Stock bus heater.

[Fahntastic Life]

Question about the bus stock heater.

I have an international 40' FN. My bus has two under seat fans and an Espar heater System mounted under the bus in the rear. For now near the driver seat, i have cut the hose and created a loop.
trying to see if people keep one of the fans system and use that to heat the bus while traveling.

do other people do the same. any pro or cons.

trying to do heater research. if the hoses contain hot fluids and goes to fan to blow hot air, what is the function of this Espar Heater system under the bus that the rear hoses loop thru. This heater system has its own exhaust tube.

[fo4imtippin]

I think most get rid of the under seat heaters as they are kind of loud and most don't have an espar, so they replace with a diesel air heater. Your system can have heat when the bus engine is off. Also, the hot coolant will flow to your engine to keep it warm for startup. Its an expensive system worth keeping if you ever want to travel/ camp in the cold. I'm actually starting from scratch to build one and have it loop through my generator engine and my hot water heater. I changed all my factory heater switches to be enabled by a "house master" so the fans can still run with the key off.

[Fahntastic Life]

thanks for the Help. I am going to see if I can dig more into it and see about this heater and having it operate when bus is not running.

Thanks for all your help.

[Booyah45828]

Diesel engines make little heat idling in frigid temperatures. Not near enough to heat the passenger compartment sufficiently. Northern districts will install an espar or webasto coolant heater in order to create additional heat in the cooling system to sufficiently heat the passenger compartment.

The stock heaters can move a large amount of BTU's, so they're really good at putting out heat in super cold temps. However, most skoolies avoid those temps, and their conversions include removing the passenger heaters because they're not needed, in the way and take up precious floor space. If you're not going to be in the cold, there really isn't a need for them or your espar heater. If you're in the frigid cold, you can design your bus around the stock heaters so that stuff is all utilized. If you won't be in the frigid cold, you'll likely be better off using a different source for heating your bus, be it an diesel air heater, propane furnace, or a heat pump.

It all depends on your usage and climate.

[cadillackid]

I replaced the rear heater in one of my busses with an aftermarket unit that is quieter and can be ducted to locations where you want the heat.. i installed a coolant heater similar to your espar so I can pre-heat my engine in cold temps or heat the cabin with my engine turned off.. I wouldnt get rid of that...

[Ronnie]

I have a Wabasto coolant heater in a parts bus that I am thinking of putting in the new bus. As the bus is now I have kept all the original heating system. Sure is nice to be warm when driving and when I stop for the night the rest of the bus is already warm. I do plan to reposition the mid bus heater so that it is parallel to the wall instead of 90, as it sticks out into the hallway just a bit. Now that Christopher has mentioned it, yes it is loud and if I do the Wabasto maybe changing it to a quieter unit would be nice. When driving it is not that noticable though. For now it stays as is.


In my old bus it does not have any heater for passengers other then the dash heater, so the rest of the bus is cold when we stop for the night, yuck. This is the best reason to keep the heaters for us.


We do not stay in warm climates, although we do avoid single digits or lower when possible.

[cadillackid]

I can keep my 7 window pure stock bus about 75 in 0f weather with the 16kw coolant heater running with my rear heater, stepwells heater and mid heater on. That keeps the diesel heater busy.. at 10-15f I only need rear heater and maybe step heater on low. Diesel heater cycles quite a bit.. if your bus is insulated at all (mine is bone stock 33 year old bus).. it will heat even better.