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Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:33 pm

So I've had a gas heater in my truck for the last few months. It works great, but it does have a bit of a smell to it when I fire it up. I went and got a CO monitor because of the stories on thesamba that got me all paranoid.
So the monitor doesn't go off and I've driven for hours with it on and I don't get a head ache or any other adverse effect.

But my wife complains of the smell. I'm just wondering if this is normal? When I rebuilt the heater, I checked for any cracks or holes in the combustion tank, it was in fine shape.

Thanks,
Chris

Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:39 pm

ive had the same trouble,how does it distribute air and where does the clean air come from? pics? mine suffered from my bus' rear hatch seal or lack thereof,the cab somehow creates a vacum

Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:35 pm

Mine's under the back seat and the exhaust and intake are both coming from under the cargo floor. I put the two about 2 feet apart. I can't imagine that the intake is sucking in exhaust, especially at any speed.

I guess I just wanted other SW heater users to chime in and say if there heaters have a funk, like a kerosene heater, to them?

Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:34 pm

If all is correct it should only put out clean hot dry air. Maybe your burner chamber is cracked.

Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:15 am

what kind of smell?
exhaust?
other than exhaust?

mine (both bus and 181) smells weird but not due to combustion gases going into the cab.

Did you painted it in your rebuild? hot paint smells
Hot air ducts are clean? maybe is just dust that smells when it heats.

I assume fresh combustion air and exhaust exits under the floor pan... bypassing exhaust to fresh combustion air is not a major problem other than less performance... nothing to do with smells in the cab...

post a pic of your setup please.

Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:13 am

CO detectors that you buy for your home are not set to "go off" if it senses any CO. It has to be a certain amount over a certain amount of time (keeps it from false triggering).

Instrumentation that will read it instantly and accuratly is what you want to you. If you have any HVAC buddies, they should have one. Mine is a Fluke and cost a pretty penny, but it reads down to 1 ppm.

If you get no CO detected that way, then your heat exchanger is fine. Most likley it is anyway, they are stainless steel and quite durable. Dust, fingerprints, spiderwebs, etc, will all stink for quite a while when you fire them up after sitting for a long time.

Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:06 am

xavi_242 wrote: what kind of smell?
exhaust?
other than exhaust?

mine (both bus and 181) smells weird but not due to combustion gases going into the cab.

Did you painted it in your rebuild? hot paint smells
Hot air ducts are clean? maybe is just dust that smells when it heats.

I assume fresh combustion air and exhaust exits under the floor pan... bypassing exhaust to fresh combustion air is not a major problem other than less performance... nothing to do with smells in the cab...

post a pic of your setup please.

I'll get a pick tonight. I was kind of wondering if it's the new paint too.

Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:54 pm

Upon request, here are some pics of my heater. I've included a pic of it as I bought it. I'd been looking for an 8334 (correct for a DC) for a while, but decided to just use a bug model and modify it a bit to fit.v
Oh and the wires connected with the wire nut are also soldered together.

Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:58 pm

Looks like black exhaust on the cargo "chest" divider.

Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:59 am

crofty wrote: Looks like black exhaust on the cargo "chest" divider.

Yeah, I just noticed that as I was looking at the pictures more closely. Any SW heater experts known when that vent tube exhausts during operation and/or if it should be vented to the outside?

I also noticed that the divider behind the heater is loose at the top, maybe that's where some of my gas smell comes from after I fill up?

Thu Mar 04, 2010 2:19 pm

My SW heater also has a faint odor to it on initial start up, but it goes away within about 10 seconds. In my case, I think it's just the smell of burn dust or dirt, as noted above.

Arthur

Thu Mar 04, 2010 3:17 pm

Ollie W wrote: crofty wrote: Looks like black exhaust on the cargo "chest" divider.

Yeah, I just noticed that as I was looking at the pictures more closely. Any SW heater experts known when that vent tube exhausts during operation and/or if it should be vented to the outside?

I also noticed that the divider behind the heater is loose at the top, maybe that's where some of my gas smell comes from after I fill up?

I'd tighten that down and see what happens.

Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:24 am

crofty wrote: Looks like black exhaust on the cargo "chest" divider.

just thought the same... maybe combustion chamber has some crack that comunicates with that venting tube...

I'm not a SW expert, though...

cut a hole and drive that vent to the outside ;) just my opinion

Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:43 am

lots of possible causes in the 'smells in cab' columns... :roll: