Need some advice on webasto, air, coolant heat

[Toddthomp]

I have a 27ft FS 65 and we decided to remove the AC unit in the back and the heater box on the floor and replaced it all with a 9000 BTU mini split with the evaporator mounted above the front dash. It keeps us cool/warm while driving (however, we also kept the front dash heater) and it keeps us cool/warm while parked when the bus engine is off. We have a central aisle that we walk down in the middle of our bus with the kitchen in the back and beds in front so the AC unit would have interfered with kitchen headroom (I'm 6' 2"). At the end of the aisle we have a deck to walk out onto that makes everything feel very spacious. The minisplit compressor is mounted above the deck. To power our minisplit we have 750AH of lithium batteries, 4 - 300 watt solar panels and we live in western Oregon. When the sun is out we can run the mini split anytime we want but when there's cloud cover we use a Honda 2200 watt 120v generator/inverter. Welcome to the skoolie world and I hope this helps!

 

[cessna175]

Sounds exactly like my set up. I actually installed an EPA approved propane conversion kit on my Honda 3000iu generator as to not have gasoline sloshing around while driving. It makes me feel safe.

 

[heimlich]

Sounds exactly like my set up. I actually installed an EPA approved propane conversion kit on my Honda 3000iu generator as to not have gasoline sloshing around while driving. It makes me feel safe.

Just buy a diesel generator. They are cheap from China. Cheaper than that Honda.

 

[cessna175]

You are correct, I had the generator previous to my build out though. It sits on the rear massive bumper. And its extremely quiet, especially when I can't use shore power.

 

[heimlich]

I struggled a lot with Gas, Propane, and Diesel. I didn't want to be carrying around all those fuels. I really didn't want propane but I saw no way around it. Someone in our government has made it very hard to get a cheap diesel generator. I found them in China though. About $800 for 3kw shipped to door.

 

[Surf44]

I have a 27ft FS 65 and we decided to remove the AC unit in the back and the heater box on the floor and replaced it all with a 9000 BTU mini split with the evaporator mounted above the front dash. It keeps us cool/warm while driving (however, we also kept the front dash heater) and it keeps us cool/warm while parked when the bus engine is off. We have a central aisle that we walk down in the middle of our bus with the kitchen in the back and beds in front so the AC unit would have interfered with kitchen headroom (I'm 6' 2"). At the end of the aisle we have a deck to walk out onto that makes everything feel very spacious. The minisplit compressor is mounted above the deck. To power our minisplit we have 750AH of lithium batteries, 4 - 300 watt solar panels and we live in western Oregon. When the sun is out we can run the mini split anytime we want but when there's cloud cover we use a Honda 2200 watt 120v generator/inverter. Welcome to the skoolie world and I hope this helps!

Yeah I got it discharged and ripped it out today. I’ve had plenty of cars without a/c even though it kinda sucks it’s way worse if you don’t have a/c in your house.

Do you have some more pics of your build?

 

[heimlich]

Now you are in the same boat as a lot of us. Grab a paddle.

I drive around old VW's. They don't have AC. It is nice to have AC when you sleep though. That will be our primary use of our mini split.

 

[Surf44]

Alright hit another dilemma with the front heaters. I took the rear out and planned on looping it underneath the drivers seat heater. But now tearing it apart I’m to get the sub floor out I’m stumped on how to keep it/make it look nice.

My drivers seat was mounted on like a 6” tall base and the last piece of sub floor goes all the way under the seat base and the both the driver heater and the stair well heater.

I’m either thinking take out the driver seat heater which would be more storage and allow me to delete all the coolant line connections that are inside the bus and keep the stairwell heat as the only driving and defrost heat.

Or multi tool the wood subfloor to be able to leave it under the driver seat and delete the stairwell heater which would be better storage use and easier to cover the floor back up.

Just need some opinions and suggestions on this one.

 

[desrtdog]

I ended up tearing the entire sub floor out - including under the driver’s heater - because I wanted to get the rear heater hoses completely removed and prep/paint the metal. When I did this, I also removed the side instrument/switch panel…
That said, I have a different setup than yours (BB vs Thomas), so might not be as easy for you (hard to tell if the switch panel is one piece all around to the front)…

Appears that the platform your driver’s seat was mounted on was also ducting for the driver’s side heater, and if you get rid of it, you will still need to raise the seat by that amount - correct? Is that platform metal/reusable?

I would personally try to remove all of the subfloor (even under the driver’s heater), keep the driver’s heater (and delete the stairwell one in lieu of storage there), and get rid of the excess rear heater hoses running under the driver’s heater… but that is also my opinion not knowing your exact setup or how difficult that may be to accomplish…

Posts 5-6 of my build thread here detail what I did in the cockpit area of my bus…happy to address any q’s…

 

[Surf44]

The drivers seat base is part of the return for that heater which holy smokes the nastyness that was under there and blowing out from the heaters was crazy.

But I do plan on reusing that seat base/possibly fabbing a new one if I find a new seat with a different height.

Looking at it more I am leaning more towards removing the stairwell one and just multi tooling around the driver heater sub floor. I can’t see a way to remove it and take the floor out and put it back without destroying it or just a lot of work for a little piece of wood underneath.

I’m also close to just ripping them both out and putting a Chinese diesel heater in place of them. But kinda a waste of diesel to use while the engine is running with hot coolant anyways.

What is the failure rate of the heaters in buses? My main concern is them leaking after everything is built out.

 

[nikitis]

Check out my post here. This is what I did with my hoses. I literally buried them in the new insulation floor.
Straight Bussin Heater Hose Hide.

 

[Surf44]

Update on this project of heater removal.

I ended up completely removing both heaters and took all the subfloor up. Good thing I did because the only rust on the entire bus was all under the driver seat!

But I want to keep the driver heater, well I don’t want to but having coolant heat and factory defrost seems like a good idea vs trying to duct a diesel heater to do that.

I was trying to look up if I can replace that heater core just for peace of mind so I’m not caught with a coolant leak and bad core down the line. How common is it for these cores to leak? What’s the fail rate of them?

 

[heimlich]

On the hoses coming from the engine my heaters had valves on the coolant lines. I just removed the heaters and closed the valves. Maybe there is something like that on your engine.

You removed the AC. Why not remove the heat as well. It opens a lot of space. You can put a diesel heater there instead or under the bus. Lots of options.

When you get close to the point where you have to decide on the front you can decide what to do at that time. The diesel heater ducting is rather easy. Since you are up there where it gets cold you may need both.

 

[Surf44]

I do have the valves. I was thinking of just removing all of it, but my bus has a pretty much brand new webasto coolant heater on it and it would be nice to have that on really cold days to heat the engine block and if it’s doing that might as well be sending heat inside too.

I also watched a video recently where a couple did that, deleted the heaters and added a dedicated Chinese diesel heater for defrost and it cracked their windshield because of how hot they get! I know there’s ways to redirect the heat to prevent that but dang!

And I’m pretty much there now. I have been deleting all the wiring and have the whole front disassembled. Now it’s too the point I need to reassemble to be able to drive it too my work shop to start actually building on it.

 

[heimlich]

You can crack a windshield by applying to much heat when it is cold or applying to much cold when it is hot. People here turn on their windshield wiper in the middle of the Summer. Because the liquid comes from under the hood it isn't as hot as the windshield is and cracks it.

For a defroster just carry a rolls of towels. I drive old cars and they do not have defrost. The best thing is have a paper towel to wipe them with.