky, either that or it wasn't as bad for the machine as people thought.

 

[floorguy]

ok the guy being an idiot was the best part of that post..hahahaha

all you have to remember with propane is FRESH AIR, he probably had the thing all sealed up while running it...keep the fresh air in there and have it circulate.....also be sure to keep track of the valve that there is no prob