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Diesel Heater - Where to put it!

karl webster said:
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.
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Don't under estimate the heat from the exhaust..... our Ducato Camper van heater exhaust exits pointing down about 10-12 inches from the ground.....generates enough heat to wilt grass after a nights stop ..... I'd be inclined to duct it into the chassis section ;-)
 
Thought I’d update this thread with the finished install should someone else find it useful in the future.

For location, I went with rear passenger step area as I initially thought. Thanks @Andy for the pics which made it easier to visualise what it would look like when finished. In my opinion, this location also had the following advantages:
  • Short run to the main tank sender
  • Exhaust heat shield also acts as a perfect weather shield above which I mounted the dosing pump
  • All intake, exhaust and fuel lines are higher than the chassis rail and sidestep so should be reasonably well protected from damage
  • Air Intake and Exhaust are easy to access and cover if i ever need to drive through more than a puddle
I tried to mitigate exhaust gasses pooling under the truck by making a short detachable section of hose that routes the gasses just short of the sidestep to minimise the risk of contact burns.
If anyone want to use this location i highly recommend a 45 degree fuel line elbow and 90 degree air intake elbow (see 3rd pic) as these make it very easy to cross over the chassis rail to create the exhaust/intake separation recommended in the installation notes.

My first impression is wow, after the unit get up to temp it is incredibly quiet and doesn’t struggle getting there even though it’s a 2KW.

I’ve got a few things left to do including making a baseboard to protect the unit and a window passthrough for the hose but those should be the easy bits. I intend to reuse the quick attach flanges from my Chinese heater-in-a-box to make setup as quick and effortless as possible.

Thanks to everyone who shared there setups!

Rosy 1 - Heater Cutouts.jpg2 - Heater Cabin.jpg3 - Exhaust and Intake.jpg4 - Silencer.jpg5 - Exhaust Extension.jpg6 - Heater Flange.jpg7 - Heater Flange.jpg
 
Looks good rosy, how are u getting it to the alu cab? I’m loath to drill a hole in mine & am still poking the pipe in the side door flap!
 
Same as you @Andy. I tied a bit of rope to the pipe and clipped it to the top edge of the window. This keeps it in place when opening and closing. I think thats about as high tech as its going to get for me. as I wouldn't dare cut into the shell or the fabric.. and mines not even new!
 
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Picking up on this old thread as the younger family would like it warmer, and I am getting old bones.

Looking back, anything you would change, have done differently or wish you considered at the time?
 
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As howmanygoes said, "picking upon an old thread"
Great information from everyone one on this thread and I think I'll do the same as @Andy and @Rosy (great pictures Rosy).

But can I ask how you guys connected to the diesel tank / sender unit and how and where you took the power from? (if you have any pictures that would be great).

Impossible for me to complete this in time for the early winter camp, so @Jacob100 I'm still trying to man up re the early winter camp!!!
Cheers.
 
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I just tee’d into the fuel line under the truck for the pump etc to the heater, and took a separate 12v supply from my leisure batteries.
one of the best mods I did!
Andy
 
Andy said:
I just tee’d into the fuel line under the truck for the pump etc to the heater, and took a separate 12v supply from my leisure batteries.
one of the best mods I did!
Andy
Click to expand...

Thanks Andy....
Re power supply, that's what I've got in mind aswell.
Regarding teeing off the main fuel line, are there any issues of it drawing the fuel back down the line, instead of from the tank, particularly because of the natural head/gravity of the fuel at the engine end?
Although I'm assuming there'd probably be check/non return valves etc. that would prevent that anyway!
 
I’ve had no issues at all with the fuel,
 
Howmanygoes said:
Picking up on this old thread as the younger family would like it warmer, and I am getting old bones.

Looking back, anything you would change, have done differently or wish you considered at the time?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't change a thing. It's a tidy little install that kicks out an incredible amount of heat and vents the exhaust well away from anything important.

One thing I have left to do is fit a platform above it to prevent accidental damage but I'll get to that over the winter when I rebuild the back.
 
Bodie said:
But can I ask how you guys connected to the diesel tank / sender unit and how and where you took the power from? (if you have any pictures that would be great).
Click to expand...

Most people just tee off the fuel return line, I didn't have the right size hose and did have a spare pickup lying around from my heater-in-a-box build so I installed that in the stock sender.

Power wise, I also have leisure battery so it wasn't an issue.
 
Rosy said:
......... and did have a spare pickup lying around from my heater-in-a-box build so I installed that in the stock sender.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rosy, @Rosy .... can I ask what type of pickup it is? The reason I ask is that I took my Espacher from one of the Utility Defenders we had before I sold it, and I remember the feed for that was also taken directly off the sender unit. But it was a while ago and for the life of me, I can't remember how it connected!!
 
@Rosy Thanks for that.... so did you fit that to a separate small diesel tank or drill through the fuel pump/sender unit on the main tank?
 
@Bodie yep, I drilled the sender on the main tank.

Like I said, I had the bits lying around and in my head it was much neater to drill the sender than fitting T pieces and reducers to get the right hose diameter for the blue plastic heater pipe.
 
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