VAN LIFE PLUMBING | Hot Water in a Self Build Camper | Bobil System & Coolant Heat Exchanger | Ep18
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- Plumbing in a van... Where to start!? This week we move onto our hot water system, we show you how we install our pipework and hot pump panel. We also show you the three ways we will be heating our water and the way our insulated tank fits into the system.
Our hot water system comprises of a 28l insulated water tank filled through a 24v solenoid valve and float valve. It has a copper coil inside fed from the cab heater matrix and engine's coolant system which can heat the water while the engine is running. We also have a Bobil Heater which cycles water to and from a heat exchanger on our diesel heater ducting to our hot water tank. It then leads to a 50 micron filter, water pump and accumulator to help regulate the flow. We then run through 12mm pipework to our hot water points which are the shower and the sink.
After this week it feels like we are well on our way to making our very own tiny house on wheels with our Vario Van Conversion! Watching water come out of the tap is such a massive step forward! If you want to keep right up to date please follow us on Instagram! @maxandsophieinavan
Here are some links to items we have used in this video, some are affiliate links so we do get some pennies (at no extra cost to you!) if you follow the link and make a purchase.
Bobil Heater - www.bobilvans....
Drinking Water Filter - amzn.to/3rNkbmY
Filter - amzn.to/3reT3Nq
Pump - amzn.to/38mXsoJ
Accumulator - amzn.to/3hcj1g0
Pipe Connectors - amzn.to/37yW8Qr (More options at www.easy-irrigation.co.uk)
Water Pipe - amzn.to/3av8ECy
Cable Tie Saddles - amzn.to/2KFadmv
Rubber Bobbins - amzn.to/2LVhhw3
Sharpie - amzn.to/34vcV5j
Pipe Cutters - amzn.to/34uUFZE
Hob Nobs - amzn.to/3pxj5L8
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We're Max and Sophie and in January we bought a Mercedes Vario to turn into our very own home on wheels. We've done the saving, so now we are starting our dream of building our diy camper van. Join us for our full time van build...
#VANLIFE #VANBUILD #MERCEDESVARIO #VANLIFEUK
Van spec:
Mercedes Vario 614D
2006 plate
7.2m long
2.5m wide
3.0m high
Air Brakes
Double Fuel Tank
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La furgo os esta quedando muy bonita enohrabuena
Thank you very much! 😊👍
Looking good and progressing well. on to the next episode...
Thank you so much! We are trying to power on! 😊
Alternatively boil a kettle , only joking . You have some great ideas . We travelled around NZ for 8 weeks in a hired van and had issues with getting gas , therefore we economised and only used it for cooking . This taught us a great lesson when it came to our own van build . We use a 10 litre bottle with a tap placed next to sink , we carry 4 x 10 litre fresh water in boot . Hope this may help people who don't have your skills or know how . Good luck . Vince and Dee . Ps. you also mentioned boiling kettle at end of vlog .
We always have a back up kettle!!
That’s some good advice - we have also decided to use gas for cooking only, hopefully we can make the tank last for a while x
too late to say it now but for anyone else reading, best option for water connections in a tank is IN THE LID, not the base. especially on interior fitted tanks. Boss in top of tank and a tube down to the base on the inside, with a non return valve in it.
We did think about this but couldn’t for a few reasons. Mainly because we will have the main feed in, coolant line in and out, Bobil heater line in and out and then our hot water out! Every build is different in its own way but if we were doing a basic pickup what you explained is definitely what we would do! 😊👍
Nice Job can't wait for the next episode ! Always fun to watch .
Thank you so much Oliver! 😊👍👌
You might want to put a strip of think rubber under the pump board, as over time the rubber bobbing will sang and the board will vibrate against the floor
We’ll get some on standby and keep an eye on it! Thanks so much for the tip! 😊👍
Brilliant vlog guys, love your chemistry and enthusiasm!
Forgive me for nerding out over hot water....this comment has grown somewhat lengthy!!
Interested to explore more about the calorifier / Bobil combination. I see on Bobil site that can’t plug Bobil direct into standard marine style pressurised calorifier system. A. It looks like you’re therefore running separate pumps on hot and cold to avoid need for a pressurised hot water tank (and cost)? Have you made your own coil to fit your tank or off the peg?
B. Looking into other calorifier installs the hot water temp in the standard pressurised systems get up to about 80degC - and they use a thermostatic mixer to bring this down to useable temp.
1. Will your tank and fittings take this kind of temperature?
2. Are you going to install some form of thermostatic mixer at the hot water out?
3. Legionella....hot water in a tank should be stored at 60deg (guess this is a potential issue with all Bobil driven hot water tanks) - presume solution is to drain and flush the hot water tank once a week?
(Speaking of legionella - you have an impressive amount of cold water storage - presumably more than a weeks worth - how are you going to manage contamination risk? Or will you have a separate drinking water tap in the kitchen from a separate more manageable 10l Jerry can etc - which you can fill with potable water when in far flung locations..
Keep up the good work guys!
Hia Nick, thank you so much!
That's exactly right, so almost running as two completely separate systems each with their own hot pump and accumulator etc.
We have DIY'd a copper coil just out of copper pipework which attaches to our coolant line pipework nicely!
We will have a temperature relay sensing the water in our hot tank and a 12v valve on the coolant line, so once we turn the 'heating by coolant' system on it will open, but when it gets to temperature it will close the valve and stop heating the water tank. Then in theory if we leave the switch on and the tank's temperature drops below the set amount, the valve will re-open and start heating again. - This is all theory currently as we haven't had it 100% working yet but we are hopeful!
Our tank is good up to 70 degrees however fittings further down they system are only rated to 60, so we will generally keep the temperature lower however as you suggest Legionella is a problem so we can either heat up and then wait prior to using or we can fully flush and drain the system out periodically.
Again with the fresh water we will try to do regular cleaning out and look into additives to stop bacteria - but not fully worked this bit out yet!
Hope that helps with some of the questions! :)
@@MaxSophieinaVan automatic control of the coolant lines...nice solution. I likey!
Interring article testing the various solutions to ensuring stored water remains potable..: (I like that they use making a good cup of tea the mark of success!)
www.pbo.co.uk/gear/boat-water-tank-treatments-tested-20504
That’s so useful Nick, thank you so much for that! Will have a good read! 😊👍
@@MaxSophieinaVan Great setup guys. Have you considered using a double coil calorifier instead of the (Bobil suggestd) plastic tank? And then run the coolant through one coil, and the air heat exchange loop through the other. I'm considering to undermount a horizontal calorifier to save space, but there's numerous vertical twin coil calorifiers to mount inside the van.
👍 Danke fürs Hochladen!
👍 Thanks for uploading!
Thank you for watching! 😊👍
Very nice water tank build! Another way to heat your water is to use a regular heating pad found at Walmart or other stores. Buy yourselves one or two king size 30cm x 60cm heating pads. Apply directly to your tank, then put the insulation over it. The heating pads will run on 240v, just plug in while you drive or on solar. They only take ~40W each and reach about 50 Celcius. Use that in addition to your diesel heater. If you start off with warm or hot water in your tank already from home, then it's less energy to maintain the heat.
Love your channel, nice to see the progress of the van build and nice to see the real life mistakes and leaks that happen, and the way you solve the problems. Take care guys!
Hia, that’s a really useful tip! I think once we are travelling and have tested the system properly we might upgrade to this! I guess they would also be great if you were hooked up to 240v mains! Glad you are enjoying the videos! Take care 😊👍
Some dynamat stuck on the back of the pump panel will help massively, otherwise sheet of ply will act as a speaker, despite being isolated from the frame
We did a few different tests and actually found this to be most effective! But great tip 😊👌
Great video, so interesting to learn about your plumbing system as you've gone for something completely differnt to us.
Also, my fave bit was the way you said 'yeah' to max when he asked if similarly was a word. Don't know why but really made me chuckle xxx
We thought people might be interested- no idea if it will work as intended 😂
That was my favourite bit! Once a teacher, always a teacher!!
Its not about your watersystem but you have no lock on your fridge. There is a big chance that the frigedoor will fall open while driving. Greetings from Holland.
Greetings! That’s a really useful tip, thank you so much! We’ll look into ordering one 😊
Preferred the install demo by Dares Drives
Sorry, this isn’t a full product install! Other people have done the Bobil Heater install in full, I can’t see one that Dares Drives have done?
Loving watching this build.
Thank you! We hope it will help people and maybe keep them entertained as well!
great stuff guys, i'm learning new stuff everytime you post a video
Thank you so much Tony! We are definitely learning along the way but loving all of it! 😊👍
It’s definitely going to happen guys! 2021 is the year for adventure in the van! Keep going 😎👍✅
Thank you so much Andrew! We really hope so and just can’t wait! 😊👍
Well done guys 😁 looks good 😁
Thank you so much! 😊
Great job guys! Excellent work and ideas!
Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it 😊👍
Another great episode 👏👏👏
,I’m converting a bus ( 1994 Mercedes Benz LO812 / in AUSTRALIA ) which already getting a lot of help from your knowledge.
I really like led light at the back of water tank in this episode. you guys awesome
Thank you so much
Thank you so much! And that’s awesome, glad we could help, or at least show you how not to do some things 😂 Max is really impressed with that too! 😊👍
You’re doing a cracking job, just a query, running your hot water from the engine coolant surely it’ll have Antifreeze in it, or am I missing something?
Changing the subject, I’m the fella who sent the Impact Driver, via your Grandmother, you’ll need an extension to get to the rear wheel nuts, there’re easy to get hold of, it needs to be 1/2” Impact. Keep up the good work, Albert.
Hi Albert, Thank You SO SO SO much! We are actually going to run the coolant through the inside of a copper coil which will sit within the hot water tank and act as a heat exchanger, so the two won’t ever mix!
You’re such a star, we haven’t had chance to see Grandma & Grandad yet because of all of this lockdown craziness but we’ll get an extension ready and can’t wait to get it and try it out! Thank you again! 😊
Thanks for sharing, we have this job still to do on our van called Luna. I like your filling solution, I think we may have to ‘borrow’ that idea 👍
That’s so exciting! Will check out your channel and Luna! You can have that one! 😊👍
Hey both nice to have you back 👍 Great job again 👏hope you both had a chilled Xmas and new year 😏🥂
Thank you so much Gavin, and we had a lovely Xmas and New Year, hope you did too! 😊👍
Happy New Year. ....Looks good👍👍👍👍
Happy New Year to you too! Thank you 😊👍
These videos are fantastic, and I love how you're explaining everything as you go! It's really making me want to get my own van to convert!!!
On the subject of heating the water, I do see a slight flaw in the method of heating the water and wonder what you've done (or are going to do to address it). The issue that I see is that during the summer months. If you've been parked up for a while your engine coolant will be cold, and you won't necessarily want to be running your diesel heater as the cabin will be warm enough already. How then are you going to heat the water in the tank without running the either the engine or the diesel heater (the kettle seems a little bit insufficient for filling a 25l water tank)? Since you're looking at living off-grid, and so won't necessarily be able to rely on a shore hookup, have you looked in to some kind of solar-powered heat-exchanger on the roof?
Thank you so much David! And you totally should!
That’s a very good point, and you are correct. We have a directional flap to direct heat just into our bathroom currently so the best thing we could do is heat the water while heating the bathroom with the bathroom extractor also on. The heat exchanger does take quite a lot of the heat out of the diesel heater when it’s pumping through. Our future option is adding a secondary directional flap outside to push hot air outside as we heat water if we need to! 😊👍
well done guys happy new year stay safe
Thank you so much! Happy New Year to you too! Hope you had a great Christmas 😊👍
great video series..simple easy to follow looks professional and amusing..binge watching it this week..with the bobil heat exchanger do you still have to have the heater on in the summer to get hot water ?
Thank you so much! Glad you’re enjoying it! And yes you do, however we are installing a ‘Y-flap’ to direct heat either generally into the van or specifically the bathroom, so in the summer we we direct it into the bathroom and turn on the extractor to get rid of the heat! 😊👍
Looks very promising!
So do you run two individual pumps for cool and hot water? How are you able to adjust water temperature in the shower or sink?
That’s exactly right with the two pumps, we are going to have a hot and cold tap in the shower so we can set the temperature, and a mixer tap over the sink with a hot and cold feed into it 😊👍 hope that helps!
Bad news guys. Can’t find those tiles :(
Must have got lost in the recent house move.
I don’t think there was enough to do your wood burner area from memory but it would have been cool to see them used so well.
Not that I can get them to you atm ! :)
That’s okay Jay! Hope you’re doing well!? I think Sophie has decided on these... what do you think?
www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/shiraz-turquoise.html
😊👍
@@MaxSophieinaVan definitely keeps the vans colour scheme going!!!!!! :) very swanky
Hahah that’s pretty much how she convinced me we needed them 😂😊
the time it's taking to convert this van seems to imply that you prefer converting than living the dream.....hehehe
Haha it’s definitely easier right now with the pandemic! I think we will love travelling as much as we love converting! 🤞😊
wait 'til you do one Christopher :) this is my third in 40 years - I'm 7 months in and very little to show yet - but on the other hand I plan and plan before I build and I need to cope with minus 25 'n plus 42 degrees heat on my trip - oh, and 12'000 ft altitude.. but you'll find that especially with an older base vehicle 2 hour jobs can easily take a day 'n a half..
It’s definitely a challenge but the reward is that home on wheels you get at the end of it all! 👍
Good job! How did you do the coolant heat exchanger system for this? Do you have any videos about this? Thank you!
Hiya, love the build so far and have been watching since day 1 🙂
Only thing is.. you've installed the hot water tank and taped/boxed in place.. don't you now have to remove it to install the heating coil from the engine coolant?
Will be waiting for your next episode 🙂
Thank you so much! And GREAT thought, thank you for commenting as we normally forget these kind of things 😂 we have a plan as the top section is still removable so we will be removing just that to add in the coil! 👍👌
I think the exterior paint on the van should be left so that you can still see the theatre company sign writing
We haven’t decided what to do yet but love the history and character of it! We actually have some photos of her in her old life with the theatre company so we’ll share them at some point! 😊👍
Hi guys. Great vid👍🏻 can you please tell me where you bought those barbed brass tank connections you fitted to your bobil hot water tank please?
Thank you so much! And we got them from Bobil when we bought our system but I can’t see them on their website now, sorry! Maybe they can point you in the right direction? 😊👍
Awesome thanks for getting back to me👍🏻
You’re welcome! 😊👌
didnt you forget to put the copper coil inside the tank like explained in the beginning of the video ?
make sure the small radiator is also copper, you dont want to mix aluminium and copper with the same water
We are going to run our coolant lines from the engine and then add the coil but we ran out of time! It will be finished off in a video very soon! And thanks for the heads up, I’ll look into this! 😊👍
Something that I have come across with the solenoid valves.
They do not like to be energized for long periods of time. The coil heats up and they can burn out. I' figuring out a way to prevent accidental leaving it on. I'm thinking. 12/24V Timer relay. This will also apply to your gas solenoid valve which will probably more likely be left on accidentally.
Here is what i'm testing right now. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08C79JJL3
Thank you!! That sounds like something we definitely need to look into - cheers for the heads up! ☺️
Somehow I don't think the little heat exchanger for your diesel heater will put much heat into the water if you're parked up somewhere, so I guess you will be having lukewarm showers ,
In a bench test we got it up to 60 degrees in 20 minutes, that was pre-insulating the tank etc. so may change and stay warmer for longer now it’s installed! Once we have it all up and running properly we will do a test video with some proper results! 😊👍
What fittings did you use/need to connect the 12mm Flexi hose up to that BWT water filter?
I see it's from screwfix but has 1/2inch NPT threads
It was a little bit Frankenstein’d but we ordered some 1/2 NPT to 1/2 BSP adapters online and then 1/2 BSP to our 12mm barbed hose fittings! 😊👍
@@MaxSophieinaVan great, Thanks
Thats what I had figured. But secretly hoped maybe those teftan fittings would magically scree straight in.
Were the bsp to not adapters hard to find?
Also nice detailed vids and I'm going to be ordering those teftan fittings, they look great
Hmm, I'm struggling to find any reasonably priced NPT to BSP adapters
Unfortunately not! We got some on eBay on a slow boat from China:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174304018159
And we haven’t had the full system up and running yet but will do soon! Fingers crossed it all works well! 😂🤞
Hi max & Sophie are you going to insulate your pipe work as well
Hi Stephen, We will be insulating some of it once we are sure everything is finished and not leaking! 😂 that will hopefully make the whole system more efficient! What sections would you recommend insulating? 😊👍
@@MaxSophieinaVan all of the hot water pipes anything stop reduce any heat loss
Perfect, we’ll do that 😊👌
How did you do the LED lights bit??
We just stuck some led tape around the base of the tank! We were already running power to that area for our water pump so have added it into that. 😊👍
@@MaxSophieinaVan brilliant idea, cheers guys x
You’re very welcome! 👌
Did you just say spaghetti in reference to RUclips poop...!?!?!?!?!?
What does RUclips poop mean!? But yes we did say spaghetti 😂 👍
@@MaxSophieinaVan YTP for short, a type of RUclips video where pre-existing video content is edited to change what people say in a humorous way by chopping up and restructuring it.
Hi. Would it have been better to run 12v pumps, instead of 24v? Is there a reason for using 24v? Apart from the engine running on 24v?
So our whole system is going to primarily run on 24v! Our vehicle runs on 24v, all inverters, battery chargers and appliances (lighting, fridge etc) will be on 24v too! The pumps are actually one of the few things that are going to be running on 12v purely from a supply and cost point of view, so they will be running off of a 24v to 12v dropper! 😊 hope that answers the question 😂👍
Thank you, just wondered, coz most van builds are 12v. So you must be running 24v leisure battery's? Or 2. 12v in parallel?
Of course! We know we aren’t doing the standard! And yes we are going to have 4x 12v 170ah batteries, wired in series parallel so will have 340ah at 24v 😊👍
Wow. Well you should have plenty of power to run anything in your van. Would be great to see, once we able to. Can't wait to see unused van.
We hope so! And of course we will try to show everyone in as much detail as we can! 😊 we can’t wait to get out to explore the world and use our van! 😊👍