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Post Info TOPIC: Diesel heater into compact Motorhome space


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Diesel heater into compact Motorhome space


Has anyone fitted a 12v diesel heater into a fairly small compact place in their motorhome?

How was this experience and what brand/model did you use? Would you recommend it?

I am not looking to fit it myself and will be paying someone to do the job for me.

Interested in your experiences.

 

Cheers,

Wayne



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Wayne o wrote:

Has anyone fitted a 12v diesel heater into a fairly small compact place in their motorhome?

How was this experience and what brand/model did you use? Would you recommend it?

I am not looking to fit it myself and will be paying someone to do the job for me.

Interested in your experiences.

 

Cheers,

Wayne


 Hi Wayne. My diesel heater is a Truma Combi, which also supplies hot water as I have no gas supply in my van. Anyway, rough dimensions are 550mm long, 500mm wide and 300mm high and it weighs 14kg+/-. However, if you're buying on a budget, it may not suit but I can highly recommend it, as it easily heats my 6 metre van in VERY low temperatures, supplies all my hot water needs and uses SFA diesel, something like 1 litre for 8 hours overnight, set at a comfortable 19 degrees. Very happy with it, and can heat van interior up to 30 degrees, for what reason I do not know! You will no doubt get responses from some members who have bought El Cheapo from China, and are exceedingly happy, but I like to do it once, do it well! Cheers

P.S Unit has 4 outlets so can be piped anywhere in the motorhome. Great to get out of thebhot shower into a warm bedroom!



-- Edited by yobarr on Sunday 8th of May 2022 03:26:47 PM

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Wayne o wrote:

Has anyone fitted a 12v diesel heater into a fairly small compact place in their motorhome?

How was this experience and what brand/model did you use? Would you recommend it?

I am not looking to fit it myself and will be paying someone to do the job for me.

Interested in your experiences.

 Cheers,

Wayne


 Hi Wayne.

We have a 2 kw ebay cheap diesel heater, roughly $230, then I paid $300 to have it fitted (I should of done it myself).

Now I must make it clear, it is a 2 kw not the 5 kw, I spoke with the supplier and I received the smaller unit which you will most times find at a dearer price.

Ours is working a treat, warms the 6 metre caravan up in about 20 minutes, we run it at halfway not full on, uses little fuel.

But, yes there is a but, about 18 months on we had a failure, the main 12 volt power supply wire was traced to be the problem by enlarging this wire from the battery to the unit and at the sometime I installed a inline master switch to turn the LED screen off when not in use, as I had read they will dull after a few years and this will resolved this possible issue.

The outer unit it self hardly gets warm, yes the exhaust pipe will but the casing around the heat exchanger only moderately, the hot air side tubing gets hot, a air gap around the tubing to the vent is required. 

the area we have our in is 600 long x160 wide x 180 high. In small motorhome you could as they do in Europe, have the heater, exposed behind the passenger seat

There is lots of info to learn by on facebook and google.

Looking forward to our winter travels this year with our 2 kW cheapo diesel heater.

20200727 040 disel heater.JPG20210624 8159 diesel heater Concept.jpg

l



-- Edited by Radar on Monday 9th of May 2022 11:51:35 AM

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Fitted an Eberspacher D2 under the bed in our Avan Cruiseliner in 2012.  

Certainly keeps the place warm.



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Thanks to everyone who responded, and especially to you that included photographs.

At the moment, I am looking at the Webasto diesel heater. Not cheap, but hoping it is a
buy once then forget.

I have just put a deposit on a '22 Jayco Conquest RM20.5 motorhome. This is the small one
based on the Renault Master platform. I am just a lone traveller and have test driven the unit
and was very happy with it.

Unfortunately, Jayco will not retrofit a diesel heater into this motorhome even though one is
offerred as an option. You either order it and they include it in the build or do without, according
to them.

My local Avan dealer will however fit one.

Jayco is adding a second house battery and I am just hoping they leave enough room for the
addition of the diesel heater. I tell them to make sure they do.

Space is very limited in the new motorhome but I am hoping it should suit a lone traveller just fine.
It is marketed as a 2 person motorhome.

Thanks again for your responses and happy travels to you all.

Wayne

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I have a Webasto water heater in the OKA and have ordered an Eberspacher D5E HS3 for the new build.
These heat water (or glycol), not air and pump that around to radiators for central heating and to a calorifier for hot water. Best thing since sliced bread :)
With a motorhome, the glycol circuit can also be connected to the motor so every time you drive the HWS gets hot from waste engine heat in about 20 minutes of driving. Any time we stop for a coffee or for the evening, the HWS is fully heated.
We can run this to heat the bathroom to dry the laundry while we drive without using any extra fuel. The bathroom has a sliding window to facilitate this.
In cold conditions, the engine can be preheated before you start it. Good for the motor.
Cheers,
Peter

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My $185 eBay Chinese diesel heater has something in the region of 3000 hours running time to date and is still working well.



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Mike Harding wrote:

My $185 eBay Chinese diesel heater has something in the region of 3000 hours running time to date and is still working well.


 I'm tempted Mike. That's amazing.

 

Wayne

 

 



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Wayne o wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:

My $185 eBay Chinese diesel heater has something in the region of 3000 hours running time to date and is still working well.


 I'm tempted Mike. That's amazing. 


I live in my caravan and spend most of my time in Victoria so, especially in winter, the heater gets a lot of use and as it uses only 125mL of diesel per hour (min. setting) cost of running is insignificant.

My unit is 5kW and is overkill for a caravan but it seems most (all?) eBay heaters are 5kW even if advertised as 2kW. Once the van is up to temperature I crack open a window at either end which keeps a temperature balance.

An advantage of the 5kW unit is that apart from the first 30 minutes on very cold mornings the heater is always run at its lowest setting, this makes it almost silent and minimises wear on fan bearings and the pump.

Two or three times per year I run the heater, at its maximum, on pure kerosene for about 20 to 30 minutes which, hopefully, burns out any carbon build-up, don't run it too often on kerosene as it doesn't provide much lubrication for the pump.

I was so impressed with the heater that shortly after fitting I purchased a second as a spare so in the event of failure I could do quick changeover and fault find at my leisure - the second still sits unused in its box :)

There is not much to go wrong with these heaters; pump, control unit, glow plug and/or screen but spares are cheap and readily available from eBay.

Having a good heater makes life in a caravan in cooler climes *so* much more pleasant :)



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Mike Harding wrote:
Two or three times per year I run the heater, at its maximum, on pure kerosene for about 20 to 30 minutes which, hopefully, burns out any carbon build-up, don't run it too often on kerosene as it doesn't provide much lubrication for the pump.

 


 I think you will find that they can run on pure kero all the time without any detriment, not that there is much reason to do that in Australia. It is quite expensive compared to diesel. They do this in some places to overcome the problems with high altitude.

I always add 10% kero to the diesel in ours.

Cheers,

Peter



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Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:
Two or three times per year I run the heater, at its maximum, on pure kerosene for about 20 to 30 minutes which, hopefully, burns out any carbon build-up, don't run it too often on kerosene as it doesn't provide much lubrication for the pump.

 


 I think you will find that they can run on pure kero all the time without any detriment, not that there is much reason to do that in Australia. It is quite expensive compared to diesel. They do this in some places to overcome the problems with high altitude.

I always add 10% kero to the diesel in ours.

Cheers,

Peter


 Same Here.

I also fire it up for 15 minutes once a month.  



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elliemike wrote:
Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:
Two or three times per year I run the heater, at its maximum, on pure kerosene for about 20 to 30 minutes which, hopefully, burns out any carbon build-up, don't run it too often on kerosene as it doesn't provide much lubrication for the pump.

 


 I think you will find that they can run on pure kero all the time without any detriment, not that there is much reason to do that in Australia. It is quite expensive compared to diesel. They do this in some places to overcome the problems with high altitude.

I always add 10% kero to the diesel in ours.

Cheers,

Peter


 Same Here.

I also fire it up for 15 minutes once a month.  


 Why????



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"Why?"
Kero burns cleaner and stops the diesel from gelling in very cold weather.
Winter diesel should stop that from happening, but a randem cold night in the Flinders caught us out once and the tiny fuel hose has no resistance, unlike the larger hoses for the vehicle which seems more tollerent.
Cheers,
Peter

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Rader I suggest that you paint the cut edges of the ply floor to protect the ply to save problems in the future.

Barry

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BAZZA44 wrote:

Rader I suggest that you paint the cut edges of the ply floor to protect the ply to save problems in the future.

Barry


 You are so right Barry, will do that in coming days. It was a real oversight on my be half.

Thank you. Ralph.



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KJB wrote:
elliemike wrote:
Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:
Two or three times per year I run the heater, at its maximum, on pure kerosene for about 20 to 30 minutes which, hopefully, burns out any carbon build-up, don't run it too often on kerosene as it doesn't provide much lubrication for the pump.

 


 I think you will find that they can run on pure kero all the time without any detriment, not that there is much reason to do that in Australia. It is quite expensive compared to diesel. They do this in some places to overcome the problems with high altitude.

I always add 10% kero to the diesel in ours.

Cheers,

Peter


 Same Here.

I also fire it up for 15 minutes once a month.  


 Why????


 Item 8 on the Eberspacher Routine Maintenance Schedule  reccomends you do it

Run D2 heater.jpg



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Wow, I am learning heaps here about diesel heaters.

I would never have known about adding kerosene to the diesel.

I will also make sure I do the monthly test run as suggested. I'm pretty sure my
heater will be used frequently anyway.

Thanks everyone for your responses, they are very much appreciated.

Keep them coming if you have more to add. I am very happy to learn more.

In the meantime, take care and happy travels to you all.

regards,

Wayne

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Installed an eberspacher D2 into a boat more than 20 years ago - it cost about $1800 for the unit plus extra ducts. I moved it into a caravan, and a few years later into a camper. It still fires up without drama and I have never serviced it. I put an Eberspacher D4 into the boat and that has been faultless for about 15 years. And a Chinese cheapy for $180 has never given problems after about 6 years. They are a good thing to have if you camp in Victoria.

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WayneO have a look on line at the installation specs for any of these diesel heaters, you might very well find you can install it under the floor of the van and take up no space at all, just the heat / return vents poking thru somewhere. It might need an aluminium box for protection.

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Sarge9 wrote:

WayneO have a look on line at the installation specs for any of these diesel heaters, you might very well find you can install it under the floor of the van and take up no space at all, just the heat / return vents poking thru somewhere. It might need an aluminium box for protection.


That's certainly not the case with my heater, it is far from waterproof and would not survive external mounting.



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Hello Wayne o.. I believed the yarn about using kerosine in with the diesel and tried it out using heating kero from the big green shed.. I started with only a small amount of kero and very pleased that I did.. Remember that smell that you got from the old kerosine heater many years ago .. Thats the smell that you are stuck with for a long time .. When the heater is first started up there may be a slight smell of diesel around the van for a brief time.. That did not seem to be the case when using the kero. It was an constant smell in the caravan and we were pleased when that fuel was gone.. My diesel heater is a C.D.H 3kw and been wonderful.. just running on diesel. safe travels.

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markmack wrote:

Hello Wayne o.. I believed the yarn about using kerosine in with the diesel and tried it out using heating kero from the big green shed.. I started with only a small amount of kero and very pleased that I did.. Remember that smell that you got from the old kerosine heater many years ago .. Thats the smell that you are stuck with for a long time .. When the heater is first started up there may be a slight smell of diesel around the van for a brief time.. That did not seem to be the case when using the kero. It was an constant smell in the caravan and we were pleased when that fuel was gone.. My diesel heater is a C.D.H 3kw and been wonderful.. just running on diesel. safe travels.


 Something wrong with your setup if you've got kero or diesel smells in the van, I'd suggest, as I can smell neither in my van. However, it is imperative that you put kero in with the diesel when temperatures are low, and equally important that the heater be run flat out for a few minutes each month. Peter n Margaret, among others, seem to know all the ins and outs of Diesel Heaters and may offer more specific advice. (Not ADVISE) Cheers



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markmack wrote:

 It was an constant smell in the caravan and we were pleased when that fuel was gone.. 


 Something is very wrong. It could kill you.

Do you have a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm? Get one and get the heater checked FAST before using it again.

Cheers,

Peter



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Fitted my own (Chinese cheapy) into a very small space under the bed.
Photo diary here:-

photos.app.goo.gl/6VFpPrnTbBNZcmtL7

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