Insulating the "cab" area

[2martins]

What do you consider reasonable?

I'd love to find them in perfect condition, used, for about $50 each. Or large ones for $100. You can get them from China for $150 new on Alibaba but I'm sure the shipping would make it WAY more.

 

[kazetsukai]

I'd love to find them in perfect condition, used, for about $50 each. Or large ones for $100. You can get them from China for $150 new on Alibaba but I'm sure the shipping would make it WAY more.

I just installed a (non-rv) shed window I got from home depot for $38. People tell me it'll leak, but it hasn't yet... will likely get more of them.

I do want to put in a large awning-style window somewhere (spanning two window slots), but I'm iffy about removing the supports, and I'm not sure I can protect the glass sufficiently.

 

[o1marc]

I just installed a (non-rv) shed window I got from home depot for $38. People tell me it'll leak, but it hasn't yet... will likely get more of them.

I do want to put in a large awning-style window somewhere (spanning two window slots), but I'm iffy about removing the supports, and I'm not sure I can protect the glass sufficiently.

If you want to cut a support rib, do so and then add a horizontal bar between each adjacent rib and to the bottom of the roof rib, and the same at the bottom you will have gained all, if not more, structural strength and an opening the for your new window.

 

[2martins]

I used three of these:
https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performance-Products/555/70602/10002/-1

And one of these for the bathroom:
https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performance-Products/555/70601/10002/-1

They each have three speeds out of the box using 3 positive wires + 1 negative wire. You power the wire for the speed you desire. I have them hooked up for computer control via relays. Details here:

Bus drivers don't pump heat into the cabin in hot weather, do they? Its an easy, "free" source of heat during the winter and has little do with cooling the engine if anything.


I have enough heaters that cranking them all to the max will probably cool an overheating engine, at the expense of frying me.


Better solution: Use a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger instead of running your coolant lines inline with the engine. You'll need another coolant reservoir for the internal line and a booster pump, and there is another advantage: you can put a diesel (or propane) water heater on the second loop and have dual-mode heat using the same heaters (this is what I'm doing).



Mine were 1", I ran 5/8" and I'm perfectly fine.

Seriously, I was fine. No insulation, bare metal walls, stock windows: between the 4x heater cores it'd get into the upper 70's in 30 degree weather. I couldn't pull that off with my wood stove....


I bought 100' in 50' lengths locally from a couple of O'Reilly's auto parts stores. Cleaned 'em out.

When I get home I'll take pics of the coolant loop and post them on my build's thread.

I can't actually follow all this, but some of it definitely sounds interesting.

I figured the long hose run would give the coolant time to cool off even if the heater wasn't on. And I dated a guy in high school that had to run his heater to keep his engine from overheating (Fiero) so I knew that was a thing.

I'm gonna need heat and a defroster for the driver, so I have to figure something out.

 

[N'om'ad]

I'm planning on dividing mine off with a partition to separate my 'mud-room/entry/jacket storage/navigator' area from the rest of the bus - also serves as a projectile shield in case of collision.

 

[kazetsukai]

I figured the long hose run would give the coolant time to cool off even if the heater wasn't on.

To an extent, the heat in the coolant lines dissipates on its path, but I wouldn't count on it to cool an overheating engine by itself. The loop will never get hotter than the heat source (unless the coolant medium compresses?) and as the loop approaches that peak it will slow down moving heat away from that source.

And I dated a guy in high school that had to run his heater to keep his engine from overheating (Fiero) so I knew that was a thing.

Yeah, I've heard of it, but... that's what the radiator (+ fan) in the engine compartment is for. Not an ideal solution, but anything that moves heat away from the engine will potentially work.

I'm gonna need heat and a defroster for the driver, so I have to figure something out.

Well, I didn't know anything about coolant loops when I started. If there's anything I can help you with to save you some time and headache, let me know.

 

[o1marc]

The heater core in a car heater is just another small radiator. When over heating, turning on the heater gives that small radiator the job to help dissipate heat. Ya we did it BITD, did it make a different? Probably little other than some sort of piece of mind. If you're overheating, a 9" radiator can't be expected to solve the greater issue.