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This project is a dryer conversion, to add heat from an outdoor furnace to the electric heat the dryer already uses. There were some mishaps and adventures in the process, but it's done now and it works. I'm using the outdoor furnace heat through my dryer exclusively since it's been completed. That'll work in our Minnesota climate all through winter.
I thought someone might be interested in how it's done, so here's some pictures and a few notes on how Dale would have done it differently if his space for the dryer was shaped differently.
First of all, you don't want to do this to a new dryer. It'll definitely void your warranty! My dryer was 10 years old and had to be taken apart anyway to fix a bearing that was going out, so no big deal if the job didn't work.
In my clothes dryer, the heating element is in back of the drum. My dryer fits under the counter in my laundry room, so there was a space issue we had to deal with. Because putting the heat exchanger onto the side of the dryer would make it not fit back under the counter, Dale had to attach the heat exchanger to the back. He says this isn't the best place for it, and if he could have gone with putting the heat exchanger onto the side, he would have done it that way.
Close ups of dryer conversion images are here
First step in the conversion is to drill the holes that heated air will be pushed through.
All the holes as they've been drilled.
A close-up of the holes, I don't know why.
This is the heat exchanger that will be attached to the back of the dryer.
Here is the heat exchanger being attached to the back of the dryer.
Here, Dale covered the grill with aluminum tape to plug off the air source and force air through the heat exchanger.
This is a view of how the heat exchanger attaches to the dryer.
Here is a view of how Dale hooked the heat exchanger into the hydronic heating system which is fed from the outdoor stove
