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[Guru]

Well, The neighbor is donating his dryer for my next project.  It is Whirlpool electric dryer and I plan to hook up a rad to it.  Is there anyone out there who has tried this or is there a kit available?

I think all I should have to do is remove the electric element and build a plenum to channel the air from the rad to the blower.

I know this wont be as interesting as the guy building the outdoor wood gasifier, but it should be fun and I will take lots of pictures!

[rick n kristi]

Sounds good to me, cant wait on photos!

[jackel440]

Hey,this will be more important than my gassifier.Everyone can use of of these if you get working really well.I have heard of one person doing this,and supposedly it worked very well.I never found out who did it or see any pics of it.I am going to like seeing this done.I want to have one to dry all my shop towels,and horse blankets out in the garage instead of hauling them to the laundromat.
What kind of rad are you going to use?I had considered an heater core out of a truck or car.Maybe one for one of those add on heaters for a jeep or tractor?
Good luck,and bring on lots of pics.

[Scott7m]

I threw away the perfect dryer to try this on.......   i regret it!

I cant wait to see how it goes for ya!  It would bring my electric bills down probably another 40 a month

[juddspaintballs]

How many BTU's does the standard electric dryer produce for high heat?

[willieG]

How many BTU's does the standard electric dryer produce for high heat?

I THINK I READ BETWEEN 20 AND 30,000 AND IALSO BELIEVE THERE ARE KITS AVAILABLE FROM SOME MAKERS
 (sorry for the caps but i am too lazy to retype it)

[Russ Brumit]

I ran into this site. I bought a used dryer to experiment on awile back. Haven't got the time yet.. Cant take the chance of messin up the wifes  dryer. Here s one ready for the small sum of 850.00

  http://www.outdoorwoodfurnaceparts.com/products.php?cat=18

[tulenutn2o]

Hey,this will be more important than my gassifier.Everyone can use of of these if you get working really well.I have heard of one person doing this,and supposedly it worked very well.I never found out who did it or see any pics of it.I am going to like seeing this done.I want to have one to dry all my shop towels,and horse blankets out in the garage instead of hauling them to the laundromat.
What kind of rad are you going to use?I had considered an heater core out of a truck or car.Maybe one for one of those add on heaters for a jeep or tractor?
Good luck,and bring on lots of pics.

Jackel, the heater core should work fine. I built my heat exchanger for a part of my shop and office/ bath room using tractor radiator and electric radiator fan, office, bath uses a heater core from a ford pick-up in a heater box from an old ambulance with twin 12v blowers. My shop is still in progress at the moment so 12v fans and solar panel are not permanent wired yet.( actually, I have been running fans off of battery charger. A work in progress for sure. I would classify my setup as farmer engineered/ barebones but works fantastic. I too am going to work on a dryer conversion in the future when, I have some spare time(when honey dues are done....LOL! are they ever done?)

[jackel440]

That's how I do all my stuff.ENgineer it myself so it hopefully won't fail,and be easier to service.
Using 12 volt fans in your shop with solar panels is a pretty neat idea.
I hope Guru's project comes out real nice.I would like to see this work.That way I know what I have to do.I just replace my wifes dryer,and the old one is laying out back.MAybe I should hold off taking it to the scrap yard.

[jbird77]

Shoot yeah iam gonna keep close watch on this , I would love to stick it to the electric co. a little more every chance i get .

[RSI]

I have had one running for about 4 or 5 years. I used a gas Whirlpool. An electric one would work but would require some rewiring especially if you don't want to have to run it on 220v.
A normal dryer uses about 17,000 BTU. (5KW electric or gas around 23,000 btu @ 75% efficient)

[Scott7m]

I have had one running for about 4 or 5 years. I used a gas Whirlpool. An electric one would work but would require some rewiring especially if you don't want to have to run it on 220v.
A normal dryer uses about 17,000 BTU. (5KW electric or gas around 23,000 btu @ 75% efficient)

lets see some pics, i would love to hear more about it

[RSI]

I guess I don't get emails to replies here.
I will take some pics if I remember in the next day or two. It is nothing pretty but works. I just used a heat exchanger I had laying around and not a very good size for it but was free.