Hello,
Anyone any suggestions on what the best heating system is. I have a 2017 Dodge ProMaster, gasoline engine and am living in Canada. Thank you.
In our experience you get what you pay for. After everything else we paid for, we ended up paying for a Webasto. You already have the fuel on hand, it burns very very little and takes up the least amount of space of any heater out there I have seen.
If you put it under a seat, the install much more difficult due to all the vans workings being up front as well. In hindsight this really is not much of an advantage as you just have to store the jack somewhere else. If I installed it again, I would do it in in the rear under the bed.
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Awesome, thanks so much. Really appreciate your input.
I would reccomend a Planar, Equal quality to the Wabasto. You being in Canada will have better access to this brand than what you will find in the states. It is a Russian made product but it is top quality and well proven. I installed one with relative ease I have a gasoline vehicle but I installed with a 2 gallon diesel heater tank. It works wonderful. 168° discharge air temperature. The Webastos are overpriced in my opinion because their popular. I did not want to go as far as the Chinese diesel heater although I think many of the mechanical components are comparable. Most of the concern is over the control of the diesel heater in the Chinese models. The planer brand is used very commonly throughout the very cold winters in Russia in diesel vehicles truckers etc. It has all the quality but for less the price. I paid roughly $725. I believe you would pay double that for a Wabasto. Morning me was purchased through a van builder in Colorado. Good luck…. If you decide to put air conditioning in specifically a 12 V model. I have another great recommendation out of Canada for less than $2000. It is equal to the $4000 nomad unit.
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@Trav - I paid around $900 for my webasto so not much more really and did not need to install an extra fuel tank. I agree though, they are overpriced, but with everything, you get what you pay for.
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Hey there! Was wondering if you could share the name of the Canadian air conditioner that’s comparable to higher priced? Thanks so much.
Greetings!
Re: Heaters
I am not at all convinced about the “You get what you pay for.” philosophy… I am a “recycle, re-use, re-purpose” type of person. I tend to buy dirt cheap and used, even though it isn’t a money thing for me, it’s about keeping perfectly good stuff out of the landfill.
I prefer portable heaters/cookers that require no power. More specifically, multi-fuel, wick type heaters, which can run on diesel, kerosene, vegetable oil, and possibly more. No installation necessary, and our vehicles need ventilation anyway. You can buy commercial varieties used for under $20, or make your own for under $10. They are basically fool proof, if you have fuel, you’ll have heat, and elevation doesn’t matter.
I do go one step further, since I want fan forced heat, without needing additional power. I use a heat powered wood stove fan on top of my heater to achieve power free, fan forced heat.
I much prefer liquid fuel over propane, and I carry 2x 7 gallon jugs of it, which is enough to last me a year+. It’s cheap, easy, efficient, convenient, reliable, and dry heat. That checks all my important boxes. Did you notice that I cook on it as well, including with my portable oven, meaning it’s dual or triple purpose?
Cheers!
"Be creative & recycle, reuse, & repurpose." ~ The Camper Van Man
Greetings!
Re: Air Conditioning
AC requires a lot of power, and I’m usually off the grid, and don’t want to be running a generator constantly. My solution, which I’ve used successfully for many years, and is energy efficient, is a swamp cooler, or variation of them. They use practically no more power than just a fan alone, yet they cool every bit as well as a traditional AC unit.
You want the type that uses a radiator for the heat exchanger. Then you can cool the circulating water either by evaporation, or via thermoelectric using a Peltier chip. With the evaporation type, you must refill it with water, but the thermoelectric type is a sealed system that never needs refilling. Either type can keep you comfortable anywhere in the world, regardless of the weather or humidity.
Swamp coolers only cool, and they can cool the ambient air by about 40-50°F. With thermoelectric, you can actually either heat or cool, and raise or lower the temperature about 40-50°F. They’re not too good for below freezing though, so you may need an additional source of heat.
A couple of years ago, there was a guy at Quartzsite selling 12v thermoelectric heat pumps for $100. I’m actually pretty impressed by their performance, and they would be a pretty easy DIY project. He actually built me a liquid candle powered one at my request, which requires no power at all, and uses the same technology as the woodstove fan mentioned in a previous post. Instead of adding power to a thermoelectric chip to produce heat/cold, you can add the heat/cold to it to produce power.
Interesting stuff, but hey, whatever works, works for me… Life can be as simple or as complicated as we choose to make it, and neither has to compromise on comfort, convenience, or reliability.
Cheers!
"Popular choices ≠proper choices." ~ MountainMan
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Greetings!
Re: DC Power Solutions
50-75 amp draw @ 12vdc is no trivial amount for something you’ll be running for many hours daily. No matter how you add this up, you’re in generator or shore power territory. Even IF you has a big enough bank to run it, you wouldn’t have room for enough solar to recharge them daily. Due to cost & efficiency, a generator or shore power combined with a cheap household window shaker would be the best bang for the bucks.
Conversely, a swamp cooler only draws ~2 amps @ 12vdc, and a thermoelectric model only draws ~5 amps @ 12vdc. Both offer equal or better cooling than a typical air conditioner, at a fraction of the cost, and are much more battery power friendly.
I have successfully used both swamp coolers for years, and my new thermoelectric heat pump ( offering both heating & cooling ) for the last year or more. For my comfort, they are the best choices available, at any price.
Cheers!
"Practical beats popular every time." ~ Truth Matters
For a comparison here is a unit of very identical like and kind thats twice the price in AZ.
I haven’t used the swamp cooler. I do agree swamp coolers can be very effective.I run my A/C mainly in those 95 to 100° days when I’m trying to sleep at night. I only have 340 amp hours of battery. It’s an inverter driven compressor meaning that it doesn’t pull the same load every time it runs. It starts slow until it hits full capacity and then adjusts speed as the demand for set-point changes.The speed varies depending on the demand. But with the A/C cycling throughout the evening on a hot summer night I might get my battery bank down to 50-60%. That’s with no solar charging or alternator charging in the night. But with my solar charger in the day that drops consumption down 20 A and if I’m running the van take another 30 off that. Many times I head to another destination and it recharges the battery bank and runs the AC-I’ve had it for a year and a half and it works for me. I do not live in my van full-time so I don’t deal with that but then again hot summer is only a few months of the year. Seen one van with a swamp cooler. I don’t disagree with their ability to be affective in the same way. I would not persuade anyone one way or the other not personally owning a swamp cooler but If I paid $4-5K I might look a little closer at the swamp cooler. Also not sure how effective the swamp cooler would be in the south. Humidity levels are high in an enclosed area the extent of saturation levels could be easily reached-this seems like a potential moisture issue. When introducing fresh air in an out seems to create more moving parts. I live in a high desert area a swamp cooler would be effective. But part of me just wants to be able to turn it on and off with no worries don’t worry about filling the water tank, water leakage, moisture issues etc.I paid $1850 for my A/C. and I’m happy with the cost compared to others. I installed it myself as well so if your adding installation into the cost decision then that may worth considering.
Greetings!
I’m glad that yours is working for you!
There are different variations of swamp coolers, the direct type just uses a fan, water pump, and perhaps a cooling pad. Designed for desert areas, the do add moisture to the air, which can make things more comfortable. The indirect type adds a radiator into the mix, as the heat exchanger, so they actually dehumidify the air just like an air conditioner does. This is the type I used, since I was sometimes in high humidity areas. It didn’t work as well in the desert, but it was still satisfactory.
Filling it with water was an extra step, but for thee extra comfort, it was well worth it. With the indirect type, the moist air is returned outside, so no moisture is added inside. In the end, either version of swamp cooler can be built for under $100, are extremely energy efficient, and are effective.
One of my newest gadgets is a Peltier powered heat pump. One of mine happens to be a one off experimental model, so we’ll discuss the model that was actually for sale in Quartzsite a few years ago for $100. The Peltier chip either heats or cools the water (probably anti-freeze), that flows through a radiator for the heat exchanger, with a fan circulating the air through the radiator. It’s a sealed system, so unlike a swamp cooler, it never needs refilling. It works well for in any temperature above freezing. Below that, I need an additional source of heat to stay comfortable. Up to 120°F it kept my indoor temps down to the low to mid 70’s, which I found totally acceptable.
Since these were getting sold for $100, I suspect they could be built for probably half of that. Some people enjoy DIY projects, but if that person is selling them in Q again this year, I really like to support small business. I would love to see these things go into mainstream production, and make them the standard for RV’s & camper vans. Energy efficient, battery powered, fuel free, heating & cooling. WOO HOO!!!
In the meantime, they would appear to be a fairly simple DIY project.
For many years now, I have been trying to go fuel powered instead of electrically powered whenever possible, but these heat pumps are a total game changer.
Cheers!
"Like science, learn to grow and let it go…" ~ Einstein