How to Exchange Water to Hot Air Heat

A heat exchanger is a device which transfers thermal energy from one source to another. Heat exchangers are commonly found in the heating radiator in your home, the coils on the back of your refrigerator and the radiator on the front of your car. Moving heat between water and air requires a heat exchanger with a large surface area because of the low thermal conductivity of air. This type of heat exchanger can be constructed using copper tubing.

Thin-walled copper tubing
Duct tape
Heavy wooden dowel

Instructions

- 1
  Stretch the copper tubing out in a straight line on a hard and flat surface then duct tape to secure the ends of the tubing.
- 2
  Place the doweling 3 inches from one end then press down on the doweling while rolling it towards the other end of the tubing. This will crush the copper tubing slightly. Repeat until the tubing is about 1/2 its original diameter.
- 3
  Remove the duct tape then bend a 90-degree angle in the tubing at the start of the compressed section.
- 4
  Go down the tubing about 12 inches then set the doweling against the tubing and bend a 180 degree (U-shape) in the tubing.
- 5
  Bend another 180 degree bend where the straight section crosses by the 90 degree bend. Continue bending the tubing back and forth in an S-shape until you get to the other end.
- 6
  Screw the water connections onto the end of the tubing. Flow the air over the outside of the coils and the water through the inside. Heat will be transferred from the warmer substance to the colder substance.

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