Nice works guys, I think if I ever went full-time my plan would be to introduce redundancy into the van cause watching this, a simple fault could make life so uncomfortable.
Yes indeed, as long as your budget allows we'd always recommend backups. People have mentioned to us after this video to maybe carry a spare diesel air heater with us, but us going to the store and looking at electric heaters was the option we could easily get at that moment. Redundancy is key 🤣😉
Glad the heating is all sorted, I have watched your build series over the last few weeks, it’s amazing and given me lots of ideas and think to look and think about when I begin mine this year. Can’t wait for more video of your adventures and can upgrades and add ons that you make.
Nice work figuring that one out guys. I've just installed the same system in my yacht and had similar issues with it just cutting out. Turned out there was air being sucked into the fuel line at the pump and tightening the hose clip properly did the trick. A small tip - looks like you have a opaque line but if you use clear fuel line pipe between the pump and heater and you can see the fuel passing through and whether there is any air present. Just one for the future troubleshooting checklist :-)
Good job finding the issue. If we shine a light through our house fuel line we can see air bubbles but yes a see through one would be better at finding them 👍 these systems are fickly at times!
I'm so so happy for you guys. I know the feeling when you find a solution to a potential catastrophe veeery well. Enjoy it fully, you deserve it. And kudos to Sam, that his mind kept working on the original problem even when you had already decided to go for a workaround. BTW we are currently in Riga, traveling north. It is 10 °C during the day, 0 °C at night. We don't run heating in the day as that would cost too much diesel. When you said what temperatures you have, we understood why people watch us in disbelief, when we tell them we live in a van. Also, there seem to be 0 vanlifers in this region this time of the year. So maybe we are crazy. 😅 Anyway, thank you for the vid and that you manage to capture even these panicky moments.
Honestly 0C is pretty common anywhere in Europe in winter and we've done down to -5C so far. We prefer to keep the temp of the van no lower than 18C since the fridge and other things don't like it colder than that (and neither do we) We find that even at 0C we don't need to run the heater that often in the day, maybe for 2-3 hours during daylight hours, which is pretty good 👍 Thanks for watching, we are doing our best to capture our genuine experience of life in general so glad you are enjoying it 🙂
Sooo glad you guys figured it out!! … Oh the trials, tribulations and teething problems of van building 🙃 Here’s to a ‘problem freeish’ next chapter of your travel adventure 😘
Thanks 😊 We've had a bumpy month or two so we are looking forward to slowing down and having a bit of a rest... honestly a week of 'problem freeish' would do 😂
I know I am late to this. But all you gave to remember is the air and exhaust has to be in a slight downward from heater. So just for that so water can drain out. So no up ward loops
Your advice makes sense 🙂, it is rather weird why the manufacturers instructions told us to install the air intake in the S loop we have. Thankfully our exhaust is pointing down.
Great news that you have fixed your heater Thing’s like that are sent to test us all the time My rear indicators have now decided not to work which I am hoping it’s a bad earth Anyway gy luck with your trip
Instructions for the combustion air system The combustion air opening must remain free at all times. Lay the combustion air inlet so - that exhaust gases cannot be drawn in as combustion air. - that fuel fumes that may occur cannot be drawn into the fresh air intake of the vehicle or heater. Do not direct the combustion air intake against the vehicle's air stream. The combustion air inlet must not become clogged with dirt and snow. In particular for machines and trucks in the construction sector and agricultural machines, ensure that dust, sand or similar cannot penetrate the combustion air system or inlet. In case of marine applications, ensure that water cannot penetrate the combustion air system or inlet. Lay the combustion air system sloping slightly downwards. If necessary, make a drain hole of approx. Ø 5 mm at the lowest point to drain off condensation. If necessary, use fastening clips or cable ties to fix the flexible combustion air hose to the vehicle in suitable places.
Very pleased to see you got it fixed. I’m in the process of installing the same heater, but I decided to install the heater itself inside the van, under the driver’s seat. However, it sounds like it might be quite noisy, at least from this video, so maybe I’ll need to attenuate it somehow. Anyway, keep up the good work 👍🏻
It is pretty noisy, I know Sam was noisy, but the heater (especially when turning on) is quite the rocket. I would think that some good noise insulation would be needed if you prefer it inside.
@@FreedomStrider After your video I had a good scan through the install instructions and they say it’s not approved to go in the cab so I’ve moved it underneath instead. It will be plenty quiet down there. I may pick up your guide though to help with the wiring. Anything to help work that out would be helpful
Great that you double checked that. The guide does simplify the wiring so it can help with that. Let us know how you get on and if you have questions 🙂
Yes the glycol will never easily flow through that pipe design so pump and heater and either cavitating or getting air pockets. Just go one unit at a time and don’t use any tees expect your three tees for the radiant part. The problem if a so,Turin is flowing down a pipe and come to a tee, it just keeps going mostly through path of least resistance and other other outlet of the tee will hardly have any flow.
Aye we were going to do that, but then we thought by the time the glycol reached the last component (the heat exchanger for the hot water), then the glycol will be cooler and not as effecient to heat the water.
So pleased to see you found the problem and a perfectly suitable 'fix' for it, if it works perfectly well without the air intake pipe, a small drain hole at the bottom of the bend is no biggy at all. We are all very envious of your trip, something EVERYONE should do before mortgages and kids take over your life. Don't ask me how I know that.... Only observation is ,surely you could have found a 'dry' spot for this fix attempt without laying in an inch of water? nearly every supermarket in Spain has covered areas for summer shade? I appreciate van height is an issue but I would have persevered to find something! As much as I love Spain, don't let your guard down on van security though, you could get robbed blind if you do. safe travels and good luck.
Yes we are glad we figured out something in the day to fix our situation, it was not a problem we wanted to deal with ☺️ I'm afraid there was a huge storm of torrential rain all week and no shelter... we haven't found any public high top shelters so far. So we did what we had to. We see vanlife as a way of life and we wouldn't do anything that would hinder our freedom and flexibility... we have no intentions to get a mortgage and we don't see kids as a hindrance.
@@FreedomStrider My children are the best thing ever and not a hindrance in any way but if you think your vanlife adventures wont change when that time comes you are very wrong and will have a wake up call for sure. my suggestions were that you are doing the right thing travelling whilst you have the freedoms to do it, as implied by your channel name! I did not care for the tone of the reply so have un-subscribed. kindly delete my comment.
I don't know you and you don't know us, so we always choose to read everyone's comments and a positive mindset, so we see you in the best light possible. I read your comment I thought you are a great person. And took the time to answer. I don't know what upset you in my reply, but I can assure you it was unintentional. In answering, I was simply thinking about our plans and views and I was not making any assumptions about you and your life. I was just sharing, like you. What I meant be 'hindrance' is not that my life will not change, but rather that I welcomed the change they will bring. And also, that I'm willing to take on the challenge to discover freedom where a lot of people lose it.
Hmm actually quite a good shout, we had some issues with our heater recently and we dropped the air intake downwards now so this should be okay (we hope)!
Knock that plug out of the floor just above the intake and plumb it inside the van, problem permanently solved. The intake shouldn’t take in too much dust or you’ll have problems again, dust will require you to remove the heater and disassemble and clean it to resolve.
I’ve just found your feed today when I was Googling for UFH for a camper van. What incredibly honest and helpful videos: thank you so much. I am nowhere as experienced as you but I am worried for you after cutting the hole in your heater air intake. With a hole in it, is the air filter not now redundant? Also, would it have been possible to put the heater on the outside as you have done, but put the air filter intake inside the van?
Hey Philip, glad to have you here. We don't think the air filter is redundant, as most of the air will still come through the bigger opening (with the filter) - the hole we added at the base is tiny, so it's more likely to get clogged up with dirt than letting it through. We hadn't had any problems with it so far. As for putting the air intake on the inside, I would say it's definitely possible, though you would have to drill another hole into the van to bring it up and I would check with the manufacturer's instructions on this. 😊
Hey guys sounds like you having fun !! I found the average temperature in the south of Spain in the mountains around DEC and JAN is between 5 to 10 c at night. When I first arrive I feel the cold a bit but after a while I found that I only used the heater if its less than 10c and not when in bed, as the bed is super hot even at 5 c (although the breath air can be a little cold) That said when its wet or like 8 c in the morning it is nice to put the diesel heater on. My heater is quite noisy so I don't like to use it if I am near another camper too early in the morning .. I probably should get a moped silencer which would help (will see if anyone has done this at Camp Quirky). Also a hot water bottle can be a game changer.
At 10C we need the heater less, but since we sleep on the floor the air gets colder. Also, we try and keep the temperature in the van above 18C as the fridge starts being weird (and defrosts our I've cream 🥺) and we tend to like going in the mountains (which need heating even in May)... so no heater would have been not ideal. Otherwise, yes, our bodies will have adapted to colder temperatures and we have hot water bottles, they are actually a vanlife essential of ours 😉
Hey guys, love the videos you put out - refreshingly honest.. and sharing the real emotions! After you've had a years use, I was wondering if you would add or upgrade any components your solution?
Thanks for the positivity! In terms of our system, we'd add an air bleeder valve to easily get the trapped air out the system, and prehaps a drain point. If we wanted to drain the system at the moment, we'd just have to take the pipe off under the van and have a catchcan ready, it would be messy! Beyond those quality of life things, nothing we'd change - the system works great :)
This is the very reason I've fitted a diesel air heater as well as a Webasto style water heater that can heat the van. If one fails I still have a second way to heat the van. I can survive without hot water on tap for a while but not heating.
Backups are always good, it's actually why we didn't go with a combi B2B+MPPT all in 1 box for our electrical system because we didn't want all the recharge options failing if 1 box fails. Too bad we didn't have a spare diesel heater on us, but oh well, something to look forward to 😎🤣
@@FreedomStrider The only reason I'm going down the route of Belt & Braces is because I plan to take my 9 year old son across Europe next year in our campervan. It just the two of us, so I have a back up for almost everything. 2x 400w solar panels. 2x 40amp MPPT. 2x 300Ah Lifepo4 batteries. Gas hob & Induction hob. I know I've totally over designed everything.
why not buy a stand alone diesel heater, they incorporate the diesel tank and all, and can be moved around (5000W Air diesel Heater LCD Remote 5KW 12V For Truck MotorHomes Caravan EBAY ) you could use your existing exhaust system from your heater, it would get over the heating problem for now. Just watch further, looks like you fixed it, well done
Thanks, it's always good to have more options to think of backup systems. Buying a cheap diesel air heater might be a good backup to keep in the van during winter especially incase something like this happens again 👍🙂
@Freedom Strider that's not too bad, we fancy a Scandinavian trip but our old dual top webasto is so power hungry it would mean we would have get to a campsite every other night. Thanks for your reply and happy travels.
I'm not sure that's a good solution. What would be better is to fit an aluminium plate to cover that chassis section thus protecting the intake and fuel pump from road spray/dirt but still allow air to move in that area.
Certainly putting an aluminium barrier would be a great solution, including covering the actual heater and all its wires as well That being said, we count ourselves lucky that we had any solution under our belts in the middle of nowhere parked next to an abandoned resort 🤣
You need two heaters if your full time in a van, it’s essential, I have a truma combi 4e which runs on LPG and an auto term planer 2d diesel heater as a back up, if both break I always have my engine so that’s 3 heaters, you need to learn everything about your engine and be able to diagnose problems yourself until you don’t have to rely on others you will always have disasters. As an example to get a skippers license you have to be able to strip and assemble everything on the boat including the engine. No one gonna help you 500 miles of the coast in international waters. You need to be the skipper living full time.
We have repair manuals and such, so we expect that some learning on the job will occur 😉. We will probably get a back up heater, but we haven't decided which.
@@FreedomStrider you done a great job of diagnosing and repairing the heater , just apply that investigative skills to everything that goes wrong and you’ll be more than half way to becoming the vans skipper 😂 👍
Dual forms of heating a wood burner , dual cooking energy gas & induction hub plug inverters 3000w up ideally to be able start a washing machine although / 240v huckup , power solar panels & engine charging battery bank That air of we all give a try and let's not give is part the cure God help both is rest thanks for my video from u2
What I can’t understand is why you are charging your ‘fans’ £25 for info on the heating system that others have given you for FREE when you were struggling to get it set up in your previous videos. You had advice in the comments and very kind people emailing you info and diagrams. Now you want to SELL that info! Zero respect
Because our time and knowledge have value, we give more than enough for free, both then and now, as any person who has reached out to us for help will tell you. And it is exactly because we 'struggled' that we are here continuing to give our time to help. The information we are selling is information we spent time and energy working out ourselves and presenting it in a simplified understandable form for novices.
@@FreedomStrider I totally understand the value of time and knowledge, having spent years training and gaining knowledge in order to help and advise others. Sadly, when you say you've 'given more than enough for free' you're not doing yourselves any favours - it sounds greedy and you don't do your videos for free - you get paid! Now you want paying for something that you were given for free by others. It is disingenuous. Anyway, that is the last I need to say on it now.
It's not good to judge people's work, especially since you have not seen it yourself. You can’t imagine how many hours they have spent on giving help and advice in person, for free! Also these diagrams are amazing and no other instructions have made this simple to understand how to wire my heater.
@@keswickadventure Seriously, you think they get paid for their videos... how much do you think AdSense pays. For a channel of their size they'll be lucky to get £100 a month. Have you even met them? They are giving most of their time to helping DIY van convertors. And since when is it a crime to get paid for your work.
The schematics show our own plumbing set up and the simplified wiring of the D5E Heater. We openly link the D5E manual by espar, and encourage people to check it before committing to buy. The schematics do not reflect information that people have given us for free, but rather weeks of studying and migraines.
Wow, this heater story had more twists and turns than your heated floor. I am going to install one myself. Thanks for the help with install.
Glad it helped, these heaters are a learning curve!
Good job figuring out the heater problem. 👏
Thanks 😊
Please don't give up!
You have many people who envy what you are doing, who are behind you!!
XX
We have no intention of giving up no matter what problems we encounter on the road - they are just part of life 🙂
I love how you two work your problems before you spend $ Praying for you!
Thanks 😊
Nice works guys, I think if I ever went full-time my plan would be to introduce redundancy into the van cause watching this, a simple fault could make life so uncomfortable.
Yes indeed, as long as your budget allows we'd always recommend backups. People have mentioned to us after this video to maybe carry a spare diesel air heater with us, but us going to the store and looking at electric heaters was the option we could easily get at that moment.
Redundancy is key 🤣😉
Glad the heating is all sorted, I have watched your build series over the last few weeks, it’s amazing and given me lots of ideas and think to look and think about when I begin mine this year.
Can’t wait for more video of your adventures and can upgrades and add ons that you make.
Thanks, glad to hear we have helped you. More upgrades are coming really soon. 😀
Nice work figuring that one out guys. I've just installed the same system in my yacht and had similar issues with it just cutting out. Turned out there was air being sucked into the fuel line at the pump and tightening the hose clip properly did the trick. A small tip - looks like you have a opaque line but if you use clear fuel line pipe between the pump and heater and you can see the fuel passing through and whether there is any air present. Just one for the future troubleshooting checklist :-)
Good job finding the issue. If we shine a light through our house fuel line we can see air bubbles but yes a see through one would be better at finding them 👍 these systems are fickly at times!
Hey guys, I just binged your hydronic heater series and may do this for our new van. The videos are top notch thank you very much! 👍🏻🙌🏻
Thanks, I'm glad they helped you. It is a great and flexible system though quite the puzzle 😊
I'm so so happy for you guys. I know the feeling when you find a solution to a potential catastrophe veeery well. Enjoy it fully, you deserve it. And kudos to Sam, that his mind kept working on the original problem even when you had already decided to go for a workaround.
BTW we are currently in Riga, traveling north. It is 10 °C during the day, 0 °C at night. We don't run heating in the day as that would cost too much diesel. When you said what temperatures you have, we understood why people watch us in disbelief, when we tell them we live in a van. Also, there seem to be 0 vanlifers in this region this time of the year. So maybe we are crazy. 😅
Anyway, thank you for the vid and that you manage to capture even these panicky moments.
Honestly 0C is pretty common anywhere in Europe in winter and we've done down to -5C so far. We prefer to keep the temp of the van no lower than 18C since the fridge and other things don't like it colder than that (and neither do we)
We find that even at 0C we don't need to run the heater that often in the day, maybe for 2-3 hours during daylight hours, which is pretty good 👍
Thanks for watching, we are doing our best to capture our genuine experience of life in general so glad you are enjoying it 🙂
Sooo glad you guys figured it out!! …
Oh the trials, tribulations and teething problems of van building 🙃
Here’s to a ‘problem freeish’ next chapter of your travel adventure 😘
Thanks 😊 We've had a bumpy month or two so we are looking forward to slowing down and having a bit of a rest... honestly a week of 'problem freeish' would do 😂
Well done on fixing that, so impressive how you two problem solve 💝👏
Thank you ☺️
I know I am late to this. But all you gave to remember is the air and exhaust has to be in a slight downward from heater. So just for that so water can drain out. So no up ward loops
Your advice makes sense 🙂, it is rather weird why the manufacturers instructions told us to install the air intake in the S loop we have. Thankfully our exhaust is pointing down.
Great news that you have fixed your heater Thing’s like that are sent to test us all the time My rear indicators have now decided not to work which I am hoping it’s a bad earth Anyway gy luck with your trip
Most things are a simple fix if you are in the right mindset 😊
Instructions for the combustion air system
The combustion air opening must remain free at all times.
Lay the combustion air inlet so
- that exhaust gases cannot be drawn in as combustion air.
- that fuel fumes that may occur cannot be drawn into the fresh
air intake of the vehicle or heater.
Do not direct the combustion air intake against the vehicle's air
stream.
The combustion air inlet must not become clogged with dirt and
snow. In particular for machines and trucks in the construction
sector and agricultural machines, ensure that dust, sand or similar
cannot penetrate the combustion air system or inlet. In case
of marine applications, ensure that water cannot penetrate the
combustion air system or inlet.
Lay the combustion air system sloping slightly downwards. If
necessary, make a drain hole of approx. Ø 5 mm at the lowest
point to drain off condensation.
If necessary, use fastening clips or cable ties to fix the flexible
combustion air hose to the vehicle in suitable places.
Thanks ☺️
Very pleased to see you got it fixed. I’m in the process of installing the same heater, but I decided to install the heater itself inside the van, under the driver’s seat. However, it sounds like it might be quite noisy, at least from this video, so maybe I’ll need to attenuate it somehow. Anyway, keep up the good work 👍🏻
It is pretty noisy, I know Sam was noisy, but the heater (especially when turning on) is quite the rocket. I would think that some good noise insulation would be needed if you prefer it inside.
@@FreedomStrider After your video I had a good scan through the install instructions and they say it’s not approved to go in the cab so I’ve moved it underneath instead. It will be plenty quiet down there. I may pick up your guide though to help with the wiring. Anything to help work that out would be helpful
Great that you double checked that.
The guide does simplify the wiring so it can help with that. Let us know how you get on and if you have questions 🙂
Yes the glycol will never easily flow through that pipe design so pump and heater and either cavitating or getting air pockets. Just go one unit at a time and don’t use any tees expect your three tees for the radiant part. The problem if a so,Turin is flowing down a pipe and come to a tee, it just keeps going mostly through path of least resistance and other other outlet of the tee will hardly have any flow.
Aye we were going to do that, but then we thought by the time the glycol reached the last component (the heat exchanger for the hot water), then the glycol will be cooler and not as effecient to heat the water.
So pleased to see you found the problem and a perfectly suitable 'fix' for it, if it works perfectly well without the air intake pipe, a small drain hole at the bottom of the bend is no biggy at all. We are all very envious of your trip, something EVERYONE should do before mortgages and kids take over your life. Don't ask me how I know that.... Only observation is ,surely you could have found a 'dry' spot for this fix attempt without laying in an inch of water? nearly every supermarket in Spain has covered areas for summer shade? I appreciate van height is an issue but I would have persevered to find something! As much as I love Spain, don't let your guard down on van security though, you could get robbed blind if you do. safe travels and good luck.
Yes we are glad we figured out something in the day to fix our situation, it was not a problem we wanted to deal with ☺️
I'm afraid there was a huge storm of torrential rain all week and no shelter... we haven't found any public high top shelters so far. So we did what we had to.
We see vanlife as a way of life and we wouldn't do anything that would hinder our freedom and flexibility... we have no intentions to get a mortgage and we don't see kids as a hindrance.
@@FreedomStrider My children are the best thing ever and not a hindrance in any way but if you think your vanlife adventures wont change when that time comes you are very wrong and will have a wake up call for sure. my suggestions were that you are doing the right thing travelling whilst you have the freedoms to do it, as implied by your channel name! I did not care for the tone of the reply so have un-subscribed. kindly delete my comment.
I don't know you and you don't know us, so we always choose to read everyone's comments and a positive mindset, so we see you in the best light possible.
I read your comment I thought you are a great person. And took the time to answer.
I don't know what upset you in my reply, but I can assure you it was unintentional.
In answering, I was simply thinking about our plans and views and I was not making any assumptions about you and your life. I was just sharing, like you.
What I meant be 'hindrance' is not that my life will not change, but rather that I welcomed the change they will bring. And also, that I'm willing to take on the challenge to discover freedom where a lot of people lose it.
Hello just bring the air intake inside the van ,otherwise when freezing weather you hole in the pipe gonna freze and the problem start over,good luck
Hmm actually quite a good shout, we had some issues with our heater recently and we dropped the air intake downwards now so this should be okay (we hope)!
Knock that plug out of the floor just above the intake and plumb it inside the van, problem permanently solved. The intake shouldn’t take in too much dust or you’ll have problems again, dust will require you to remove the heater and disassemble and clean it to resolve.
Yeah we debated doing this, I think we will either do this or build a big box around the heater and air intake to protect it 👍
I’ve just found your feed today when I was Googling for UFH for a camper van. What incredibly honest and helpful videos: thank you so much. I am nowhere as experienced as you but I am worried for you after cutting the hole in your heater air intake. With a hole in it, is the air filter not now redundant? Also, would it have been possible to put the heater on the outside as you have done, but put the air filter intake inside the van?
Hey Philip, glad to have you here. We don't think the air filter is redundant, as most of the air will still come through the bigger opening (with the filter) - the hole we added at the base is tiny, so it's more likely to get clogged up with dirt than letting it through. We hadn't had any problems with it so far.
As for putting the air intake on the inside, I would say it's definitely possible, though you would have to drill another hole into the van to bring it up and I would check with the manufacturer's instructions on this. 😊
Where are you guys atm ? Well done
In this video we were in eastern Spain along the coast, near Castelion 👍
Hey guys sounds like you having fun !! I found the average temperature in the south of Spain in the mountains around DEC and JAN is between 5 to 10 c at night. When I first arrive I feel the cold a bit but after a while I found that I only used the heater if its less than 10c and not when in bed, as the bed is super hot even at 5 c (although the breath air can be a little cold) That said when its wet or like 8 c in the morning it is nice to put the diesel heater on. My heater is quite noisy so I don't like to use it if I am near another camper too early in the morning .. I probably should get a moped silencer which would help (will see if anyone has done this at Camp Quirky). Also a hot water bottle can be a game changer.
At 10C we need the heater less, but since we sleep on the floor the air gets colder. Also, we try and keep the temperature in the van above 18C as the fridge starts being weird (and defrosts our I've cream 🥺) and we tend to like going in the mountains (which need heating even in May)... so no heater would have been not ideal.
Otherwise, yes, our bodies will have adapted to colder temperatures and we have hot water bottles, they are actually a vanlife essential of ours 😉
Hey guys, love the videos you put out - refreshingly honest.. and sharing the real emotions! After you've had a years use, I was wondering if you would add or upgrade any components your solution?
Thanks for the positivity! In terms of our system, we'd add an air bleeder valve to easily get the trapped air out the system, and prehaps a drain point. If we wanted to drain the system at the moment, we'd just have to take the pipe off under the van and have a catchcan ready, it would be messy!
Beyond those quality of life things, nothing we'd change - the system works great :)
This is the very reason I've fitted a diesel air heater as well as a Webasto style water heater that can heat the van. If one fails I still have a second way to heat the van. I can survive without hot water on tap for a while but not heating.
Good thinking, I am going for a diesel heater and an iMass on demand water heater to indeed seperate the 2 systems.
Backups are always good, it's actually why we didn't go with a combi B2B+MPPT all in 1 box for our electrical system because we didn't want all the recharge options failing if 1 box fails. Too bad we didn't have a spare diesel heater on us, but oh well, something to look forward to 😎🤣
@@FreedomStrider The only reason I'm going down the route of Belt & Braces is because I plan to take my 9 year old son across Europe next year in our campervan. It just the two of us, so I have a back up for almost everything. 2x 400w solar panels. 2x 40amp MPPT. 2x 300Ah Lifepo4 batteries. Gas hob & Induction hob. I know I've totally over designed everything.
@@FreedomStrider maybe get a Chinese one as a spare for €100?
Maybe, if we go for proper winter vanlife it might be wise 😊
why not buy a stand alone diesel heater, they incorporate the diesel tank and all, and can be moved around (5000W Air diesel Heater LCD Remote 5KW 12V For Truck MotorHomes Caravan EBAY ) you could use your existing exhaust system from your heater, it would get over the heating problem for now. Just watch further, looks like you fixed it, well done
Thanks, it's always good to have more options to think of backup systems. Buying a cheap diesel air heater might be a good backup to keep in the van during winter especially incase something like this happens again 👍🙂
Very good videos, what sort of battery drain do you get from the hydronic?
Well, roughly, 5 hours usage on a winter's night uses about 8-10Ah, so that's not bad
@Freedom Strider that's not too bad, we fancy a Scandinavian trip but our old dual top webasto is so power hungry it would mean we would have get to a campsite every other night. Thanks for your reply and happy travels.
I'm not sure that's a good solution. What would be better is to fit an aluminium plate to cover that chassis section thus protecting the intake and fuel pump from road spray/dirt but still allow air to move in that area.
Certainly putting an aluminium barrier would be a great solution, including covering the actual heater and all its wires as well
That being said, we count ourselves lucky that we had any solution under our belts in the middle of nowhere parked next to an abandoned resort 🤣
@@FreedomStrider Yeah fair point 😉
You need two heaters if your full time in a van, it’s essential, I have a truma combi 4e which runs on LPG and an auto term planer 2d diesel heater as a back up, if both break I always have my engine so that’s 3 heaters, you need to learn everything about your engine and be able to diagnose problems yourself until you don’t have to rely on others you will always have disasters. As an example to get a skippers license you have to be able to strip and assemble everything on the boat including the engine. No one gonna help you 500 miles of the coast in international waters. You need to be the skipper living full time.
We have repair manuals and such, so we expect that some learning on the job will occur 😉. We will probably get a back up heater, but we haven't decided which.
@@FreedomStrider you done a great job of diagnosing and repairing the heater , just apply that investigative skills to everything that goes wrong and you’ll be more than half way to becoming the vans skipper 😂 👍
Also put your pump under the van, much better, easier to keep primed.
Yeah I think next time we would do this, and put a box on the outside to protect the heater and pump and wires. 👍
Yiu need hydraulic leveling on your suspension
Why?
Dual forms of heating a wood burner , dual cooking energy gas & induction hub plug inverters 3000w up ideally to be able start a washing machine although / 240v huckup , power solar panels & engine charging battery bank
That air of we all give a try and let's not give is part the cure
God help both is rest thanks for my video from u2
Thanks for all the tips 🙂
What I can’t understand is why you are charging your ‘fans’ £25 for info on the heating system that others have given you for FREE when you were struggling to get it set up in your previous videos. You had advice in the comments and very kind people emailing you info and diagrams. Now you want to SELL that info!
Zero respect
Because our time and knowledge have value, we give more than enough for free, both then and now, as any person who has reached out to us for help will tell you. And it is exactly because we 'struggled' that we are here continuing to give our time to help. The information we are selling is information we spent time and energy working out ourselves and presenting it in a simplified understandable form for novices.
@@FreedomStrider I totally understand the value of time and knowledge, having spent years training and gaining knowledge in order to help and advise others. Sadly, when you say you've 'given more than enough for free' you're not doing yourselves any favours - it sounds greedy and you don't do your videos for free - you get paid! Now you want paying for something that you were given for free by others. It is disingenuous. Anyway, that is the last I need to say on it now.
It's not good to judge people's work, especially since you have not seen it yourself. You can’t imagine how many hours they have spent on giving help and advice in person, for free!
Also these diagrams are amazing and no other instructions have made this simple to understand how to wire my heater.
@@keswickadventure Seriously, you think they get paid for their videos... how much do you think AdSense pays. For a channel of their size they'll be lucky to get £100 a month.
Have you even met them? They are giving most of their time to helping DIY van convertors. And since when is it a crime to get paid for your work.
The schematics show our own plumbing set up and the simplified wiring of the D5E Heater. We openly link the D5E manual by espar, and encourage people to check it before committing to buy. The schematics do not reflect information that people have given us for free, but rather weeks of studying and migraines.