Diesel powered heaters

[HarryN]

Spent a night in a customer's van this past week, and it reminded me of why it is common to put gas or diesel heaters in them.

In addition to "air heaters", there are also versions for heating water or a coolant that is circulated as needed to make hot water, cabin heat, etc.

I tried searching, and didn't find any threads on the subject, but it might have been my search skills.

I wondered if anyone has used these in a truck for winter use, either just for cabin heat or a pre-heater for the engine ? ( Instead of a block heater plug in. )

Here are some examples:

Aqua-Hot 250D compact diesel RV heating and hot water

Highly efficient heating and continuous domestic hot water appliance in one compact efficient unit fueled by diesel.

www.aquahot.com

Heating and Cooling Solutions for Automotive Applications

Discover top-quality heating and cooling solutions for automotive and marine applications. Choose HEATSO for reliable HVAC options for mobile living.

www.heatso.com

Truma Combi D comfort plus | Truma

Enjoy twice the comfort with the Truma Combi D comfort plus: a furnace and water heater powered by diesel and electricity

www.truma.com

Diesel Hot Water Heaters

We are your diesel hot water specialists. We sell, install and service diesel hot water systems for your caravan, RV, boat or tiny home.

www.dieselheat.com.au

 

[flan]

A guy I know had a webasto in his 2nd gen 24v back in the day. Worked great!

 

[AH64ID]

Webasto was the most common pre-heater I recall, but I haven’t heard of a 4th gen kit. I wonder if the reliability of starting in the cold has decreased the need for one.

 

[HarryN]

Webasto was the most common pre-heater I recall, but I haven’t heard of a 4th gen kit. I wonder if the reliability of starting in the cold has decreased the need for one.

Very possible. It would be as much for comfort sleeping in the back seat or other camping uses, just as much as the engine pre-heat.

I am not sure how specific a kit would need to be, really just needs a way to tap in the fuel tank so a dosing pump can feed the heater.

Some vans have taps built in to the tank, I guess I need to get a hold of the body builders manual or similar.

The heaters and pumps are designed assuming that there is access to an unpressurized fuel source / tank.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

@ramblinChet

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Webasto was the most common pre-heater I recall, but I haven’t heard of a 4th gen kit. I wonder if the reliability of starting in the cold has decreased the need for one.

They don’t have a “kit” but some retailers haver their own kits for webasto and espar heaters.

 

[AH64ID]

Very possible. It would be as much for comfort sleeping in the back seat or other camping uses, just as much as the engine pre-heat.

I am not sure how specific a kit would need to be, really just needs a way to tap in the fuel tank so a dosing pump can feed the heater.

Some vans have taps built in to the tank, I guess I need to get a hold of the body builders manual or similar.

The heaters and pumps are designed assuming that there is access to an unpressurized fuel source / tank.

I would be more concerned about battery life overnight. The ignition would time out every 30 minutes too, reducing the ability to sleep thru the night in a warmish cab.

 

[HarryN]

I would be more concerned about battery life overnight. The ignition would time out every 30 minutes too, reducing the ability to sleep thru the night in a warmish cab.

Excellent point. Using an accessory like this, would require a separate auxiliary / house battery type setup to work, it is far beyond what even a dual starter battery setup can support.

Also, starter batteries are designed for high current, short duration use, vs this is lower current, long duration use, so it would destroy a starter battery pretty quickly.

_____________

Information from the supplier data sheets and confirmed by some van owners, an average power draw will be ~ 50 watts for the ( heater + circulation pumps ), and some surges.

Power to feed other accessories will also be in that 50 watt range. ( DC refrigerator and similar )

So ( 100 watts ) x ( 3 days ) x 24 hours ) ~ 7 kW-hrs.

In a typical van build, which is similar to what I am thinking about, an aux battery pack in the 5 - 10 kW-hr size is pretty common these days.

On vans, adding some solar panels on top to offset this is typical, I would do this on a cap - at least that is the thinking.

Thanks for pointing this out.

 

[dieselscout80]

Interesting I didn’t know some ran on gasoline.

I did sum research on them in the late 90s when they would have been pertinent to my location.

 

[HarryN]

Just capturing some info on heaters to help keep slightly organized.

These come in various versions of gasoline, propane and diesel fuel.

Mixture of hydronic and hot water / heat exchanger types.

Interestingly, the 125D and G models are rated for 15K ft altitude, which is highly unusual but desired. Historically, diesel heaters performed very poorly above 5K ft.

They mostly cater to OEMs and trained dealer installations. I would rather do my own, but I also know that these things can be really finicky.

Really wish that the temperature setting could be reduced substantially as I only want 70 - 80 F, not 150 F. Still learning and researching.

RV Hydronic Heating Products from Aqua-Hot

RVers who want tankless, on-demand hot water and warm interiors fueled from LP, propane, electricity, diesel and even engine heat want Aqua-Hot.

www.aquahot.com

Aqua-Hot Gen1 Forced Air Heating and Water Heater System

The Aqua-Hot Gen1 is a compact Forced Air Heating and Water Heater system in an all-in-one unit, fueled by Diesel, Gasoline or Propane specifically designed for RV vehicles.

www.aquahot.com