How to heat my bus with the Webasto Scholastic Heater?

[wmkbailey]

The Marine world has several heaters for the Webasto from 3,500 btu - 14,000 btu with both a flush mounted grill or ducted. They even have a defroster unit. Not much of a "fan" of forces air heat.

Then I saw somwhereinusa setup for radiant floor heat. Not sure if the Webasto would work, the output temp cycles between 155 - 170 degrees. That would be a little warm on the feet.

I love radiant heat and had hot water radiant heat along our walls on our horse farm. How to do that in a bus?

My setup on the bus has one large water pump and would be easy to use in the forces air heat setup. It would always circulate the hot water and then kick on the fan in the room that needs to be heated. If I went with the radiant heat I would have to breakup into zones with a dedicated pump for each.

What to do; go the easy route or try to figure out how to do what I would prefer?

[nat_ster]

I don't have long, but here is a bit of info.

Forget about the Webasto heater. Decide what fuel you want to use, then get a hot water heating tank. from there you can use either a pump for every loop (zone), or one pump, and a solenoid valve for each loop. You will need one thermostat per loop. It's what triggers the pump, or the solenoid valve to start pushing hot water through the radiant lines in the floor below you.

I prefer a pump for every loop. That way if a pump quits, your system is still operational.

Hot water radiant heating is fully modular. You can even pre warm your bus engine with it.

Under the floor lines, base board heaters, towel racks ect are true radiant heat. The way Lorna set theirs up is really just forced air heating.

I install radiant heating in most of the houses I build. Feel free to ask more questions.

Nat

[wmkbailey]

My Webasto is only a year old and I want to use only diesel as a fuel source, so it fits. I would like base board heaters, not sure where to put them, morst of the wall space is used in a RV.

I wonder if I could get a thermastat that would wor at a lower temp, what is ideal for radiant floor? I see that somewhere's is around 106.

[JakeC]

Originally Posted by nat_ster

I don't have long, but here is a bit of info.

Forget about the Webasto heater. Decide what fuel you want to use, then get a hot water heating tank. from there you can use either a pump for every loop (zone), or one pump, and a solenoid valve for each loop. You will need one thermostat per loop. It's what triggers the pump, or the solenoid valve to start pushing hot water through the radiant lines in the floor below you.

I prefer a pump for every loop. That way if a pump quits, your system is still operational.

Hot water radiant heating is fully modular. You can even pre warm your bus engine with it.

Under the floor lines, base board heaters, towel racks ect are true radiant heat. The way Lorna set theirs up is really just forced air heating.

I install radiant heating in most of the houses I build. Feel free to ask more questions.

Nat

Why would he have to forget the Webasto? That doesn't make sense, as he could just use that to heat the hot water holding tank, and run the seperate loops off that, with individual pumps. Sounds like a good plan to me. My next bus will have in-floor heat, but my next bus will not be a school bus This one is to make memories and let the kids trash.

[nat_ster]

I was trying to steer you clear of something with more parts, cost, repairs. Regular hot water heaters are standard parts, available anywhere at little cost. However, now that I know your fuel choice, your Webasto should do fine.

As one of the other members mentioned, you could use a hot water tank as your holding tank, as you will need a holding tank. Just for more possibility's, you could use a electric duel element hot water tank, so you have a back up, or heat from shore power, Genny, ect. Just opens more possibility's.

How many BTU will the Webasto put out?

15 amp plug at 1830 watts = about 6500 BTU in a electric hot water tank.

Nat

[wmkbailey]

Originally Posted by nat_ster

How many BTU will the Webasto put out?

15 amp plug at 1830 watts = about 6500 BTU in a electric hot water tank.

Nat

45,000 btu for the Webasto Scholastic Heater.

I'm getting a Marine Hot water heater, it has a heat exchanger and electric element. The heat exchanger works with the Webasto or engine heat to heat the water.

I could use the Webasto or engine while driving, and electric when pluged in to heat my bus, three heat sources.

[bansil]

you could move South...then you'd have 4 sources

[wmkbailey]

[wmkbailey]

Do we have enough floor space to make radiant floor heat work? Most of my floor will be coverd with cabinets and furniture.

[nat_ster]

Originally Posted by wmkbailey

Do we have enough floor space to make radiant floor heat work? Most of my floor will be coverd with cabinets and furniture.

I would run lines under the entire floor, even under the cabinets. The heat will radiate to the cabinets, then radiate into you. It will also keep things in the cabinets warm, rather than the normal cold spots.

It mostly depends on your flooring choice. What have you chosen?

Nat

[wmkbailey]

engineered wood flooring

[nat_ster]

Originally Posted by wmkbailey

engineered wood flooring

As long as you run 6 inch spacing, and aluminum heat plates it will be fine.

If there wasn't enough floor space, you can run lines in walls.

Nat

[wmkbailey]

Getting ready to do the annual maintenance on my Webasto. Basically it is cleaning and replacing the fuel filter and fuel nozzle.

I found the best price from http://www.parts.rvhydronicheaterrepair.com/main.sc

They have the Annual Service Kit here http://www.parts.rvhydronicheaterrep...1-1Racor1N.htm

I will post the steps when I do it.