Adventurer1

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I've had two heat exchangers, one home made one, and a Twine one. The home made one was on a 60 Series Cruiser, and was absolutely brilliant. At just off idle, I had to turn the heater control right down low, to be able to stand under the flow for a shower (no pre-heating or recirculating). The Twine one on my 2.8 Patrol was very disappointing, and the motor had to be run at a very fast idle (1500rpm) to get any real warmth in the water (first pass). I ended up making a bypass setup on the supply hoses to the rose, to make recirculating the water easier. With the disappointing heating by the Twine system, I ended up selling the exchanger, and now use a canvas bag shower. A word of warning with the HE showers, and that is to be careful of the scolding water which can come out if the pump has been turned off and that small amount of water sitting in the exchanger. Very dangerous for little kids. There are a couple of safeguards for this problem, one is to be able to recirculate the water rather than turn the pump off, or the other is to use a mixing valve to maintain a safe water temp. Another good idea to make your HE a bit more efficient both at heating the water, and saving water, is to block the outer one or two rings of holes on your shower rose. This slows the water down, so that you don't use so much, and also allows the HE to heat a bit better.