Aux heater for Eurovan Weekender

[Jackodog13]

I want to heat my 99 Weekender at night. I know there is an aux heater/ furnace that runs off the extra battery and fuel line. What should I expect to pay for this installed? Are there options? Is there a plug-in heater that is worth a darn? I dont want to use the propane type. Thanks

[DenverB]

http://www.propexheatsource.com/heaters/hs2000-furnace/

That's pretty much the tops right there, according to the Vanagon crowd. With install, propane tank to power it, etc, I think you're looking at around a grand all said and done:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1687640

I've been entertaining the idea of getting one of these for my personal weekender for ski bum camping this winter -- seems like it could be more versatile to own for other uses (heating the garage, etc) than a non-removable propex:

http://www.outdoorplay.com/Zodi-X-40-Hot-Vent-Tent...aQodEpgIxw
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'77 Transporter/camper (Bussy - Reef Blue/Pastel White)
'67 bug (Santos - VW Blue)
'84 Vanagon Westfalia (Pink Flamingo - Pastel White/Pink)
'88 Vanagon GL Westfalia (Frankie Says - Wolfram Gray)
'02 Eurovan Weekender (Green Apple)
'95-'03 Eurovan full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'84 -'91 Vanagon full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'72 Porsche 914 (Greta - RIP)

www.RockyMountainCampervans.com

[IdeaNerd]

[DenverB]

never did. The little buddy works well enough for my needs that i'll just stick with that for now.
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'77 Transporter/camper (Bussy - Reef Blue/Pastel White)
'67 bug (Santos - VW Blue)
'84 Vanagon Westfalia (Pink Flamingo - Pastel White/Pink)
'88 Vanagon GL Westfalia (Frankie Says - Wolfram Gray)
'02 Eurovan Weekender (Green Apple)
'95-'03 Eurovan full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'84 -'91 Vanagon full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'72 Porsche 914 (Greta - RIP)

www.RockyMountainCampervans.com

[Joshwa]

[Abscate]

I went the route of marrying the hottest woman I have ever met and letting her heat me up for 35 years. I do have to crack the windows as she still leaves me breathless.

Seriously, using any combustion type heater while sleeping is ill-advised in my book. We just don't maintain stuff well enough to manage the risk of getting either snuffed by O2 deprivation or CO poisoning.
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.ssS!

[IdeaNerd]

[jakefromstatefarm]

Cole & Cavevans are going to install a Webasto for me on my conversion. It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make on my conversion and was on the fence with it for a long time.

The Mr. Buddy seemed like a good idea, but with 3 kids + wife + me in the small Eurovan, I just became convinced someone would burn themselves on it. Maybe not initially, but eventually. Maybe a small burn, maybe worse. That did't seem worth it to me. And the condensation in the morning, which I hear can get back, didn't excite me either.

I thought about the Propex, but since I will have a converted MV, I would have to buy the Propex tank. That makes Propex just as expensive (if not moreso) than a Webasto or Espar unit. And it gives me a second fuel source to worry about and keep full.

So when I read up on Espar vs Webasto, it seems almost everybody that can pick between the two chooses Espar. But Webasto is the only brand with a gas version of their smallest heater size that is readily accessible. That is awesome, since I don't have to worry about fueling it up. The Espar gas version is 2x the cost and even when listed online, is often not in stock. Though if my van was diesel, I would have gone Espar. All that being said, I went Webasto.

Will let you know how it goes when I get it installed and pick up my van!

[Joshwa]

[jjvincent]

I've installed hundreds of Eberspacher gasoline heaters. They are good units and have plenty of hardware with them. Most of them I installed were in Ford Explorers and Ford Vans because back in the early 90's my father and I had a business that outfitted these vehicles into police cars for use in Siberia. We needed block heaters, battery blankets and gasoline heaters. Since it got down to -50, we needed something that they could plug in and turn on to warm the interior in the morning. I was in Siberia many times back then and those heaters worked like a champ. For an extended length Econoline that was converted to a paddy wagon, it would take about an hour for the interior to go from -50 to around 30F. As for around 0F, it took about 30 minutes. If it was 30F outside, in no more than 15 minutes, it's way too hot when you had it on full.

As for installing, you will need to put a pickup somewhere in the tank. For the Fords, the vans had a metal tank and the explorer has a plastic. We dropped both, drilled a hole, cut the pickup to the length it needed and installed it. It uses a small piston pump and the key is to get it primed all the way to the unit before first use. The unit came with an intake muffler which did quiet it down alot. The exhaust was run parallel to the stock exhaust and extended it a bit.

It's a very well built and quality unit. I know they are not cheap but they do work. Theses things even worked on the garbage 76 octane that Russia had at the time. Plus the roads in Siberia are worse than anything here in the US. Even at that the heaters never failed.

[DenverB]

little buddy heater is not adjustable, the larger one is though.

I sleep with it on and a window cracked, yes. No problems here.
_________________
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'77 Transporter/camper (Bussy - Reef Blue/Pastel White)
'67 bug (Santos - VW Blue)
'84 Vanagon Westfalia (Pink Flamingo - Pastel White/Pink)
'88 Vanagon GL Westfalia (Frankie Says - Wolfram Gray)
'02 Eurovan Weekender (Green Apple)
'95-'03 Eurovan full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'84 -'91 Vanagon full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'72 Porsche 914 (Greta - RIP)

www.RockyMountainCampervans.com

[wildenbeast]

The main drawback with the Little Buddy is that it won't work at high elevation. This is to do with it's oxygen settings. It would be nice to camp out on Vail Pass with a nice heater cranking and wake up to some fresh snow.
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- Bill, '93 Eurovan Syncro Weekender (2.5 manual ACU)

[DenverB]

^ very true.

Mine works, but just barely, in the parking lot at Mary Jane -- even then the door has to be open.

It's why I trust it to work in an enclosed space elsewhere at lower elevations, especially with a window cracked.
_________________
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'77 Transporter/camper (Bussy - Reef Blue/Pastel White)
'67 bug (Santos - VW Blue)
'84 Vanagon Westfalia (Pink Flamingo - Pastel White/Pink)
'88 Vanagon GL Westfalia (Frankie Says - Wolfram Gray)
'02 Eurovan Weekender (Green Apple)
'95-'03 Eurovan full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'84 -'91 Vanagon full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'72 Porsche 914 (Greta - RIP)

www.RockyMountainCampervans.com

[IdeaNerd]

@jakefromstatefarm: Thanks for the reply and info. I think you just save me quite a bit of research time! Looking forward to seeing how yours works out.

@DenverB: Is the Mr. Buddy fully adjustable, or just two settings? (I was thinking it was just two settings: one about the same heat output as the Little Buddy, and the other about twice that.)

@jjvincent: Your background stories never cease to amaze and amuse me. They often make me smile. Thanks for that. This: "...my father and I had a business that outfitted these vehicles into police cars for use in Siberia.." Oh yeah, that. Of course! (!)

@All: Any idea what model that red self-contained diesel heater is I linked to up above? This one:

[Joshwa]

dug a little deeper this time on that portable diesel heater. A fancy case housing on a Webasto, put together by an Aussie company named Kimberly. $2000 US.

http://www.eco-camper.com/camping-heaters/2kw-portable-air-heater-c4epah.html
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93 Weekender TDI conversion (AHU)
93 MV TDI conversion (1Z)
Weekender rear cot
Late model cabin air filter on 93
Euro spec bumper install on 93

[IdeaNerd]

Thanks for sleuthing that out, @Joshwa!

Bummer it's so pricey. I do like the concept, though!

[Jaggaxjr]

Petrol https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Air-Parking-Heater...f806b8abad


Diesel https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5KW-12V-diesel-air...1aa03d9666
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Fredrik Rafstedt
VW Syncro 1990

[Joshwa]

I've spent some cash and picked up a used eberspacher d4wsc. It was a complete kit. Just have to hook up the power and feed it diesel to test it out. I was disappointed to find my very old and tortured liesure battery would not run it without the van running. Ill be mostly using it for warmup purposes, but it would be nice to get an hour or two of heat parked. I would need to figure out a secondary switch for the rear blower. I like the integrated fuel and water pump on the main unit on this model. There's a couple variations of the hydronic unit where the pump and water pump if used is strung elsewhere. So far I've just opened it up to check the cleanliness, which was good, and ran a bench(wall?) test to check that it was working. Runs great. Heated the water in a small loop I had set up real quickly. Just as I was congratulating myself on the working operation of my purchase, one of the poorly attached hoses blew off sending very hot water everywhere.

I have to admit that I did buy another locally prior to this one and it was a failure. Most have a control unit that allows for a simple on/off switched operation. That one, a variant of a d5w, had a proprietary ecu for a GM vehicle. So avoid units with car maker logos that do not come with wiring harnesses.

I have a good idea of where I'm going to attach and plumb it, but I won't have time to get to that for a little while. Have to also decide on putting in a fuel feed from the tank, or just tap into the diesel return to the tank line.
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93 Weekender TDI conversion (AHU)
93 MV TDI conversion (1Z)
Weekender rear cot
Late model cabin air filter on 93
Euro spec bumper install on 93

[markcm2]

[CoastieLFS]

Just sharing as a poor person's option...

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=685759&highlight=
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'95 Eurovan Camper (2.5L)
'01 Weekender
Portland, OR