Diesel Heater Install

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m.r.h.

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Who has installed a diesel heater, either a fancy Espar/Webasto or cheaper Chinese version? I have watched a handful of videos and looks pretty straight forward. Just curious about where folks have install the fuel tank or what it looked like tapping into their vehicles diesel tank.

I have thought about just installing the fuel tank in the same compartment as my propane tank (assuming I can make it fit). Others have install the tank inside their vehicles. Not into that as I don't really want a fuel tank just hanging out in my living space.

The best sounding option is to tap into my vehicles tank. My one concern is I take my camper on and off a fair amount. What would a line that gets plugged and unplugged look like?

Just curious what folks have done.
 
Last year I installed an Espar hot air heater in a MB Sprinter. The unit is well made and reasonably easy to install. The Sprinter had a separate line from the diesel tank with a special quick release fitting on the line that matched the fitting that was provided with the Espar. The unit is very fuel efficient. Between 1/3 and 1/2 gallon in 24 hours on low heat, around 60F.
The feature that I pressed me the most was its ability to maintain an even heat by regulating the fan and the furnace.

I have a RAM2500 diesel with a Hawk 4 Wheel Camper on a flatbed. I am considering replacing the propane heater with the Espar. In cold weather the propane heater will not maintain even heat with it's on off heating cycle. My truck has two fuel tanks. The rear one is pumped to the main tank on demand. I will put a T in the line before the transfer pump and insert the Espar pump
Line. The Espar fuel line is 1/8 plastic line and I will find a quick disconnect fitting fo it.

Depending on your truck, if it is diesel you can put a T fitting with a quick disconnect in the line before the pump or if it is gasoline powered a small 5 gal tank could be installed under the vehicle in a place where a fill pipe could be installed.

I have another Canadian trip coming up in the summer, I hope to have it installed for that trip.
Steve
 
I am going to install a heater this weekend. Went with a cheap one off of amazon. Fingers crossed it doesn't turn into a huge mistake. I don't imagine I will use it too often so it seems smarter to spend $150 to try it out than $1000+ If I end up using it more and it dies I will end up with an Espar D2.

If you go that route I would be really interested to see what quick disconnect you end up using. Would be nice to have the heater tapped into my diesel tank. For now I am going to go with an external tank installed in the propane box. Might be a summer project to move some stuff around.
 
Here is how I mounted on a Fleet/2500 RAM. Works perfect, I have a separate fuel tank, don’t like the idea messing up the existing fuel system on the truck. Also to consider, the heater run on kerosine, red diesel, etc so you have more fuel alternative than truck diesel.
 

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Nice job on the install. Is that an Espar heater, if so do you have to re-jet it to run on different types of kerosene? Do you have a larger picture that shows the heater location in reference to the 4 Wheel Camper. It looks like it is under the camper. I was thinking of removing the propane heater and installing the Espar in the original heater location.
 
Welcome, Stevefs and Dessmo. And thanks for posting up experience. This is a great topic.


Dessmo said:
Here is how I mounted on a Fleet/2500 RAM. Works perfect,
Click to expand...
Very slick. How do you find the noise level inside and outside for other campers.
 
klahanie said:
Welcome, Stevefs and Dessmo. And thanks for posting up experience. This is a great topic.


Very slick. How do you find the noise level inside and outside for other campers.
Click to expand...
Not much noise neither inside or outside. There is a ticking noise from the pump, but it does not bother me. I think there are some sleeves you can get to reduce the ticking noise. There are some noise from the fan if you run it on high speed.
 
Dessmo said:
Here is how I mounted on a Fleet/2500 RAM. Works perfect, I have a separate fuel tank, don’t like the idea messing up the existing fuel system on the truck. Also to consider, the heater run on kerosine, red diesel, etc so you have more fuel alternative than truck diesel.
Click to expand...
It looks like it might be this one?

https://www.ebay.com/c/1561637574


I'm really interested in a diesel heater too. I was thinking of an install a lot like yours. Not sure whether a Chinese or an expensive name-brand one. I wonder if there is any more risk of a Chinese one doing something like catching on fire.

Are you drawing outside air for the intake air? It looks that way to me, but maybe I'm not seeing it correctly. Not a criticism or anything, but wouldn't that cut way down on the efficiency, using a lot more diesel and watts? You would be heating much colder air than if you were heating already heated indoor air.
 
It would be interesting to see if anyone has installed in place of the existing Atwood furnace.
 
Dessmo said:
Here is how I mounted on a Fleet/2500 RAM. Works perfect, I have a separate fuel tank, don’t like the idea messing up the existing fuel system on the truck. Also to consider, the heater run on kerosine, red diesel, etc so you have more fuel alternative than truck diesel.
Click to expand...
How do you clear the truck wheel well?
 
Concerning Dessmo's install, It does appear that is on the outside. I will be putting mine where the current propane heater resides. I go through a lot of dirty rocky roads with mud and water.

I suppose there will be a protective box over the unit.
 
The Chinese $159 unit sound like a good deal, too good to be true. Espar is about $1K with everything. The have years of experience with heavy equipment, trucks and large motor homes. The one I installed in the MB Sprinter appeared to be well built and the supplier, Esparparts.com in Michigan was very knowledgeable. They install them on various vehicles in their shop.
 
I am also curious on how Dessmo gets the camper on and off with the heater installed in that location.

This is the heater I ordered. Pretty much ordered it based on the reviews, LCD screen, and amazon prime got it to me in 2 days. Was hoping I had time for install before this weekend but my time was sucked up with a number of different tasks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KMQ9VWY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My plan is to install it in the location of the original heater and use the existing exhaust port. After a little bit of mock up and such I think it will work just fine. The one downside I see is the exhaust port on my camper is sort of high so the heater will be installed above the exactly location of the original heater. This will maybe leave sort of a weird storage nook but unsure yet.

The other dilemma is where to put the fuel tank. I was going to reduce the size of my propane tank and put it with that but the tank the heater came with doesn't fit. So I need to find a different shape tank, or just install the tank inside (want to avoid this for sure).

Since I have plans of some demo/rebuild of the interior I will likely wait to install the heater until summer. Really get it in a good practical space.
 
Any updates on the install? I was thinking of doing something similar.


This is the heater I ordered. Pretty much ordered it based on the reviews, LCD screen, and amazon prime got it to me in 2 days. Was hoping I had time for install before this weekend but my time was sucked up with a number of different tasks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KMQ9VWY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My plan is to install it in the location of the original heater and use the existing exhaust port. After a little bit of mock up and such I think it will work just fine. The one downside I see is the exhaust port on my camper is sort of high so the heater will be installed above the exactly location of the original heater. This will maybe leave sort of a weird storage nook but unsure yet.

The other dilemma is where to put the fuel tank. I was going to reduce the size of my propane tank and put it with that but the tank the heater came with doesn't fit. So I need to find a different shape tank, or just install the tank inside (want to avoid this for sure).

Since I have plans of some demo/rebuild of the interior I will likely wait to install the heater until summer. Really get it in a good practical space. [/quote]
 
I have come across from quick connects I am thinking about using. Going to talk to my diesel mechanic about what he thinks. We will see what happens. Since it is summer it is sort of on the bottom of my project list. I just installed a new floor and am going to work on the kitchen side of things. New cabinets and counter top and such. I will mock up the install for the heater and worry about the rest later. Also upgrading the electric system and probably some new lift panels. One things always leads to another.
 
m.r.h. said:
I am also curious on how Dessmo gets the camper on and off with the heater installed in that location.

This is the heater I ordered. Pretty much ordered it based on the reviews, LCD screen, and amazon prime got it to me in 2 days. Was hoping I had time for install before this weekend but my time was sucked up with a number of different tasks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KMQ9VWY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My plan is to install it in the location of the original heater and use the existing exhaust port. After a little bit of mock up and such I think it will work just fine. The one downside I see is the exhaust port on my camper is sort of high so the heater will be installed above the exactly location of the original heater. This will maybe leave sort of a weird storage nook but unsure yet.

The other dilemma is where to put the fuel tank. I was going to reduce the size of my propane tank and put it with that but the tank the heater came with doesn't fit. So I need to find a different shape tank, or just install the tank inside (want to avoid this for sure).

Since I have plans of some demo/rebuild of the interior I will likely wait to install the heater until summer. Really get it in a good practical space.
Click to expand...
I have a Fleet on a 2500 RAM which gives me some extra space between the camper and truck bed. I have mounted the tank on the front wall of the camper, between the camper and the truck cabin. More details regarding the set up is available at the 4WC FB group, https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.2831389866937091&type=3
 
I am in the process of installing a diesel heater in my propane bottle location on a swift shell model. Removed the propane bottles and will run one mini bottle just for my stovetop. Going to fire it up tonight. I do have it pulling outside air heating and blowing in, in hopes of trading some efficiency for less condensation inside the camper. I have concerns hooked up this method of the possibility of winds causing it to pull exhaust into the camper, but will triple check my co2 detector before spending the night in the camper hooked up this method. I think it will work out however and will post some photos after I finish up and fire it up tonight.
 
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