- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
- Messages
- 5,456
- Reaction score
- 69
No worries. Reading suggests smearing silicon sealant in the depression between copper pipe and ali back sheet to aid heat transfer and protect against electrolytic reaction - I guess OK if you're excluding moisture from the "interface" it should work.........they say to paint it all black AFTER they've been "siliconed" together. I wonder whether better to paint the ali sheet and pipework separately THEN silicon together, i.e. adding another layer (of paint) to guard against a reaction. Other reading suggests indeed smearing with heat transfer paste!Thanks for the book, much appreciated. We don't even get frost in winter so I would have much use for snowmobile plans but thanks for the offer anyway.
I'd try to get as much close tight contact between the copper pipe and the aluminium as possible to aid heat conduction between the two. You have about 20% of the pipe circumference in contact, maybe try more for 30-40% if you can. It would be even better if you run some solder between the two but I don't think it's easy to solder aluminum to copper so maybe some heat paste.
Got to find myself a cheap 15mm, 5/8" or 17mm round nose router cutter (maybe called a "core box bit") so I can cut round bottom grooves in a lump of hardwood to make a former..............plenty available from the States, Hong Kong etc for less than a fiver but here, still looking!
Last edited by a moderator: