Homemade Bottle heater, anyone ever try?

[AlienInv8r]

Well, I had to quit my job a few weeks back so I could concentrate on school more, and my cash inflow has ceased now. I'm hoping to install my kit in the upcoming weeks since spring and warm weather are on their way. I've got the basic 5175 kit, but I don't have a bottle heater. A lot of people have told me that a heater really is a necessity, but they're so expensive for just a heating pad.
So I was wondering if I could make my own mock-up and have it work similar to a bottle heater. I've got a few ideas floating around right now, but my main one is to just use an electric blanket. I don't use mine since it is warm now, and it will just sit in my closet otherwise. Could I just wrap the blanket around my bottle, and use a power inverter to operate the blanket?? Has anyone ever tried something similar to this? I was just curious if it would work, and that'd save my like $100 if I could make that work and all. I was just looking for some input, or other ideas that are inexpensive since I'm trying to save some cash for now. Thanks

[Ian]

ill put it this way. if a heater gets the PSI too high, your car will blow up.

is that worth the $80 you'd save?


do it right, the first time. this goes ESPECIALLY for nitrous.

[V6Firebird94]

lol the car wont really blow up, nitrous itself isnt explosive the bottle under high pressure is explosive so make sure u have a pressure gauge on your bottle before u try any home made bottle heater....if he has a pressure guage tho he can watch for signs of the bottle getting to hot...im not sure how well the electric blanket would work cuz ive considered doin it myself cuz i dont wanna spend the $200 on the kit that comes with the heater so if u do try it and it works good let me kno


although i am going to just by the heater cuz i dont wanna have a nice ride with a sh!tty set up lol..but like u the money aint exactly there right now cuz of school so if it works for ya ill try it out when i goto the track

[V6Firebird94]

oh ya ive seen some rednecks at the track heating their bottle with a propane torch, wouldnt recommend that crazy hillbillies lol---no offense to any one---ive also heard of some people puttin their bottle in boiling water to build up pressure but neither of these would be my choice nor would i say a good idea especially the propane torch can we say blowin the bottle up..

[Ian]

yea, thats what i was gettin at, too much pressure in the tank. if you dont remember, that maxima website where the guy wired his bottle heater to a constant 12V source instead of an ign. source, left it on, parked the car in his garage, and not only blew the back half the car off, but also blew a hole in his roof and garage door.

id still do it right, and get just a heater seperately, not the entire GENX-2 upgrade kit if you dont want.

friend of mine uses a propane torch at the track to heat it up, but he is also and idiot. you'd think a kid running a 400 shot could afford a bottle heater and not be a dumbazz about it...

[AlienInv8r]

Yeah, I was reading about the boiling water thing people do. I would never even think to use a blow torch, that just sounds outright crazy. I did read on another random site (google search) that some guy did this on his car with good results, although it was in a saturn so I dont know how reliable his info is. I do have a pressure gauge on my bottle, and this was going to be temporary till summer comes and I have more cash again. My plan was to heat it for like 10-15minutes and monitor the pressure, then to just turn it off. I figured the electric blanket while off would then act just like a bottle blanket and keep the heat in so pressure stays constant. I guess it is safe to assume it would work provided I just monitor the bottle pressure. And once again, this was meant to just be temporary till the summer when I have enough income to purchase a few more accessories, and in theory I would imagine it would work right.

I do understand taking shortcuts with nitrous is something you dont do. But I really dont think this is a shortcut necessarily. It's the same idea, and as long as pressure is monitored, it should work fine I'd think.

[12secondv6]

Sigh, blowtorch is UNSAFE!
It weakens the integrity of the bottle.

As for warm water, I tried it and it does not maintain temp.

As for the blanket idea...... not worth it, but could work.

The tank is designed w/ a disc to rupture if psi gets too high. If that fail safe does not work then the tank rupturing will cause damage.

Not worth it, at all

[AlienInv8r]

I guess I'm still just confused as to why it would not work, or at least help? Does it not get hot enough to compare to a real bottle heater? It'd take me like 5 minutes to wrap the bottle and plug it into a power inverter. My plan was to heat up the bottle and turn it off right around 1000psi. Then just leave the bottle there as a plain jane bottle blanket.

I guess my question is should I give this a shot as long as I monitor bottle pressure, just run for a few weeks w/o a heater, or completely wait on the nitrous till summer when I can get a heater? I know not everyone uses heaters, I figured giving it a little heat would be better than none at all. I am still new to nitrous, so I'm still learning everything. I guess I'm just looking for an explanation as to why it wouldnt work if I were to monitor the bottle pressure (I do have a gauge on my bottle to check)

[12secondv6]

It may not get hot enough.

I'm not about to say yes, do it.

I know, if I touch my NOS bottle warmer I burn my hand :(
Elec blankets have never burned me

[AlienInv8r]

That's what I figured. A friend a while back when I first bought the kit told me that the warmer got really freakin hot.
I think I may give it a shot, but just watch everything very closely. Of course I haven't even installed my kit yet, and with my procrastination abilities, it may not even happen till summer when I'll be able to afford the warmer. I figure it will at least give me a few more psi though than a cold bottle, but I will definitely do some more research before having at it.

[slow]

www.dynotune.org replacement heater pad $55
95 degree Thermo stats, (upgrade from the 85 degree stats that come with nos heater) $20 shipped. (i have one set of these left, i bought many sets off a member of ls1.com a while back)
Relay, 10 gauge wire, and a switch ($15)

Bottle heater for under $100, more powerful than NX heats to 1000 psi (approx)

Ryan.

[AlienInv8r]

does that mean that 95degrees is roughly 1000 psi, or does that need to connect to a pressure gauge of some sort so that it does not overpressurize?
Sorry if I'm sounding naive, I'm just trying to learn what I can piece by piece to put the whole puzzle together with how everything works.

[John_D.]

The NOS 85 degree thermostat is good for 850-900 psi. The aftermarket 95 degree thermostat is good for 950-1000 psi.

The real bottle heater has a faster recovery time than an electric blanket.

I saw someone use an electric blanket at a dyno 2 weeks ago. It works but it's slow.

If you tie a thermostat into the 12v line, then it will cycle the heater on and off as needed.

If it's hot and sunny outside, you might not even need a heater for the first run. But it will help the bottle temp recover faster for a second run, even in mid-summer.