Electricity used by diesel-powered heating

I had a Webasto Air Top 2000 in my T5. Great heater but as has been said it sounded like jet engine when it started. It heated quickly and soon settled down though.

Start up current draw was about 7A for a short time, and depending on conditions between 1A - 2A to maintain temp.
 
We used to have Eberspachers in the trucks as night heaters. Noisy things, but very efficient. However if you left it on all night, there was a chance you may not get the truck started!. I fitted one (ex BT Van) to the front of the R-V to give a boost to the De-misting amongst other things!. And add a bit more heat up the front end. My boy has one as heater on his Thames Barge!, runs his radiators and hot water.

In the trucks, you could set the timer to put it on and off, In winter we would leave it set up so that when you clocked on a 7am it was toasty!. Gaffer complained about "wasting his diesel":D!
 
Mikuni also do a nice blown air heater. Fitted one in a boat a few years ago. Worked really well.
 
Either a Webasto or an Eberspacher blown air heater in a T5 or T6 fitted where Volkswagen fit them when a factory fitting, under floor right side. Fit the outlet where convenient, usually works out to be in the back of the right front seat box blowing rearwards. Use a digital controller with the thermostat enabled within the controller, in this way the heater will shut down completely when the required temperature is reached.

If you have a pre Euro 6 (no Adblue) you can mount the heater under the floor on the left side, it's a bit of a squeeze but can be done, this allows for the outlet to come out under the left front seat and leaves space for a leisure battery under the other seat.
I fit two leisure batteries which will easily maintain a Waeco CRX65 compressor fridge and the heater lights etc. for more than 48 hours when we have warm days and cold nights.
Another advantage of an Eberspacher (I don't know about the Webasto) is that it can be run as a simple air circulation blower in hotter conditions with the correct controller, an 801 for example.

I say all of this from experience of converting three T5s and a T6.

Source of supply recently has been Bowers of Stoke on Trent but there are a number of others.

Rod
 
Did some work on Thames Conservancy boats a little while ago & they were removing the Eberspacher units as they were both problematic & were - they believed - a reason for killing the batteries in the work boats. These were being replaced with the propex heaters which were much less problematic, negligible on maintenance & the guys said they were very quiet too. I don't think the noise or otherwise was an issue in the working environment, it was just a comment made by one or two of the guys when we went on board for gas checks.

regards

Arthur.
 
Eberspacher on all our boats and on the M/H, no problems with excessive noise or efficiency, although in practice (winter) I have seen the batteries suffer

Truma are great until they go wrong, and that seems to be quite often from my own experience.

An inline timer is cheap and easy to fit, you don't need an over priced Eberspacher specific unit and you can then set different temperatures for day/night

Personally, for extended use, perhaps gas heating for the day and diesel at night?
 
I’ve had two T5s, both with Eberspacher D2s fitted and never had a problem. Go for it, you won’t regret it!!
As Rod says, you can get a VW fitting kit. My first van had it fitted underneath the drivers seat (outside the van) and the second one I had fitted under the passenger seat (inside the van)
 
I have the Eberspacher D2 in my T4.

When I first got it, I did 3 nights over New Year, using it all night on 2 of the nights, without flattening the battery. Since then I have had a 150 watt solar panel put on the roof and it does 4 nights at least now in winter.
Presumably at a festival it would be warmer weather so not needed as much?

The great thing about these is that they can be run when you are travelling, so the best thing to do is to start it up before you leave home, get the van nice and warm at the back on your way whilst the engine is keeping the battery topped up.

The biggest draw is at start up so best to do that whilst engine is running then don't turn it off, keep it ticking over with the thermostat low if you aren't in the van then turn up higher when you get inside again.

It uses so little diesel that it doesn't have much effect on the MPG at all.

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We’ve a webasto. Very quiet ( in and out of the van ) and Very warm. More so now with the new versions. The older version we had on our previous 6/7 birth van was a bit noisier, but not loud .
In fact Ralph once left the heating on ,accidentally, when putting the van in storage. It was winter time too.
When we went back 6 days later it was lovely and warm inside the van.
It had been going 24/7 all that time !
No flat batteries. ( thats trojans for you )
With solar and good batteries you’ll be fine .
We’ve also got a 12v compressor fridge now, Ralph fitted both when he built Pug.
 
Hi,

I had an Eberspacher D2 fitted to my first van, a VW T5. The converter foolishly fitted the power supply to the engine battery, so after a couple of night's use, I was left with a flat battery! I was not impressed at all as I was left stranded. An intelligent battery charger from Aldi (or otherwise) is always helpful to keep your engine battery topped up in the cold.

Ebers are great heaters and can warm your van up in twenty to thirty minutes. Do keep them serviced annually. As already stated above, solar is the way to go, if wild camping. Try to get a couple of 100W flexi panels fitted to the roof if possible and leisure batteries as advised above, which should make a significant difference to your overall power consumption, keeping you cozy and comfortable in winter, all being well.

Safe travels!
 
Hi again, hope everyone had a good Xmas and I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

I'm posting again because I took the plunge just before Xmas and had Eberspacher diesel heating fitted. So far I've only been able to try it for a few minutes at a time - no plans to camp at this time of year.

First the good news - no problem starting it up, no sign of a flat battery. And thawing the van out after leaving it unused for 3 days in the recent freezing weater, it thawed out much faster with the new heating than it would have without it.

But - it does sound like a jet engine, as some comments on this thread warned. Well, I decided I could sleep through that - but I didn't realise it would be noisy on the outside too! I think on a campsite it would wake the neighbours. Have other people found this?

It makes quite a smell too - again on the outside, not inside. Again I think it would disturb the rieighbours. Has anyone else found this?
 
Have you fitted the silencers? You can get ones for the air intake and exhaust I believe.
 
goodmorrow said:
Hi again, hope everyone had a good Xmas and I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

I'm posting again because I took the plunge just before Xmas and had Eberspacher diesel heating fitted. So far I've only been able to try it for a few minutes at a time - no plans to camp at this time of year.

First the good news - no problem starting it up, no sign of a flat battery. And thawing the van out after leaving it unused for 3 days in the recent freezing weater, it thawed out much faster with the new heating than it would have without it.

But - it does sound like a jet engine, as some comments on this thread warned. Well, I decided I could sleep through that - but I didn't realise it would be noisy on the outside too! I think on a campsite it would wake the neighbours. Have other people found this?

It makes quite a smell too - again on the outside, not inside. Again I think it would disturb the rieighbours. Has anyone else found this?
Click to expand...
As DBK says, silencers can be fitted and make a massive difference.
 
I had a Eberspacher heater fitted in a Sprinter white van. When I had done my hours driving I would pull over and fire up the heater. I can't give you any technical information other than it kept the van nice and warm overnight. I could sleep quiet comfortably over the Eberspacher heater which was installed under the seat I slept on. Can't say I found it noisy as has been stated above. And I never had had any problems with it draining the vans engine battery. It would run for approx 11 hours before I would be off on my travels again. I was thinking of fitting one in my Defender. There are some cheap Russian ones you can find on ebay for about £200. My friend has fitted one on his boat which seems to work quiet well.
 
We have a Webasto Dualtop.
Make sure you fit a quality habitation battery and you will be fine. Avoid the crap starter batteries sold as leisure batteries and avoid any battery advertises as lightweight. Heavy is good!

T shirt weather inside all the time, no hookup.
20171229_165308.jpg
 
goodmorrow said:
Hi again, hope everyone had a good Xmas and I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

I'm posting again because I took the plunge just before Xmas and had Eberspacher diesel heating fitted. So far I've only been able to try it for a few minutes at a time - no plans to camp at this time of year.

First the good news - no problem starting it up, no sign of a flat battery. And thawing the van out after leaving it unused for 3 days in the recent freezing weater, it thawed out much faster with the new heating than it would have without it.

But - it does sound like a jet engine, as some comments on this thread warned. Well, I decided I could sleep through that - but I didn't realise it would be noisy on the outside too! I think on a campsite it would wake the neighbours. Have other people found this?

It makes quite a smell too - again on the outside, not inside. Again I think it would disturb the rieighbours. Has anyone else found this?
Click to expand...
We use our Esbacher mainly on non-camp sites and use an electric fan heater on club sites. We have never had a comment and we use it to heat the shower cubicle when it's cold. We love it and we can preheat the van and leave it running as we drive.

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Yes they can be a bit noisy on start up we have the d5 combitronic system, and it is very good at getting the French to move if they are parked to close to you and they want to watch telly. We have had ours for 5 years now, so it enables us to wild camp for months at a time. But you do need solar and good heavy duty batteries .
 
Thanks for the replies.

I had the heating fitted for me, so I'll get back to the place that did it and ask if they fitted silencers. It's encouraging to hear it quietens down after being on for a while - I haven't run it for more than 20 minutes or so at a time so far.

I got a solar panel fitted at the same time, so I'm hopeful I'm ok on that front. I've tried driving with the heating running, and find I now have a heated driving seat - an unexpected bonus!
 

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