tractor truck radiator for hx

[jj2003]

I know this has been touch lightly before but I got my hands on a dump truck radiator its about 3 foot across by 5 foot high and about 3 inches thick. would this make enough btus if i were turn it into a air handler?

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Dissimiliar metal corrosion, in this case caused by the aluminum in the rad, something you want to avoid as it will eat out your boiler. Bad trade cheap emmiter (the rad) expensive boiler repair/replacement.

 

[North of 60]

Dissimiliar metal corrosion, in this case caused by the aluminum in the rad, something you want to avoid as it will eat out your boiler.

Ohhh popooh. Whats copper? Its a dissimilar metal. Whats most wall hung High efficiency boilers HEXs made out of? ALUMINUM What are large CBVS made out of? ALUMINUM. These items are all piped into a black iron system. If there is any concern use dielectrics at the terminal conections.. If its a closed loop system and oxy scavengers are used along with rust inhibitors then the systems fluid being water or glycol (aluminum compatible) then you pretty much end up with an inert liquid over a short period of time. This is coming from a warm Canuck.

 

[benjamin]

It will make the btu's you need. Another issued might be fitting a 3x5' radiator into a duct plenum, unless you have an old monster of a furnace in place that you can gut and retrofit. You have to figure out what kind of system you'll have to determine what other problems you might run into. If this was hooked up to an unpresurrized stainless boiler you'd be fine assuming this is a copper radiator and not plastic and aluminum. Even if it was hooked up to an open carbon steel system, the corrosion will be primarily in the pipes close to the copper, not the boiler. The pressure rating on a radiator is typically much less than the air coils that are essentially refridgeration coils rated for several hundred psi. Another issue will be adapting your piping to your 2" radiator nipples.

 

[RobC]

You can have dissimilar metals in a system. But they have to be close to each other. Like copper, brass and steel. Aluminum, zinc and magnesium for example are not close enough to common boiler parts not end up with problems of some sort some time.
http://www.engineersedge.com/galvanic_capatability.htm
Rob

 

[Dune]

The big issue is the difference in working pressure. If you could keep the pressure under 13 psi, you'd be O.K.