Best Heater Type Gas or Diesel

nailer8 · 16-11-2009 1:15pm #1

I am wondering what is the best type of heating to fit to a converted panel van camper.
It has a carver gas water heater but no air heater and with the weather getting colder I need something.

I was looking at fitting something like a Propex gas heater or Espracher/Webasto diesel heater.

Anyone out there opinions as to what is best. Which is easiest to fit most economical to run etc.

joncollier · 19-11-2009 10:27pm

I've had an eberspacher, a Propex and a Truma e2600 in my time with campervans. The problem with the diesel types is that there quite noisey and consume alot of electricity.The gas models are quieter and don't use much electricity in comparison, my current model is a Truma E2600 which is great because I can leave it on at night with the thermostat and it doesn't wake me up. I remember my eberspacher used to sound like a jet engine, perhaps there better now. If you want to buy one I can get hold of them in around 3 days from the UK, if you want anymore info feel free to contact me at
www.greendogcampers.com

Cheer
Jon

Aidan_M_M · 20-11-2009 10:15am

We normally sell the ProPex units for retro fit , small , neat , simple unit that's not hard on gas and easy fit .

harper61 · 29-11-2009 2:41pm

I have abive heater in Westfalia Nugget camper, normally workd fine & not too noisy.
However it now cuts out after a few mins. in operation .............. has anyone any ideas what the prob. might be ??

Anyone offering repair service in Cork / Munster ??

Thanks

Noel

Aidan_M_M · 30-11-2009 1:46pm

Is your gas bottle low , or freezing up?

harper61 · 30-11-2009 2:00pm

This is not a gas heater, it operates on diesel fuel from vehicle tank

merc camper · 30-11-2009 2:23pm

Hi Noel,
Does the fuel pump turn on u should be able to hear it clicking.
Normal opperation the fan comes on for a short period of time, then fuel pump starts pumping, if the flame does not light it will stop pump then fan remains on for another short period. It will try to restart again, if it does not work it will not try again.
So if pump comes on u need to check the fuel filter located at pump.
There may be a fuel leak either.
Let me know if this helps.
Philip

joncollier · 30-11-2009 11:59pm

Have you tried de-coking it, run it on half diesel half petrol mix. The other thing is to checked your battery, those things draw alot of current on start up, try it with engine running. The other thing is there is a temperature sensor which can go. Try checking ebay there are people who refurb them in the UK,
cheers
Jon

samih · 01-12-2009 5:32pm

Harper61, does your heater actually fire, i.e. exhaust gets hot before it shuts down?

If it fires, and you can hear the fuel pump but the unit then shuts down after a little while, it could be overheating with a bad circulation pump or airlock.

My Webasto is on the blink at the moment. I'm suspecting a burnt glowplug as the combustion fan and circulation pump just power on for a few minutes and then the unit shuts down without an attempt to fire. I have an ammeter in the feed circuit and it used to register a high reading during start up process when the glowplug was energised but not anymore.

PS. The heaters only attempt to start some number of times (normally 5) before they lock out. In Webasto you can reset the unit by unplugging the fuse for a few seconds but Eberspächers may need to be reset via a compatible timer or a special diagnostic tool.

PS2. Diesel heaters can be silenced to almost perfectly silent via inlet and exhaust mufflers. However, they tend to be a bit fragile it seems.

Best Heater Type Gas or Diesel

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