The Diesel heater thread

[o1marc]

I see where the average cost of fuel is down $.03 today, trending at $2.40 for gas. $2.85 for diesel.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by o1marc

I see where the average cost of fuel is down $.03 today, trending at $2.40 for gas. $2.85 for diesel.

$2.25 for gasoline at Costco
$2.69 for diesel at Sheetz

And $346 for Chinese knock off... good, bad, or indifferent?
https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...33293837IcJ2pI

[Native]

Originally Posted by o1marc

I see where the average cost of fuel is down $.03 today, trending at $2.40 for gas. $2.85 for diesel.

We saw $2.049 for unleaded and $2.499 for diesel at our local Walmart Market store today.

[PNW_Steve]

It just struck me.......

The only time in my life that I have been pulled over and had my tank dipped was in a town where you can't buy off road diesel.

[Native]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

It just struck me.......

The only time in my life that I have been pulled over and had my tank dipped was in a town where you can't buy off road diesel.

Oh the irony!

[Native]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

It just struck me.......

The only time in my life that I have been pulled over and had my tank dipped was in a town where you can't buy off road diesel.

Oh the irony!

[TheArgobus]

Is there anything that would prevent me from installing the heater unit underneath the bus? I'm thinking on just a basic 5KW one for a few hundred dollars, nothing fancy, but space is at a premium in my bus so I thought it'd be clever to hang it underneath the floor.

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

Is there anything that would prevent me from installing the heater unit underneath the bus? I'm thinking on just a basic 5KW one for a few hundred dollars, nothing fancy, but space is at a premium in my bus so I thought it'd be clever to hang it underneath the floor.

We had to fit ours into a bus that was already built out, so I installed it under the bus. It's on a shelf that slides out from under the luggage bin. However it's only there when we're parked. When we move, I'll need to take it down and stow it in a luggage bin. I don't trust it to be permanently mounted outside exposed to the elements and it's right next to the rear tire. Doesn't take more than a few minutes to stow, but it's not ideal. The biggest downside is that we're not recycling the warm inside air so it always has to heat cold outside air, and I need a shop-vac filter o the intake to keep the dust out. I also have to be mindful not to suck exhaust into the air intake, so I put an elbow on the intake and bring in air from the side of the bus and the combustion exhaust is under the bus.
2kool4skool mentioned that they installed the heater under the stairwell, which sounds like a good solution.
Even with it needing to heat outside air, though, it gets plenty warm without overheating the bus.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

Is there anything that would prevent me from installing the heater unit underneath the bus? I'm thinking on just a basic 5KW one for a few hundred dollars, nothing fancy, but space is at a premium in my bus so I thought it'd be clever to hang it underneath the floor.

I may be misunderstanding the principle of this gadget, but it draws in air from outside, combusts fuel to heat up its heating element, and exhausts outside as well; then its other function is to draw air from inside the bus, pass it over the heating element and then expel it back into the bus. If you mounted the whole unit underneath, it would be drawing air from the outside for that second function, so you'd be pulling in cold air instead of much warmer inside air and it would not work as efficiently (you'd probably also be pulling in a whiff of diesel exhaust).

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

We had to fit ours into a bus that was already built out, so I installed it under the bus. It's on a shelf that slides out from under the luggage bin. However it's only there when we're parked. When we move, I'll need to take it down and stow it in a luggage bin. I don't trust it to be permanently mounted outside exposed to the elements and it's right next to the rear tire. Doesn't take more than a few minutes to stow, but it's not ideal. The biggest downside is that we're not recycling the warm inside air so it always has to heat cold outside air, and I need a shop-vac filter o the intake to keep the dust out. I also have to be mindful not to suck exhaust into the air intake, so I put an elbow on the intake and bring in air from the side of the bus and the combustion exhaust is under the bus.
2kool4skool mentioned that they installed the heater under the stairwell, which sounds like a good solution.
Even with it needing to heat outside air, though, it gets plenty warm without overheating the bus.

Was space really that tight that you had to mount it outside? These things seem very tiny as far as heaters go.

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I may be misunderstanding the principle of this gadget, but it draws in air from outside, combusts fuel to heat up its heating element, and exhausts outside as well; then its other function is to draw air from inside the bus, pass it over the heating element and then expel it back into the bus. If you mounted the whole unit underneath, it would be drawing air from the outside for that second function, so you'd be pulling in cold air instead of much warmer inside air and it would not work as efficiently (you'd probably also be pulling in a whiff of diesel exhaust).

Those are the exact issues we dealt with when we installed ours externally. It doesn't look great, with a fresh air intake vent a couple feet up the side of the bus, but we're on BLM land and there's nobody around. It'd be ghetto in an RV park, but that's not our thing.

I'd seen it mentioned that a 5kw unit would heat the bus up pretty quick, and we definitely haven't had that problem when it was down into the teens outside. It's been nice to run it through the night, at mid-range temps, without overheating and having to shut it down (there's no thermostat, just temp and fan speed level settings). We've been using a little less than a gallon of fuel overnight, or about 10 hours. If it's in the 30's at night we're good with just blankets, but when it gets to the teens it's ridiculously cold in the bus and we need to fire up the heater.

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Was space really that tight that you had to mount it outside? These things seem very tiny as far as heaters go.

We could have mounted it behind the fridge, but I had concerns about the clearances and safety of it. We're already built-out and living in it, so it's a little more difficult. The other option would be to convert a kitchen cabinet into a heater space and get rid of some kitchen stuff. We'll do that if mounting it outside becomes too much of a hassle, but we needed it installed just in time for a week-long cold spell, so time was of the essence.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

Those are the exact issues we dealt with when we installed ours externally. It doesn't look great, with a fresh air intake vent a couple feet up the side of the bus, but we're on BLM land and there's nobody around. It'd be ghetto in an RV park, but that's not our thing.

I'd seen it mentioned that a 5kw unit would heat the bus up pretty quick, and we definitely haven't had that problem when it was down into the teens outside. It's been nice to run it through the night, at mid-range temps, without overheating and having to shut it down (there's no thermostat, just temp and fan speed level settings). We've been using a little less than a gallon of fuel overnight, or about 10 hours. If it's in the 30's at night we're good with just blankets, but when it gets to the teens it's ridiculously cold in the bus and we need to fire up the heater.

How is your bus insulated? (I may have asked you this at some point already, but it's hard to keep track of who's done what to their buses).

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

How is your bus insulated? (I may have asked you this at some point already, but it's hard to keep track of who's done what to their buses).

Foamboard: 1" on the floor, 3" in the walls and 1/2" over the metal ceiling. We've got insulated shades that we put up every night, and they do a pretty good job of trapping the cold air.

[TheArgobus]

That makes sense... but just to clarify, yes the combustion air intake/exhaust (which is used to burn the fuel) would be all outside, vented appropriately so the intake doesn't accidentally take in the exhaust, and the other two vents on the heater would be vented to the cabin (so that it would suck in air from inside the cabin in one part) and then push that air over the heating element and then out the vent which would be at another part in the cabin.


I'm more concerned about the heater itself being exposed to the elements, as once I install things underneath, I don't want to have to mess with them again.

[TheArgobus]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

If it's in the 30's at night we're good with just blankets, but when it gets to the teens it's ridiculously cold in the bus and we need to fire up the heater.

Damn, we took it out this past weekend and it got down to 43, and it was unbearably cold inside. Granted we have stock windows all the way around, and our blanket/cushion game could've been stronger. We also considered just using electric blankets as a solution, but I kind of want something more substantial.

[TheArgobus]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

We've got insulated shades that we put up every night, and they do a pretty good job of trapping the cold air.

That's genius!

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

I kind of want something more substantial.

Yeah, understood. It was around 30 here last night and we were at 65 inside the bus through the night, withthe heater set on a low-ish setting. It's getting easy to get spoiled using this thing
We'd been used to waking up in the low-40s inside the bus and using the propane heater and woodstove to take the chill off but when this cold spell set in we knew we needed a little assistance.

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

These things seem very tiny as far as heaters go.

We got an all-in-one unit (basically the standard unit, but in a metal case) and it's about the size of a tower PC. 16x16x6 I think.

[wrenchtech]

I am just finishing up installing a 5KW Chinese diesel unit forced air heater in my bus. It is a rear engine bus. I mounted the heater low on the firewall, almost by the floor and routed the exhaust out through the firewall and caused it to exit through the driver side access door to the engine compartment. My intention is to build a lofted bed platform over the part of the engine compartment that sticks out into the passenger compartment and then enclose an area ending about 12 feet forward from the back while I continue working my way to the front. I fired the heater briefly after I installed it, but I have not actually run it for any length of time. Insulating that 12 foot area, floor first and then walls and ceilingAre high on my agenda.