Community Forums

kees boode · 01-06-2022, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stevens10

We like to travel in the winter from our home in northern Indiana to warmer climes, which involves some cold weather camping. My Navigator has the usual two LPG furnaces, but the price and inconvenience of filling on the road has always been a bur under my saddle. I looked up diesel heaters online and found this really sweet unit from Vevor. I have installed it in my navigator in the cabinet under the stove top, and while I have not taken it on the road yet I am very excited about how it works.

I will describe my installation and show pictures so if anyone else wants to do this they will have some ideas to go on.

I purchased the 8 kw unit that was designed to be a free standing salamander type heater, $159. I figured out later that you can buy the heater body only for $129 which would have been a better choice. I removed the external sheet metal housing and ended up with this.
https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1641518975

The intake is on the left, and the hot air discharge is on the right. The fuel pump is shown as well. The unit draws combustion air in via a 1" diameter hose and muffler on the bottom of the unit and exhausts the combustion products via a corrugated stainless steel tube also located on the bottom of the unit.

My plan was to route the exhaust tubing inside of a 3" duct down into the basement compartment, back wards to the wall next to the tank area down again to a fan box that would draw air around the exhaust which would be heated and then blown into the tank area to keep it warm so that the water systems would not freeze.
The front LPG furnace has two 2" flexible ducts that are routed into the tank area to do the same thing, and since I plan on using the diesel heater as my primary heat source I needed it to also keep the tank area warm.
removed the drawer and the bottom of the cabinet under the stove top as shown here and you can see the exhaust tube inside of the 3" duct and the air intake tube right behind it.
https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1641520152
and then the next shows the duct in the basement area.

https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1641520152

https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1641520152

The last picture shows the square box what has a 3" diamter fan that draws the air from around the exhaust and blows it into the tank area.

You can see the corrugated exhaust tube routed out to the door of the basement to direct the combustion gases to the outside by way of the aluminum tube and the stainless steel hood on the outside.https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1641521084
https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1641521084

https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1641521084

You can also see the spacer that keeps the exhaust tube centered in the 3" duct. I located several of these throughout the system basically at every change of direction.

The heater comes with a flexible 3" duct about 18" long which Iused to route the hot air to a duct that directs most of the air out the tow space, but also has a 2" duct back in to the toilet room to warm it up as well.

The heater comes with a LCD control panel, I had to add additional wire to the harness so I could mount it up on the wall just beside the door into the bathroom area.

The unit works great, and the best part is that once it reaches set point it modulates down to a low output so you have continuous heating instead of the regular furnace which cycles off and on.

You can see in one of the pictures a clear plastic tube, that is the fuel line. It is hard nylon and runs under the kitchen cabinets up to the area of the water heater then down into the basement area where the AC unit is located. From there it passes over the frame rail, along the fuel tank and tees into the fuel line that serves the generator. This way I cannot use all the fuel up so I always have some to run the engine.

My plan is to use this as the primary heat, and set the LPG firnaces to a lower setting so they only come on if this cannot maintain set point.

The 8 kw rating is approximately 27,000 BTU which is similar to the front LPG furnace.

I also had to cut down the width of the drawer to allow room for the duct and other piping to pass down to the basement area.

The last couple of pictures show the grill mounted in the toe space and the plywood box around the heater to protect it from the pots and pans we store in this area.

This is a lot of information, if anyone has any specific question I will be glad to answer, and provide more pictures to clarify.

Nice job, in the process of the same project even the same vendor.

Stevens10 · 01-07-2022, 04:39 AM

I forgot to mention that I had to extend the exhaust to reach the outside. I used 3/4" corrugated gas line, and removed the outside plastic cover. It was just a little too big to fit inside of the provided exhaust connection, but I slid it over a round shaft clamped in a vise and lightly hammered it to flatten the corrugations. It then slid right inside the bell end of the provided tube and I used a hose clamp to secure it. I did not use the provided muffler for the exhaust, with the added length it is not much louder than the LPG furnaces, especially when it modulates down.
I hope these units are durable, they have a lot of promise for a great heating solution for RVs.

nbluesky · 01-07-2022, 07:11 AM

What a great install and write up!! Thanks for sharing, I had researched these before. I sure would love to have another heating option. I've considered some type of Aqua Hot type of solution when I was going to rebuild the floor. I would never pay what they want for those boilers but there has to be a way to use something like this and make a heat exchanger. This solution seems much easier

Stevens10 · 01-07-2022, 05:02 PM

Seems to be a well built unit, the air temperature coming out is very hot, I have not actually measured it but my guess is it is close to 150 degrees. It could be ducted into a larger fan to distribute through an existing duct system to give better distribution around your unit. Mine is located just outside of the bathroom door, and the natural flow of the air out of the register and duct causes it move warm air back to the bedroom. We usually leave the door open so I anticipate that it will keep the sleeping area nice and warm, and the small amount of air into the toilet room will keep it toasty as well.

The propane tank does not last very long if you are heating in cold weather, and I want to save it for water heating and cooking, not to mention the cost per BTU compared to diesel.

jumpjg · 01-08-2022, 07:05 AM

Until recently I've had to store our Navigator outside and it spent a considerable amount of time on the leveling jacks facing southward. A while back I noticed that both the drivers side and passenger side of the windshield together with the rubber seal has come unseated from the frame on the upper outboard corners. There is no damage to the glass, seal, or the frame, and it doesn't appear to be leaking but it does seem to be making a whistling sound at speed. I'd like to ask if anyone has had a similar experience and how you went about having it repaired.

Stevens10 · 01-10-2022, 02:43 PM

I have not had this issue, but I looked at my coach and here is what I think might be going on.
This is a sketch of how the glass is mounted in the coach body.https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1641850292

I think the long exposure to direct sunlight has caused the rubber seal to shrink, which will show up primarily at the corners, deforming the rubber enough to pull it away from the coach fiber glass opening.

I think the solution will be to replace the sealing rubber part. If you do a search online you can find some information about how this is done, but unless you are fearless it might be a job better done by an experienced RV repair facility. It looks to be a difficult job and at a minimum you would need some glass suction cup holders and some help to manage the large windshields. There is the danger of breaking the windshield during the process and if not done properly the windshield can be cracked later because of movement or interference with the coach body as you go down the road.

If you check my posts you will see that I am usually not afraid to tackle major issues, but this one would make me think long and hard before I tackled it!

kees boode · 01-17-2022, 09:03 PM

Got the diesel heater in, hooked it in to the floor duct. Now we don`t have to run the propane heaters anymore during the night. The noise level is awesome you only hear some air coming true the ducts. Very happy camper.

jvega-al · 01-20-2022, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kees boode

Got the diesel heater in, hooked it in to the floor duct. Now we don`t have to run the propane heaters anymore during the night. The noise level is awesome you only hear some air coming true the ducts. Very happy camper.

Nice job, I'll have to look into doing something like that too.

kees boode · 01-20-2022, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvega-al

Nice job, I'll have to look into doing something like that too.

jvega-al · 01-29-2022, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stevens10

The other problem is that I was trying to free up the shut off valve for the coolant filter and surprise surprise I broke it.

Have you replaced the shut off valve yet? Any advice on how to do it? I just broke mine trying to close the darn thing.

Hope everything is good with your MH now.

153stars · 01-30-2022, 08:59 PM

There's a diagram in a thread. I didn't find the diagram, sorry.... parts are in the diagram. One side is built stronger than the other, it's better to wrench on that side. It's a through tube/pipe, both handles are attached to same tube not two valves. Did you break it to where it will leak? You can use a wrench at both ends at both ends at same time,putting more oomph on strong side of tube.
I didn't know there was a valve. With no pressure on system and closed up ,so no air able to get in from above. I swapped filters only lost a quart or so without even rushing.I was able to close by hand after luckily I spotted it .

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvega-al

Have you replaced the shut off valve yet? Any advice on how to do it? I just broke mine trying to close the darn thing.

Hope everything is good with your MH now.

Biljol · 01-31-2022, 03:43 AM

Can you provide a picture of the bottom of your heater install? (Under the Coach)

Wondering what you did for the exhaust and air intake for the combustion chamber?

Also do you have a vent on the door for the return air inlet I would be concerned about some smell or other foul stuff from the basement area if chemical are stored in the basement and something spills or other mishap? I would find a way to duct the return air side into a return vent from the coach.

Other than that looks like a good install and better than mine.

Is your coach diesel? if so I ran the fuel line to my main tank put a weed trimmer filter on the end and a small hole in the “unused filler cap” now it has 100+ tank to pull from.

Also did you install a floor vent how does that look?

Stevens10 · 01-31-2022, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvega-al

Have you replaced the shut off valve yet? Any advice on how to do it? I just broke mine trying to close the darn thing.

Hope everything is good with your MH now.

Yes, it was not very hard. I removed the filter mounting body since I was replacing the thermostats and put it in a vise. I drilled a hole down through the plastic valve that was in the casting and put in a large wood screw and used a vise grip to extract the broken part.

I used a 1/2" copper fitting brush to clean the bore and the new part slid in and turned very nicely.
Here is the parts blow up of the new valve that Nbluesky sent me.

https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1643631090

jvega-al · 02-02-2022, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 153stars

There's a diagram in a thread. I didn't find the diagram, sorry.... parts are in the diagram. One side is built stronger than the other, it's better to wrench on that side. It's a through tube/pipe, both handles are attached to same tube not two valves. Did you break it to where it will leak? You can use a wrench at both ends at both ends at same time,putting more oomph on strong side of tube.
I didn't know there was a valve. With no pressure on system and closed up ,so no air able to get in from above. I swapped filters only lost a quart or so without even rushing.I was able to close by hand after luckily I spotted it .

I found the diagram but I called Cummins and was able to use my engine number to order the right one for my engine. Mine has only one handle on top side, that's where it broke but it doesn't leak at all, I just want to replace it to make it functional. It was only $8.86 directly from them. I'm supposed to get it in a couple of days and we'll see about replacing it.