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Old 05-19-2016, 09:54 PM   #21
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,758
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin97396 View Post
Yeah this one has the normal dash heaters, a drivers foot heater and a rear heater. They even ran the hoses under the floor to the rear heater apparently to keep the floor clear. These heaters really don't work well at all. I'll take them apart and see what I can do but so far I'd hate to have to depend on them in the winter.
I like the liquid fuel idea for heat. The wabasto sounds pretty efficient. I just didn't want to use on board power to run a heater fan through the night during the winter.

clean em up and replace or clean the motors.. make sure you have good solid voltage to the motors they will run you outta there..

mine are a disaster.. when I was driving the other day I had the windows closed because of a blinding rainstorm and barely got any air out of my defrosters.. I looked down at the heater box and cant even see the coils because the layer of dirt is so high.. in most busses the front driver compartment heater and the rear heater utilize a horizontally mounted heater core... which is a POOR design making it super susceptible to getting clogged up.. and the blower motors are not the best quality motors so they get weak bearings or bad windings easily...

the last Bus I replaced all 4 of my motors upfront and completely disassembled the whole thing piece by piece and rebuilt it (and added A/C).. I'll do the same to this bus.. and when they are rebuilt.. they work quite well to keep a bus warm as long as the coolant stays hot..

my last bus was a 454 Gas motor so i always had good hot water going through... this one is a little diesel so we shall see.. but it is a short bus and has automatic Shutters in front of the radiator.. which believe it or not still work..
-Christopher

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Old 05-19-2016, 11:50 PM   #22
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Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Willamina, Oregon
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Coachwork: 97 Bluebird TC1000 5.9
I'm sure that bus is going to work out well for you. You're a pretty good example of how to get organized.
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Old 05-20-2016, 06:04 AM   #23
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: The Valley - Arizona
Posts: 644
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freight-shaker (Freightliner)
Engine: Cat 3126b 250 HP
Rated Cap: Only 1 seat
The heater I am looking at doesn't heat the coolant. It actually burns diesel to heat up the air. I've read a couple of reviews, but never talked to a real person who owned one. I am going to buy the 30k but model I think is what it's rated at. That way I know all 1800 cuft can be nice and warm when I need it!

It lists that it burns just over a gallon a day in high use situations. With plenty of insulation, that 1 gal could easily be 3/4 to 1/2!
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Old 05-20-2016, 07:13 AM   #24
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,758
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
webasto makes both types of heaters. air and coolant heaters... the air heater looks to be easy to install also.. the only advantage to a coolant heater is if you wanted to keep your engine warm as well as heat the cabin... or like in my case it may make sense because im keeping all my bus heaters.. and the coolant heater can be installed easy enough underneath the bus... (for me I can see myself installign the coolant heater and building a remote system to start it.. esp since my bus is internet-connected).


so the air heater can also be installed i nthe basement area.. however you do then have open duct-holes to the elements (not directly outside but into that heater) when its not on increasing cold into the bus.. if you install the air heater in the cabin then the only connection to the outside is the exhaust... which you will want to make sure is isolated from combustibles..

you can easily duct that air heater wherever you need it.. and a return air intake somewhere near the middle of the bus should ensure your heat distributes fairly evenly.

-Christopher
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Old 05-20-2016, 08:44 AM   #25
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Andrews,Indiana
Posts: 2,430
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: AARE
Engine: 3116 Cat 250hp
Rated Cap: Just the two of us.
I had a Wabasto air heater mounted in a pickup years ago, it was actually too big for the area and cycled off pretty fast, may be the cause of it's relatively short life. Also Wabasto is probably the bottom of the line as far as quality goes.

I currently have an Espar water heater in the bus, it's the best heat I have ever had in any kind of structure. It is quite a bit more involved as far as installation is concerned. It will heat the bus to 72 deg when it's below zero outside. The way I have it plumbed is under the floor piping with an automotive type heater core with fan in each room. There are four zones that each have a water pump that is controlled by a thermostat. Once temp is up I can turn of all of the fans and stay quite comfy from just the floor heat. Up front I plumbed one zone into the original heater core, then added two more for just me. One directed at my feet, the other is directed at the driver seat.

There are three separate water systems, the engine (antifreeze poison) which has a heat exchanger that heats the water in the heating system (antifreeze not poison) and the domestic hot water. Unless both heat exchangers were to fail at the same time, there is no chance of getting the poison antifreeze into the domestic water.

I am using a marine water heater that also has a heat exchanger in it that gets its heat from the heating system, it also has a 120VAC heating element. The beauty of this is that when there is hot water in one there is hot water in all. If I'm running the heater, the engine is warm and I have hot domestic water. If I'm running the engine I have cabin heat and also have domestic hot water. Theoretically I could heat the engine and cabin with the water heater, but it's heating element isn't anywhere near big enough for that.

I also have mini splits that are heat pumps, they work quite nicely when it isn't all that cold out and I just need to take the chill off. Last weekend we were quite comfy using them when the temp got down to 36 on a campout.

Dick
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Old 05-20-2016, 09:07 AM   #26
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,758
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
minisplit heat pumps are extremely efficient and blow out fossil-fuel temperature air when its above 35 outside... I have 3 of them that can heat my whole house nicely... mine are ducted into my main ducts at home.. that system you have there gives you the best of all worlds!. I love it! great setup
-Christopher
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