Atwood Hydroflame 8012 furnace into kitchenette (with pics)

[evanwilliams4u]

Well after reading about this topic for some time I finally got around to installing an Atwood Hydroflame 8012 propane furnace into the spare tire area of my Westy's kitchenette. Here are the pics with explanation for anyone else who may want to attempt the job.

Install location without the spare tire:

Furnace ready to be installed:

Furnace sitting in location, notice how the vent would hit the exterior body-panel support on the far end. I needed to raise the furnace ~2" to clear the support (I did not want to cut that away). Also, the sheet metal screws on the left had to be removed in order to get the furnace to slide further back. Otherwise it fits like a glove.

I made 2 risers out of wood, the one on the right is for the front of the furnace while the one on the left would go under the middle.

Here's the risers installed:

The rear furnace vent now clears the horizontal support. I used a marker to mark where the 2 top corners of the vent met the wall, I then drilled through to the outside. These 2 points gave me a guide, allowing me to grind the away the opening from the outside of the Bus.

A perfect fit!

Here's the vent fully installed. I pre-drilled the holes for the screws. One ended up on the seam between 2 body panels but caused no problems.

Now to prepare the gas connection. A trip to Home Depot got me a 3/8" tee and 2 flexible gas lines. The short one runs to the existing stove, the long one runs to the new furnace. All gas connections are 3/8 inch.

In the cabinet below the sink I drilled a 1" hole for the gas line to run behind the cabinet over to the spare tire (now the furnace) location.

Here are my gas and electricity connections. The gray gas line is the original Westy line that used to run directly to the stove fitting, now it's teed and runs to the stove and to the furnace (through the hole in the rear of the cabinet). I tapped into my sink's water pump wire for power. I have installed an aux battery that the sink pump already uses so no need to worry about running the main (starting) battery dead while using the furnace. I ran the power wire through the same hole as the gas.

I installed the thermostat above the furnace near the stove knobs. 2 wires run to the thermostat: 12v power and a connection to the furnace (I should have used more colors than just red but I only had red and don't plan on selling my bus so future owners will have nothing to track down). I drilled holes in the front of the kitchenette for the wires, which descend on the right--I will attach them to the top with a staple gun. I spliced into the power wire that I ran to the furnace. You can also see the yellow gas line running to the furnace in the back.

Here's a pic of the furnace completely installed and operating. I plan on making a hinged door and painting the furnace vent black to complete the install.

Since I just did most of this today I've had little experience actually using the furnace in the field, but it does work really nice in the driveway! It's very quiet--I don't actually hear the fan, just the sound of wind coming from the front. The clearance requirements in the installation manual say 0" all the way around and the casing does stay cool to the touch, so using the space above for storage should be fine.

For a more experienced review see this thread (which gave me lots of courage--thanks 50rocket88!):
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=344182

I bought the furnace off eBay for $330 including taxes and shipping. It's new and under 2 year warranty from the manufacturer. The thermostat was $22 from a local RV shop and the parts from Home Depot were about $35. So it cost about $400 total. Installation was not difficult but it was time consuming. Lots of tight spaces and measuring everything twice--especially the exterior cut. It probably took me around 8 hours to get this far, including the time I spent thinking things over.

I'll post pics of the completely finished product (with the door etc.) when I finish it up. I hope this helps someone with their install.

Cheers.
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1978 Stock Westfalia Deluxe

[EZ Gruv]

Heat! Just in time for Spring!!

Just kidding...nice job.
_________________
Eric
1977 Deluxe Westfalia - 2.0L FI Type IV, Completely Original
Photographer for HotVWs, VolksWorld, AirMighty, VW Camper & Commercial, Hayburner, and more.
My Photography Page.

[50rocket88]

Nice... I installed the same furnace in my 71'. Just to let you know.. I've been using it everyday for about 1/2 hour drive going on 2 months... and I'm still on my original tank of propane. (stock westy tank 2.4 gallons) Also it'll smell a little funny for a few days, but that goes away. I also realized that I needed to paint the exposed bare metal surfaces that were left from cutting out the exterior vent... or else they would rust very soon. I just used some etch primer and some standard primer then rustoleum spray paint. Nice job!!!! You'll love the heater, and you can't beat the price... vs. that Propex system!

[evanwilliams4u]

[regis101]

So it can be used while driving. That's good. How's the noise level?
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Peace, Regis

[blue72beetle]

Wonder if the exhaust could be routed out the floor, so you wouldn't have to hack up your body?
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-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus 1776 Microsquirt EFI-

[regis101]

Small sacrifice for the greater gain. The later Westy's already have two cut outs on that side. One more isn't bad. Just my opinion.
Good question, though.
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Peace, Regis

[mightyart]

No, but there are already holes in the side of the van from Westfalia Hacking into it.

[regis101]

I'm looking at the pictures. The collar that you install from the outside, does that slide into the unit to set the depth? Does the heat come through the grille from the center ~6 x ~6 square opening, basically in the center? The rest would be return? The burner intake and exhaust is from/to the outside?
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Peace, Regis

[TRN9]

How long will your AUX. Batt. run the fan?
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'72 Panel ~ B-Bus
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Camper Special Club Member
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[evanwilliams4u]

[theizzardking]

hey great looking install, i was just looking at buying this, was there a reason you didn't go with the smaller units atwood offers?

https://americanrvcompany.3dcartstores.com/Atwood_c_184.html

as well as a company called suburban looks to have some nice units. i'd just like to know why you chose this one as it's a bit bigger and awkward than some of the other units that are only like $40-50 bucks more....

really good write up finally somethign that looks like a good replacement for my bungee corded heater buddy.
_________________
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin
'71 westie "the wanderer"

[evanwilliams4u]

[White99z]

[norcalmike]

thats nice..
im sure you'll let us know how it works on the next cold night

[evanwilliams4u]

[evanwilliams4u]

I just got back from a week of camping along the northern California coast and had a chance to use the furnace, so here's my initial report. The furnace works well while driving, even at high speeds and with strong crosswinds. While camping it will keep the bus very warm (like up in the 90s F if you want); it will be super warm with the pop-top down and warm but drafty with the top up. It will hold a steady range within about 5 degrees before turning on and off, which is not the best but my thermostat is located directly above the furnace and may adversely influence its cycles--I've adjusted the anticipator to its lowest setting as well.

I did have some technical troubles with the furnace that required an RV repair man to come out to the campground, that was a major bummer after doing so much work to get a new furnace installed. I thought the control board was faulty but it turns out that the "sail switch" was sticking. He just sprayed some WD-40 on it and bent it away from the case slightly and it worked fine from then on. Atwood covers the parts/labor, but not the $45 service call fee so I would recommend doing a trial run at home and let the furnace run in a non-moving van for at least a couple hours before hitting the road for a full trip.

Also, I ran out of propane by the end of the week, but had plenty of battery power to spare. The furnace was on about 10 hours a day (though not running that whole time obviously) and it was probably in the low 40s F overnight. 2 nights I had the top up (a friend was sleeping up there) and that made the furnace run a lot more, though it heater the upper bunk well according to my friend.
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1978 Stock Westfalia Deluxe

[Lionhart94010]

Nice write up, thanks for sharing :0)

It seems like the Atwood furnaces may be a good alternative to the old factory installed BN4 & BA6 heaters, Atwood seems to have a good selection of sizes etc…

http://www.rvstuffusa.com/heatingac.html
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Current VWs 71 T2 Westy SO-72/6(Miami), 71 Crew Cab, 2015 GSW TDI
Other owned VW’s 59, 68 1500s, 69 & 71 Bug’s; 72 & 73 S-Bug’s; 67 Westy, 67 Deluxe, Other 71 DC, 72 KG GT that now lives in Australia, 12 JSW TDI, 2015 GSW TDI, 2023 Tiguan
VW technical information sights
thesamba - www.ratwell.com - www.shoptalkforums.com/ - www.vw-resource.com - http://www.type2.com/
http://bobhooversblog.blogspot.com/ - www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles.htm

[dneubaum]

I installed an Atwood Everest Furnace in my '85 Westy about a year ago and it seems to be working great. I finally got a write-up posted here on "The Samba" for folks if interested.

Technical -> Manuals -> Heating and A/C section of the site here:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/heater_ac.php

Hope it helps folks if they decide to go this route.

Cheers,

Dan

[evanwilliams4u]

Nice writeup for a Vanagon Westy install dneubaum. It's a great furnace for these small campers and installing one is really not too hard either... if you don't mind cutting a new hole in your car.....
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1978 Stock Westfalia Deluxe