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
I had thought of going this route with my TCer but never did for many reasons.
You do not say if you are thinking of the air or liquid heater. I am thinking you mean the air as you mention separating the camper and truck and while you can with either if you are using the heater to heat your coolant it presents a lot more challenges that is not really a benefit with a truck camper like multiple reservoirs, pumps, etc that will take up space all so you can use the two units seperately.
I currently have a Espar Airtronic (think it is the B4 - gas version) in a Ford van I am camperizing and so far I love it, but that is not a lot of testing on my part thanks to the horrible weather this winter/spring. As it is a van it is easier to tap into the fuel source on the vehicle and the fact I do not already have propane built in or appliances already there is no cost difference going this route. If you do decide to tap into the vehicle's fuel the pump for the Espar has a limited lift range so the separate tank will probably be required as with a truck camper you will have to run a lot of line from the fuel pump to the camper because of the height, and again if you want to run the heater off the truck this would not work.
There are a lot of benefits of the Espar but honestly unless you are doing world travels in my opinion the benefits are not going to outweigh the issues, costs, changes that you will be required to do in a truck camper. Just switching out appliances if you buy a already built unit will require a new furnace, hot water tank, stove, fuel storage tank and lines. If you already have propane then why not use that?
You do not say if you are thinking of the air or liquid heater. I am thinking you mean the air as you mention separating the camper and truck and while you can with either if you are using the heater to heat your coolant it presents a lot more challenges that is not really a benefit with a truck camper like multiple reservoirs, pumps, etc that will take up space all so you can use the two units seperately.
I currently have a Espar Airtronic (think it is the B4 - gas version) in a Ford van I am camperizing and so far I love it, but that is not a lot of testing on my part thanks to the horrible weather this winter/spring. As it is a van it is easier to tap into the fuel source on the vehicle and the fact I do not already have propane built in or appliances already there is no cost difference going this route. If you do decide to tap into the vehicle's fuel the pump for the Espar has a limited lift range so the separate tank will probably be required as with a truck camper you will have to run a lot of line from the fuel pump to the camper because of the height, and again if you want to run the heater off the truck this would not work.
There are a lot of benefits of the Espar but honestly unless you are doing world travels in my opinion the benefits are not going to outweigh the issues, costs, changes that you will be required to do in a truck camper. Just switching out appliances if you buy a already built unit will require a new furnace, hot water tank, stove, fuel storage tank and lines. If you already have propane then why not use that?
