Diesel heating and hot water for camper vans
Submitted: Monday, Jun 09, 2014 at 10:10
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108185
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Kombi Dogz
Hi I am interested in hearing about heating for campers in cold wether. We have been in tassie for 3 months and come in contact with lots of travellers who have a diesel heating system and they all rave about how fantastic they are in low running cost and warm camper or van. Though some are noiser than others I was looking at one that also heats the water as we don't have hot water on tap. I need space efficient system as I drive a 40yo vehicle and space is very limited in both the inside and engine. cheers
Reply By: baz&pud (tassie) - Monday, Jun 09, 2014 at 10:29
Monday, Jun 09, 2014 at 10:29
Hi KD,
Hope you are enjoying your stay in Tassie, can understand why you may be considering a diesel heater, tis a bit cool at the moment.
We have one in our van and swear by it.
If you are in the southern part of the State there is a firm near
Kingston called
Alpha Fibreglass (manufacturers of caravans) 10 Ascot Drive Huntingfield, phone (03) 62291513 who may be able to help you out.
No interest in the business, just a customer.
Cheers.
baz
AnswerID:
534060
Reply By: HKB Electronics - Monday, Jun 09, 2014 at 20:11
Monday, Jun 09, 2014 at 20:11
I was looking at one for a Vista that did both hot water and heating, problem seems to be it takes around 30 minutes for them to heat the water, so if you want to wash dishes you need to plan in advance.
The other issue was they seem to dump water under various conditions and from memory was about 5 liters to fill which is a lot of wastage for a camper tanks.
Other issue was the size of the unit, so have decided to go with an instantaneous gas unit for hot water and a separate diesel unit for heating.
Cheers
Leigh
AnswerID:
534098
Follow Up By: Shaker - Tuesday, Jun 10, 2014 at 00:02
Tuesday, Jun 10, 2014 at 00:02
If, like me you are finding it hard to work out where to fit a fuel tank for a diesel heater in a Crossover, I have drawings for a 5 litre litre tank designed to fit behind the entry step under the camper.
FollowupID:
817660
Reply By: Peter_n_Margaret - Monday, Jun 09, 2014 at 23:05
Monday, Jun 09, 2014 at 23:05
I will be installing a Webasto thermotop E diesel hot water heater in the OKA in the future.
These are tiny and have sufficient capacity to then provide "instant" hot water via a heat exchanger like this ....
http://sales.butlertechnik.com/installation-accessories/marine-accessories/webasto-motor-home-plate-heat-exchanger-with-mixer-valve-4111209a?___SID=U
Central heating is via a fan/radiator fed by circulated hot water.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome
AnswerID:
534105
Follow Up By: Kombi Dogz - Tuesday, Jun 10, 2014 at 19:56
Tuesday, Jun 10, 2014 at 19:56
This looks like what I have been thinking about. I read the page with little understanding. I hope it works with an air cooled engine as i have no coolant or radiator…I am thinking it is a self managing system…yes you are now lol…
cheers
Wendy
FollowupID:
817714
Reply By: rumpig - Tuesday, Jun 10, 2014 at 15:45
Tuesday, Jun 10, 2014 at 15:45
Our
Kimberley Kamper has a Webasto diesel heater and hot water system fitted in it. The hot water takes maybe 3 minutes tops before it is hot so not much of a wait for washing up duties. The heater is a touch noisey also, but no worse then many caravan air con units IMHO. The heater uses roughly 3ltrs of diesel in a 12hr period when the heater is set to run constantly all night and not cycle on and off (that's in a canvas sided camper trailer). One down side to them is the noise (both the noise of the air blowing and the ticking of the fuel pump) another is they leave your throat really dry from the air they blow....both downsides I happily put up with for warm Winter sleeping when away camping.
AnswerID:
534136
Follow Up By: Kombi Dogz - Tuesday, Jun 10, 2014 at 19:24
Tuesday, Jun 10, 2014 at 19:24
Thanks everyone,
I have been looking at the webasto. I see the ones on ebay but I am not a confident shopper. I will go to the place in tassie and get some info, I can put up with the dry air stuff as we have gas heating at
home and suffer the same thing. In the Kombie we have quite a lot of condensation on the windows so maybe this might help dry things out. We also have a canvass pop top which can be frosty in the middle of winter...
cheers happy travels
Tassie is our favourite travel spot for all the
free camping.
FollowupID:
817710