Diesel Heater

[cadillackid]

thing to remember is these heaters come in various sizes.. typically the water heaters can be bought up to about 45-50k BTU, which can heat a ton of space esp if you are insulated..



a 5KW air heater is typically about 17000-19000 BTU.. remember this is INPUT BTU. the efficiency determines the actual amount of heat going into the conditioned-space.



I know my 16kw water heater sends a lot of its heat outside but some of that could easily be recovered with a secondary heat exchanger. I ay endeavor into that next year... although ive found the thing heats my bus amazingly well so I may not break what isnt broken!

 

[CompLexxx]

thing to remember is these heaters come in various sizes.. typically the water heaters can be bought up to about 45-50k BTU, which can heat a ton of space esp if you are insulated..



a 5KW air heater is typically about 17000-19000 BTU.. remember this is INPUT BTU. the efficiency determines the actual amount of heat going into the conditioned-space.



I know my 16kw water heater sends a lot of its heat outside but some of that could easily be recovered with a secondary heat exchanger. I ay endeavor into that next year... although ive found the thing heats my bus amazingly well so I may not break what isnt broken!

Well after reading that the 65k coolant heaters would drink 1.5L diesel an hour and calculating that it would cost over 5k just for heating per winter season we are actually wondering if we should go for wood stove heating. So much less investment, costs and installation time. And love the ambiance it offers. And since I enjoy stoking coals on my smoker i'll feel right at home. Now I was thinking of some interesting combo ideals where I could have a cook top/smoker/bbq built inside the bus and if I could somehow get it to heat the water tank too. Working with wood got me pretty excited

The new smoker I picked up is a Masterbuilt digital vertical smoker, it uses traditional charcoal but with a thermometer set on a fan to keep it at stable temperature throughout the cook. Not only is this great for smoking but it's what got me thinking about having this system in the bus to have more consistent temp instead of the up and down peaks. I'm trying to read up on air flow science on how I should put in/out vents and fans!

 

[cadillackid]

couldnt pay me enough to have a wood stove in a bus.. yep love em in a brick N mortat house. Love fireplaces too.. but im not one of the wood-stove adorers for in a bus..



as for 1.5L per hour only if its running on high speed... if you are completely non insulated and in complete below 0f weather then i could see where it runs all the time.. but the idea of a bus is not to spend winters in canada but instead in Texas or florida and then go to canada for the green moderate summers....



but then I did just return from a trip to Minnesota in winter...

 

[CompLexxx]

couldnt pay me enough to have a wood stove in a bus.. yep love em in a brick N mortat house. Love fireplaces too.. but im not one of the wood-stove adorers for in a bus..



as for 1.5L per hour only if its running on high speed... if you are completely non insulated and in complete below 0f weather then i could see where it runs all the time.. but the idea of a bus is not to spend winters in canada but instead in Texas or florida and then go to canada for the green moderate summers....



but then I did just return from a trip to Minnesota in winter...

The plan is definitely not to spend all winters here, but with the whole travel restrictions changing every week, and sharing custody of a child it doesn't always work out like we plan, so we gotta be prepared for anything! Yesterday here it reached -27c. We planned on having a very unique bus, so the indoor firepit/bbq smoker is gonna be awesome. Considering the cigar lounge theme, it's almost a necessity

 

[cadillackid]

cigar lounge theme sounds awesome!! somewhere I saw a build where someone had tried to re-create the Old steam-train Lounge car theme.. I need to find that again.. they had a wood-fired Boiler out on a back extension. it piped Steam into the cabin which came up along both sides.. the bus was a flat nose bluebird i think.. but i loved the idea since there was a lot of rich wood and such inside.. it wasnt on here, it was something someone sent to me ill have to see if it ever got finished..



they didnt plan on living in it full time.


a crackling wood fire does go with that idea though.. for me I just keep my scotch on the rocks to briock N mortar in front of the fireplace..



in the bus i want to push a button and have instant heat or cool...

 

[CompLexxx]

cigar lounge theme sounds awesome!! somewhere I saw a build where someone had tried to re-create the Old steam-train Lounge car theme.. I need to find that again.. they had a wood-fired Boiler out on a back extension. it piped Steam into the cabin which came up along both sides.. the bus was a flat nose bluebird i think.. but i loved the idea since there was a lot of rich wood and such inside.. it wasnt on here, it was something someone sent to me ill have to see if it ever got finished..



they didnt plan on living in it full time.


a crackling wood fire does go with that idea though.. for me I just keep my scotch on the rocks to briock N mortar in front of the fireplace..



in the bus i want to push a button and have instant heat or cool...

That steam-train sounds awesome! We are going for lots of wood, copper, bronze, leather and antique, so pretty similar! This point is to make it into a work of art. I love the convenience of set and forget, but I'm willing to do the work for the trade off. Something about the smell of a fireplace make a home so cozy! I'll still keep a small diesel heater as back up.

I fired up the new smoker today, we smoked a duck, rib roast and lamb shoulder and it just blew my mind. I'm even more excited now! :biggrin:

 

[cadillackid]

100% agreed on Fireplace at home.. I use mine quite a lot! if tis Secured well and safe I guess theres no reason not to do it in a bus? I just never thought of a good way to keep that hunk of iron from flying around if you have to stomp on the brakes..

 

[CompLexxx]

100% agreed on Fireplace at home.. I use mine quite a lot! if tis Secured well and safe I guess theres no reason not to do it in a bus? I just never thought of a good way to keep that hunk of iron from flying around if you have to stomp on the brakes..

That's a good point, I'll make sure to have it bolted down to the chassis!