Wabasco or espar diesel heaters
Hello everyone, new guy here. I’m in the early stages of planning my truck and tc purchase. I pivoted slightly from planning a van conversion build to the TC as we plan to explore more remote locat...
Forum Discussion
HMS Beagle wrote:
These are very frequently used on yachts, though the yacht versions come from their European truck roots. There are no more or less moisture issues with them than a propane furnace - both produce moisture as a byproduct but both vent the moisture outside. Since the circulating fan is the major consumer of electrical power, they are similar on that as well as both have circulating fans. On fuel consumption, they are also similar, since all hydrocarbon fuels have about the same energy/lb. On economy, a bit better since diesel costs less/lb than propane usually. I have a diesel fired ITR hydronic system on the boat, you find these also in larger RVs.
There is no reason you could not replace the existing gas furnace with a diesel hot air one like the Webasto or Espar. If you are headed that direction, I might be tempted to use a hydronic system instead (which both Webasto and Espar also make) as you could also replace your propane fired water heater. The system I have on the boat heats both the living area and the domestic hot water. That eliminates most of the heavy draws on propane. On the boat I can go about 8 weeks on a 10 lb propane cylinder, since cooking is all that it is used for. In a camper with a propane fridge, a bit less but still a long time. If I built a custom camper I'd do just that. I'd have a gravity feed diesel header tank that I'd fill at the pump, or by transferring fuel from the truck when necessary.
In a replacement scenario, it will be far simpler to use a hot air diesel heater as the ducting etc. already exists.
My apologies, I did get my propane heat sources confused. The propane moisture issues im reading about come more from the seller portable propane heaters.
You touched on something that had crossed my mind. Thats the storage space I could get my removing the furnace and duct work if/when replacing the furnace with the diesel heater. I do not know yet if I could (or would want too) have a camper made without a furnace or stove with the intention adding a convection cook top and diesel heater. Also, what companies that allow you to build your own camper would allow you to delete such options and if/how that would affect a warranty. Thank you for your reply.
