# Heating



## Pechdou (Jan 30, 2009)

I have a Burstner Aviano i675. It is fitted with a Trumatic C heater/water heater. To reduce our reliance on gas, I am considering fitting a diesel powered heater. 
I've narrowed the list down to two options, both made by Webasto: the Airtop 2000 and the EVO 3900.
There is quite a big price differential with the latter being the more expensive. My question is, would the 2000 cope with heating my vehicle (bearing in mind that it could be augmented by the Trumatic if necessary)? 
I will appreciate info from anyone with experience on this subject.


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## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

I would not bother if I had the truma unit there and working, whats the point of spending all the extra cash, unless you are going some where there's no gas... might be missing something, will be watching this post with interest :roll:


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## Pechdou (Jan 30, 2009)

clive1821 said:


> I would not bother if I had the truma unit there and working, whats the point of spending all the extra cash, unless you are going some where there's no gas... might be missing something, will be watching this post with interest :roll:


We are based in France and use gas bottles sourced locally. We are planning a longish trip to UK this autumn/winter. Foreseeing that getting gas refills will almost certainly be problematic, we are looking at the diesel heating option. It is pricey though!


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## Wizzo (Dec 3, 2007)

It would be cheaper and easier to fit refillable bottles like Gaslow surely than to have a diesel heater fitted, or even an underfloor lpg tank?

JohnW


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## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

Ok I understand, well as a lot of people in the uk do is simpley remove their calor gas bottles and replace them with french, german, spanish bottles etc which would the best way forward, in an idea world the use of gas low or gas tank would be far and away cheaper to do, also the installation costs for the diesel heater installation, conecting up with the existing heating ducts and hot water system.... all the best with your trip... still raining here :roll:


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## YamiRen (Jun 12, 2011)

*Diesel Heating*

We have a 2007 Autotrail Miami and apparently Autotrail were installing the diesel heaters at one time but because of a series of problems they went to the combined trumatic water/heater. We find this extremely efficient even though it "heats" up the mattress because it is installed under the fixed bed!

I can understand the reasoning for what you want to do but would seriously consider staying with gas and installing a system that can be filled up from any lpg autogas point.

In the fullness of time this is my intention coupled with getting a 2kw Honda gene converted to lpg. Will watch this post with interest!


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## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi

If its of any help our 5KW Eberspacher easily keeps our approximately 5m accomodation warm. Its a bit noisy despite a silencer, if other campers are close by. I seem to remember the Eberspacher website gives model recomendations depending on camper length to be heated.

The deposit for any gas bottle is surely not likely to be much more than 20 pounds, so binning your French bottle and "buying" a Calor of similar is just a wee bit cheaper!?


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Hi there,can I ask what size gas bottles you use, can you just have an adaptor to enable you to use UK bottles.is your regulater on the bottles or pre-fitted to the bulkhead inthe gas locker, 37mb I think it is, with the green button.
I am sure we could find you a UK bottle to borrow or have.just have room to fit it in by leaving one gas bottle at home.

cabby


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## Pechdou (Jan 30, 2009)

cabby said:


> Hi there,can I ask what size gas bottles you use, can you just have an adaptor to enable you to use UK bottles.is your regulater on the bottles or pre-fitted to the bulkhead inthe gas locker, 37mb I think it is, with the green button.
> I am sure we could find you a UK bottle to borrow or have.just have room to fit it in by leaving one gas bottle at home.
> 
> cabby


Hi Cabby and thanks for your resonse. My bottles (2 of) are 13kg. The regulator is bulkhead mounted and a sticker declares that the system is 30 mb (no green button in sight).

Research that I have carried out suggests that heating gets through a lot of gas. If I don't place the heating burden on the gas system then I am confident that the gas will last for the full trip (and, indeed, any subsequent trips to wherever removing the worry about sourcing gas). I'm more or less decided on going for the diesel heater, my only concern is whether or not the 2kw version is man enough.

Thanks for the offer of a UK bottle. That's very kind but I don't think I'll be needing it.

Best regards.


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## Pechdou (Jan 30, 2009)

grizzlyj said:


> Hi
> 
> If its of any help our 5KW Eberspacher easily keeps our approximately 5m accomodation warm. Its a bit noisy despite a silencer, if other campers are close by. I seem to remember the Eberspacher website gives model recomendations depending on camper length to be heated.
> 
> The deposit for any gas bottle is surely not likely to be much more than 20 pounds, so binning your French bottle and "buying" a Calor of similar is just a wee bit cheaper!?


Thanks for that. I'm sure that the 5kw heater is up to the task; I'm hoping to get away with a 2kw version (augemented as necessary by the trumatic).

I take your point about the gas bottles but I'm looking for a solution that will include, potentially, many other countries.


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## Pechdou (Jan 30, 2009)

This is an update on my initial post. 

For info, I had the 2kw unit fitted and it coped very well indeed (though the weather was not particularly cold!). It was obvious however that there was a lot more capacity available so I'm confident that, had it been colder, this unit would have been up to the job.
Furthermore, it does appear to be very efficient as there was no perceptible reduction in my overall consumption figures.

The reduction in gas use was most evident; we managed the six week trip well inside the contents of one bottle.

Thank you to everyone who responded.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Many thanks for the update, can one ask what the cost was and which model you had fitted.Also what made you pick webasto over 
Eberspacher. 

cabby


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## Pechdou (Jan 30, 2009)

cabby said:


> Many thanks for the update, can one ask what the cost was and which model you had fitted.Also what made you pick webasto over
> Eberspacher.
> 
> cabby


Hi Cabby,

The model I went for was the Webasto Airtop 2000. It is not cheap but what is on motor homes? It came to £1450 including installation.

As to why Webasto, a friend has one fitted to his MH and he has been pleased with its performance. Simple as that.

Rgds.


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## selstrom (May 23, 2005)

Even if you have to buy new pigtails and pay deposit on new gas cylinders it will only cost you £20 to £40, Flowgas no deposit?.
Diesel heaters not as reliable as gas and generally very noisy.


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## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi selstrom



selstrom said:


> Even if you have to buy new....


Pechdou already has if you read the thread before replying!



Pechdou said:


> This is an update on my initial post. For info, I had the 2kw unit fitted ....


And my own diesel heater is fab and not very noisy 

Jason


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## wug (May 19, 2011)

I'm speccing a panel van conversion and considering a diesel heater as many of the top convertors fit them. Our present van has a Truma which works on gas and/or electric and is very effective. Of course the fan is noisy when running at full blast. How does the diesel compare? Is it as noisy? eg will it annoy the neighbours? I assume it works on blown air too. Does it "whack the battery" as someone suggested? I would have an lpg tank fitted underneath for cooking.

Thanks for any comments/advice.


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## Razzo (May 1, 2005)

*Diesel heater*

Hi,

We fitted an Ebersbacher airtronic, to our Mercedes Sprinter home conversion in Australia and were really pleased with it. They do not import the Truma combi there as it has not gone under the local Gas testing. (they import the water heater only).

The 2kw should only have 2 outlets but we put in 3 and it was not detrimental. The one to the shower/toilet could be shut to push the air to the living area. Why a heater in Aus - it is all those lovely clear nights during winter that lead to cold mornings.

On internal noise on full fan they are very similar to the Truma. On low fan they are quiet. We did have a low ticking from the fuel pump but that is in part to the location I put it under floor. Externally the heater can be heard. If I was on a French Aire at a ski resort I would prefer not to be next to one, but on a Camping Club site with 6 metres it would not be a problem. I believe the later versions are quieter. There is also a muffler that can be made that I have seen a sketch of. It is a hell of a lot quieter then the 240volt air conditioner that I fitted.

There is a reasonable draw on start up ( I think 6amp) but this is only to get the glow plug up to fire the diesel. Hence it is only for a couple of minutes and irrelevant. Once it got close to temperature it was near 1. We only had one 110amp hour battery and one 80w solar and did not have a problem.

We hardly noticed any change in fuel consumption. We always used less than 10litre per 100km. Any fluctuation could not be separated between heater and driving conditions (Highway-Mountains)

We are currently in Morocco and have not used the Truma in our Hymer much lately. 

Cheers

Brian


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## YamiRen (Jun 12, 2011)

Autotrail used to fit the diesel heaters and changed to the gas/electric combi hot water and heating Truma's. I have heard of people complaining of noisy diesel heaters when they have been on rallies but I have not experienced it myself. The main point being that if your gas/electric fan is noisy at the moment you will still have the noisy fan plus the impact of the diesel engine at the same time.


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## wug (May 19, 2011)

Thanks. It's the noise of the diesel engine I'm thinking about and whether it'd be a nuisance inside and outside. I was at Moffat C&CC site in December and walking past a van early morning before everyone else was up I could hear quite a loud noise coming from it, sounding a bit like a generator, which I assumed was a diesel heater. The noise from the gas heater is hardly noticeable. But you keep having to find gas.


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## YamiRen (Jun 12, 2011)

*Finding Gas?*

I am going to have a Gaslow bottle fitted with an external filler so that I can get LPG at filling stations etc - much cheaper and no need to keep swapping bottles - on the continent you may need an adapter to fill up but I have heard that most filling stations have them at the pumps or behind the counter. In the UK south of Shrewsbury/Lincoln you can get LPG at domestic rates of 5% vat via Countrywide Fuels 24/7 key account filling depots - there's loads of 'em! I have an account for my Volvo but in my research they have info'd me I would have to have an external filling slot (not allowed to fill the bottle directly) on the MH and a second account because the vat is only 5% as opposed to 20% on road fuel. On the continent you would have to bite the bullet and pay their full tax but it's defo cheaper than buying replacement bottles and more convenient there being loads of LPG pumps at main petrol stations.
Countrywide Fuels -

http://www.countrywidefarmers.co.uk/pws/Content.ice?page=AutogasHome&pgForward=businesshome

Hope it all pans out for you.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Yes the Webasto will do the job. We had one in an Autotrail Mohican and it was excellent. If you ever sell the van take it with you, its easy to fit and remove, Alan.


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## MrsW (Feb 8, 2009)

For anyone living in France and thinking of taking a trip to GB, try your local tip. Ours often has British bottles left there (especially over the summer) when people run out of gas and buy a French bottle to see them through their holiday. We always offer to take the bottles back to GB on our next trip (have taken 7 back now!) and the guy at the tip is always thrilled as they have no way of dealing with them. Once in Gb you can then swap the cylinder for a fiull one and use it during your trip. Thus no deposit required (usually £30+)


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