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Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:18 am

I see one memeber installed an atwood furnace. I was wondering if anyone else has done this??

At $280 it looks like a nice alternative to a propex. Big by comparison but the one install looks nice.

Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:27 am

STEPHENLAY wrote: I see one memeber installed an atwood furnace. I was wondering if anyone else has done this??

At $280 it looks like a nice alternative to a propex. Big by comparison but the one install looks nice.

Do you have a link?

Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:04 am

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wchapman/2066387856/
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=194221&highlight=atwood

Cheers!
Dave

Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:18 pm

Yes that link. I would LOVE to see a more detailed write up on this.

Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:26 pm

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=634695

Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:58 pm

Where are you seeing it at 280 i have found it for 450.00

found it....ebay storehttp://item.express.ebay.com/Vehicle-Parts-Accesso...xpressItem

Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:12 pm

I want to see some installed pics. I woder if you have to vent out the side or maybe bottom like the propex?

Wed Aug 13, 2008 3:38 pm

I have a Hydroflame and it has its own special side vent. I WILL be happy with it when I get it to fire up so right now it just looks neat.

Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:08 pm

If the dollar continues to gain value again, the pricing of the Propex will come back down. I have to pay for these units in UK pounds.

Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:15 pm

That would be nice. At $750 I think I will have to be cold. The 280 for the atwood is really a much better buy but not as slick as the propex. You do get much more heat with the atwood as well. I think that it will require a vent on the side of the van and I am not really interested in that.

Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:18 pm

STEPHENLAY wrote: That would be nice. At $750 I think I will have to be cold. The 280 for the atwood is really a much better buy but not as slick as the propex. You do get much more heat with the Atwood as well. I think that it will require a vent on the side of the van and I am not really interested in that.

$725 currently. :) The HS2000 Propex will probably never get down to the original $495 like it was when I started selling them, the dollar was in much better shape then. But possibly well into the 600's if the current gains hold into winter. More heat energy=more BTU's. Remember however that to produce more BTU's, more energy (propane) must be burned. Efficiency of the Propex is around 95, not sure how the Atwood compares.

Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:25 pm

No doubt the propex is nice. I think the atwood is less efficient. I will keep tabs on the dollar!!!!!

Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:24 pm

I can't find any specs on the Attwood to compare against any others. I think they may be more suited to RV's with banks of batteries and shore power where amps and gas useage are not as big a concern. Looks nice and compact.

Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:31 pm

Actually the 8012 model draws l.8 amps vs 1.2 for the propex. Not as good but not horrible either.

The extra BTU does consume more but then gives more heat too!

Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:21 pm

I have Atwood listed on TS I also have the installed pics, It was a option in the vanagon camper convertion I parted out. One of the safest way to heat and sleep without worry.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=634695

Tue Dec 09, 2008 3:34 pm

Does anyone with an Atwood (or Propex) furnace know if you can use it while driving? Thanks.

Tue Dec 09, 2008 3:47 pm

hurst_dave wrote: Does anyone with an Atwood (or Propex) furnace know if you can use it while driving? Thanks.
Yes, both.

Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:26 pm

Excellent--thanks.

Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:55 pm

I have seen this picture:

Does anyone have any other information or pictures relating to the installation. I wonder how the outside vent looks, and how much clearence is in the cabinet. Any other Atwood experiences?

Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:57 am

Still a deal for 12000BTU at 1.8 amps .....$289.00 on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Atwood-Hydro-Flame-...5006r34058

An earlier model of these furnaces were standard equipment on all Adventurewagons.

Here's some more pics of the install. Nice work...not mine...photos sent to me by the installer, (Troy) I can't answer any specific questions but the pictures are pretty self explanatory.

----------------------------------------------------

The Atwood furnace is a bit longer than the depth of the Westy cabinet so a piece of formica was used as a "frame" to increase the depth....looks pretty good I think.

Here's what Troy sent me with the pics.

I went down to Ace Hardware and picked up a piece of Formica that's fairly close match to the stock. I bought the edging from a place called T-molding on line. .

Here's the hole where the small storage cabinet used to be...to the left of the fridge.....the outlet and breaker are restored to their original positions. (I've never used shore power in my van, so not sure I'd bother putting these back in....rather have the space.)

Note the rectangular hole through the side of the van sheet metal for the vent.

The furnace must vent straight through the side of the van...as the photos show...no options for curving pipes through the floor.

Here's the finished vent viewed from the outside of the van. Next time you see an Adventurewagon check it out.

A bit of sheet metal had to be trimmed from the back of the heater box to make it conform to the shape of the side of the van...as per the markings.

Troy......The blue lines are the actual shape of the side of the Westy wall. I scribed a piece of cardboard and then transferred it to the furnace. Problem is the squirrel cage fan. If one was to actually cut out the exact shape, you would cut into the squirrel cage fan. The most critical part I found was a horizontal reinforcement of the Westy wall, and I had to file out a portion of the furnace to mate. If you look closely at the picture you will see its hollowed out a little bit more in the center. One really only needs to cut about a half-inch off the bottom of the furnace. It's fairly light weight sheet-metal so, maybe five minutes worth of work. You can get to within 1/4" of the stock cabinet wall face.

Looking down from the top into the (former) storage space. Looks like an inverter was installed on the wall beside the heater.

Troy..... In my case, I have a switch, that in turn runs through an inverter
that is connected to power the lower half of the electrical outlet. I also
have a 12 V cigarette lighter installed in that lower outlet box. I did not
want to give up shore power completely either, even though I rarely find
campsites with 110 available.

The finished install without the vent cover.

The vent cover comes in a brown color...which would look OK in a earlier model tan interior...but would be ugly in a grey interior.....so.....

...not sure if this vent was stripped to bare metal ....or repainted silver....but it goes much better with the late model grey Westy interior

The thermostat control.

These photos satisfied me that this is a viable furnace option for Vanagons....at least from an installation point of view. A bit bigger than the popular Propex 2000 but not that much bigger than Propex 2800.

Comparing the Atwood to the Propex HS2800 ....which is closest of the Propex heaters in btu output at 9,550btu....the Atwood draws a 1.8 vs 1.9 amps for the Propex. Output is 12,000btu vs 9,556btu (but btu ratings don't mean much without comparing efficiency....i.e what amount of propane is consumed to get the rated output....the Propex is very efficient...not sure about the Atwood)

It's not a "cool" as the Propex for sure..and the Propex is a "cleaner" install...and has more location options...and Karl is respected, trustworthy vendor....

But at $290 vs $830 it's pretty hard not to give the Atwood some serious consideration. The $540 that would still in your bank account would be pretty "cool" too.

I have an older model salvaged from an Adventurewagon but I've never gotten around to installing it....so I cannot report anything on usage... .that will have to come from Troy, if he wants to chime in...or from Adventurewagon owners who have them. But note that this model is a recent upgrade that uses less amperage than the older models in Adventurewagons.

Hope some actual users will report.

Warren C.