Heating (Diesel & Electric)

Diesel Heating

On the NV200 we bought a branded 2kw diesel heater (£610) plus some extra parts, and that has worked a treat.  If we were to go down the same route for van2, it would be c. £7-750 which is quite a lot….

….So research shows there are Chinese parking heater “clones” available which have mixed feedback and a few issues, though by the looks of some of the installs, lots are user created!  There also seems to be a lot of experience out there and spare parts, and considering the price differential we decided to take a punt.

Most suppliers on ebay are simply box shifters with no “skills or experience” in the heater, soo pretty much its pot luck.  We opted for a “Czech” supplier selling a 5kw system with install kit for £98 (!) – and applying an ebay deal code, we placed an order for £89.04…. Yep.  Silly price.  (also got 90p top cash back lol)

Under a week later it arrived….. 

An hour after arrival I set it up on a test bench…..

And, well, wow.  Well packed and pretty much what we hoped for.  All parts included and present (including vents, silencer and air filter).  After priming the pipework the heater worked perfectly.  Low speed, to high speed, and pretty much perfect throughout.  No major difference in behaviour compared to our 2kw one in  the NV200 though on full pelt the heat and quantity of air being blown is a lot more as expected.  The controller is an older style LCD but it also came with a remote – so pretty much the controller will be hidden and we’ll use the remote on/off/up/down settings which is all we want.  (We tend to manually select power output rather than set temperature) The vent pipework was good though some bits not to our taste. 

Bottom line – perfect!  Though some things an be upgraded.  We’d recommend upgrading the fuel filter, jubilee clips, and fuel pipe.  The exhaust pipe will be monitored to see if its stainless or not.

We”ll have 3x hot air outputs with variable controls:  Living area, Bathroom and Garage. 

We are having a separate 10L tank (provided) to run the heater off heating oil rather than diesel, though we can top up with diesel if we need to when  away.  We’ve modified the fuel tank to be removable without leaking to fill up at pump, so have installed a top-filler.

We will have an installation “turret” plate fabricated, so the turret can be installed permanently, and the heater mounting plate will mate with this – this will allow easy in-van removal for maintenance without hassle.

With the availability of spares, and £500+ saving – its silly not to try it! Makes a mockery of the branded unit pricing though……

Heater Upgrades

1. The fuel filter is useless – so we’ve ordered a couple of moped style fuel filters (£3)
2. The included fuel pipe is mixed, using cheap clear pipes as well as thicker pipe – and this needs up/downsizing at each connection.  We’ve bought 2m of decent fuel pipe (£8)
3. We’ve ordered a set of stainless jubilee clips as  provided ones are cheap (£10 set)
4. We have added a second “T” piece (£4) and will change the vents to variable output ones to our taste (£10-20 each)

Electric Heating

We will be installing a 2kw 240v plinth heater in the kitchen which should be OK to heat the van when on hookup, and when snowboarding for example, this can be left on tickover without worrying about diesel!