Diesel Heater - Where to put it!

[Rosy]

After my first experience of camping with a diesel air heater I’ve decided that this is one mod worth making permanent! Waking up in warm air is just next level comfort but my current setup is just too bulky (consuming two wolf boxes) and apparently too noisy for those sensitive light sleeping neighbours cough @fbnss , @Trevor cough.

I have decided on the new Eberspaecher D2L S2. With a brushless fan motor and improved dosing pump design, this unit offers the best acoustic stats and at 2kw should be plenty for keeping the tent warm.

I am undecided on location, but my current thought is to mount the heater in the rear passenger step area on the drivers’ side. In this location I should be able to vent the combustion gases to the exposed side of the truck, i.e. the opposite side of the awning. It is also close enough to the main tank sender that getting diesel to the unit should be relatively straightforward.

I know a couple of you have diesel heaters permanently mounted in your rigs and I would be very grateful if you could share your experience add any pictures of where you have mounted your unit.

Any thoughts or suggestions also welcome.

Cheers

Rosy

 

[fbnss]

you wanna get that cough checked out young man....

 

[fbnss]

ps... dibs on any old jet engines you may have going spare.

 

[nick_the_fish]

I mounted mine under the truck in a waterproof box. Basically because there is no room left in the truck, and we are running the hot air into the roof tent so it made sense to keep everything outside the truck. While we are driving it is sealed enough to avoid water ingress from puddles/ spray etc, although its easily demountable if I ever need to ford a river, which won't be doing very often I don't think.

We've got the same Eberspaecher D2L S2 and its bloody brillant. Once in the roof tent it gets things really cosy really quick, plus I have wired it so the controller can come into the RT so the thermostat is inside the tent.

Like you say - a mod well worth doing if you think you are going to be in cold conditions a lot.

Let me know if you want some photos of the set-up.

 

[Chris]

I have a 2kW heater and I can barely get it to go low enough. I'd have bought a smaller one for sure if I'd known. It's like a sauna. Far too warm to leave on most of the time.

 

[Andy]

.
heater mounted on a plate on nsr & sealed, exhaust in front of rear wheel, combustion air inlet both successfully covered with a rubber glove when doing deep water crossings.
thermostat in tent= luxury,!

 

[Rosy]

@nick_the_fish that sounds interesting, I hadn't considered a completely external install. Do you have any pictures of your setup?

@Andy that's exactly what I had in mind! I like how youve handled the exhaust. Easily accessible for when you need to make it watertight. Could I ask where you placed the combustion intake hose?

 

[karl webster]

View attachment 168801View attachment 168802.
heater mounted on a plate on nsr & sealed, exhaust in front of rear wheel, combustion air inlet both successfully covered with a rubber glove when doing deep water crossings.
thermostat in tent= luxury,!

Your brave Andy.
Is that exhaust direct through the body?

 

[Shayne]

These run on diesel right ?

What about a lift pump and fit the thing under your roof rack ?

 

[Rosy]

Your brave Andy.

Why do you say that Karl? BTW I cant remember how you mounted yours, didn't you also go for fully external?

 

[Rosy]

These run on diesel right ?

What about a lift pump and fit the thing under your roof rack ?

thats an interesting idea Shayne, not sure Ive got the clearance to permanently mount it under the roof rack. On top of the tent in a similar wolf box might be an option but id like to make it a permanent addition where its less vulnerable to theft.

 

[Chris]

Why would you need a lift pump? These things burn a teaspoon an a hour. You'd only need a tank the size of a pint milk carton for a whole weekend.

 

[Andy]

Your brave Andy.
Is that exhaust direct through the body?

The exhaust ( & air intake) come directly from Under the heater through the floor, I made up a plate & mounted the heater on it.

why brave??

 

[nick_the_fish]

Here you go @Rosy

So it sits in that little space on the drivers side. The box came off ebay i think and is specifically made for the ebspacher. The side comes off to mount the heater inside, then I bolted it through the floor and sealed it up. Needed to do a bit of work on the back side to get the cable hole waterproof. The small black hose is the combustion intake and sits just above the chassis. The metal hose is the exhaust and sits as high as it can in the well by the gearbox (on the passenger side to avoid fumes). Both ends are covered when in transit. Both the hot air hoses are sealed with stoppers from Ebspacher which twist off easily ready to take the air hose. I ran the diesel hose inside the chassis to avoid is tangeling on anything, and ran the electrical cables into the cab by the drivers side back seat.

The hose runs up to the tent (and my lad doing some user testing)

Honestly, i'd say its the best set-up i could manage given the lack of space we have - there are going to be 4 of us living in this set-up for (hopefully) a couple of years (Covid dependant) and this was seen as a nice to have so didn't get assigned premium space. HOWEVER there are drawbacks, namely crossing high water, which I don't think will happen very often, but will happen.

Ultimately, the worst that can happen is water gets into it and it craps out on us, which is inconvenient but not a show stopper.

 

[Andy]

Rosy, I think you have seen my ducting set up to the tent, maybe not the neatest, and only takes about a minute to set up with no holes drilled in the truck or tent, but I also wanted to be able to open the doors etc with the tent heating on, and also have the facility to heat the truck internally when its cold / frosty etc, switch it on & all the snow & ice disappear before driving off!

easy to access the heater should it require any maintenance etc

the fuel connections etc are all tucked up on top of the chassis rail, never had any problems with very deep water crossings in Russia, just covered the air inlet & exhaust each morning, no need to bother doing this unless deep water is expected

chris’s heaer in a box solution is a good idea for portability, subject to storage space being available ( roof rack in your case???)

 

[Shayne]

I have pics in my phone of my tent covered in ice when i slept in it for a week but i was toasty warm in my 5 season sleeping bag so i hadn't considered a heater , its just occurred to me what a godsend one would have been when it came to putting the tent down so i could drive every morning . Had to fill the jetboil twice to get the telescopic ladder working .

 

[nick_the_fish]

@Andy could you post a pic of your hot air ducting set-up? I'd be interested to see how you've done it. I like the idea of using a rubber glove to cover the combustion inlet and exhaust - way more low tech then my idea and probably way more effective!

 

[Chris]

Yes mine is all in a case. Completely self contained. No need to worry about water crossings and of course if it's nice and sunny, you can just leave it at home. Connect the leads to power and push the hose onto the outlet and you're away. It works with the fold out style tent because the hose will fit through the hinge aea but if you wanted to heat a shell tent like a JB, there's really no current way to blow the air in and keep the tent sealed up. The beauty is that it can be used with the roof tent, it can be used on the ground with the Oz Tent and with this adaptor, it can be used with the timer to defrost and heat the car ready for an early set off. The issue is always going to be in getting the air from the heater to where you want it. You could build it into a Wolf box which sat on the roof along with all the other gubbins but you still need to get the heater hose into the tent. You could use a hole cutter and make a very neat hole in the shell, but as these things are like £3k would you want to cut a hole in it?

 

[karl webster]

The exhaust ( & air intake) come directly from Under the heater through the floor, I made up a plate & mounted the heater on it.

why brave??

Cant see from the photo. You obviously know all about combustion areas like with house flues. does it not bother you how hot the exhaust pipe gets? I may be being paranoid. just interested.

 

[karl webster]

Why do you say that Karl? BTW I cant remember how you mounted yours, didn't you also go for fully external?

Mines under the drivers seat at the min. Just fitted one in the caravan and have one in the box trailer. all internall mounted with intake and exhaust external. as andy said most mount them on a 150x150mm plate and screw that to the floor.