Frenette's heater

[idnick]

DerTom and members:

   Yup. I built the Frenette-Heater out of a hot water heater tank. Size of tank was 16 in. dia.  I cut tank 26 inches for outside drum and 25 inches for inside drum.  Then I cut a strip out of the inside drum approx. 7/8 in. (can't remember)and compressed it and welded it back together which gave me the 1/8th clearance between the tube walls. Then I circled burned a ring 16 inches inside dia. and 18 inch outside dia. X 1/8 thickness and welded that to the outside tube to bold the top with bearing retainer on the heater.  Take note.  Top plate was 1/8 x 18 inch dia  Bottom plate with bearing retainer 1/8 X 16 inch dia. welded to bottom of heater.  Then I circle burned 1/8 inch plates for inside rotor and welded. Balancing the rotor isn't hard. Just put the top and bottom bearings horizental on a couple of supports and spin it. When it stops put a mark on the top of rotor. Run a few beads of weld (For weight) on upper or lower plate. and spin again. What we are trying to do is not have the mark stop at the same spot but at different places each time. Anyway. I ended up with clearance problems.(which I blaimed on my welding buddy) and set the whole project aside.

    Decided to build the James L Griggs heater.  First I priced a round of aluminum 8 inches dia. X 12 inches long. Figured that would be enuf for 3 heaters. Ouch!! Over $550.00. No problem. Looked into building a smelter to cast my own junk aluminum. Bingo!!!  Nice guys on the net showed me how to build the burner and kiln. Gotta thank them. Cost approx. $40.00 Ended up with a smelter that I could smelt 20 pounds of alum.at one time.  Built it out of a hot water tank Wouldn't ya know :-)??  

Back to the Griggs heater: I poured a 4 inch thick X 8 5/8 in. dia aluminum slug. Note: I poured it into the stainless steel tube I was going to use for the outside case of the heater. It sure was pretty.  Then I Put the slug in the lathe and bored for the shaft. Note: Next time I'll pour with shaft in mold to save a lot of time.   After pressing shaft through slug I mounted shaft with slug in lathe and turned slug down to 1/8 in. clearance of SS case.
    Next I poured two aluminum end caps to complete the outside case. Then drilled and tapped for pipe fittings, machined for bearings, seal and O-ring grooves to seal SS tube. End caps were 10 inches in dia so I could run four all thread bolts to hold heater together.
   
   First test was with heater filled with water and sealed.(Bad Plan) the rotor smooth, and a 3/4 hp 3600 rpm motor. Not enuf horsepower. Went with 2 to 1 ratio at 1800 rpm. Using a candy thurmator(SP) C-clamped to the case. In 20 minutes at 220 degrees F it blew seal out. Spooky!!!  Anyway I took rotor out and bored it with holes and grooves Hooked it up with 2hp 3600 rpm 2 to 1 ratio and in short time was producing live steam and lots of water knock. I even had it vented.  Next I'm going to auto trans. fluid and a radiatior.

I've got pictures of all this stuff and be more than willing to send to anyone who's interested.   Be careful with this hot stuff. I think it can be dangerous. Well it's been good talkin to ya. Gonna have another beer and continue.

Dave

[mbell]

You might want to check out this video. This guy uses the same principle with water. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2464139837181538044&q=water+to+steam&hl=en

[idnick]

mbell

If you reread my post, you'll see that I mentioned James L Griggs. He is not using MY method.  I am using HIS !!!!!!!!!

Dave

[mbell]

Dave
   Sorry about that I did not catch the name when I read your post. I did think his heater was quite amazing.

mbell

[FredWalter]

I've got pictures of all this stuff and be more than willing to send to anyone who's interested.

Could you upload them here, to the forum? Either individually, or zipped together?