Greetings all,
I have a Blue Bird All American. It has 5 Hurri-Hot heaters in it, which is perfect for this climate. My question is that if I wanted to park on the side of the road over night, without the big engine running, would I want to use the Webasto to keep the cabin heated?
Vague question I know. My goal is keeping the inside of the bus heated, should we park over night. I like the idea of the Webasto but I am not sure it is cut out to do what I want. I know it has brushed motors which are very expensive to replace, on and on.....
Looking for input at this time.
I have the Webasto Scholastic as my primary heat source. I use it when in a campground and several times the temps have been in the teens. The main thing is the unit and the radiators will use a lot of battery power so you will need to run your generator when not on the grid to keep from draining your batteries.
Exactly. How do you have your generator hooked up to the unit, etc? Or do you just have your generator charging your batteries the whole while? I know the fans on the heaters draw about 5A. Plus there is a circulator pump as well.
My generator charges the batteries through the Heart invertor/ charger
Quote from: tomhamrick on October 15, 2010, 10:14:42 AM
I have the Webasto Scholastic as my primary heat source. I use it when in a campground and several times the temps have been in the teens. The main thing is the unit and the radiators will use a lot of battery power so you will need to run your generator when not on the grid to keep from draining your batteries.
how long do the batteries last? we don't have a webasto now, but we've been thinking about it. if i have to run the genset every couple hours, then i'm not that much better off.
The only problem I have with using the Webasto is the fact that it is a brushed motor and its $600 to replace. Other parts are just as expensive.
What I did was eliminate the webasto circulation pump and used a 12 volt circulation pump from an old fish bowl.
I wasn't going to pay that for that tiny little circ pump webasto uses. :)
Webasto tech support told me how to bypass the controller so it would fire etc.... ( which I forget )
you can get the same motor from buhler motor for $64 or so..
Quote from: desi arnaz on October 15, 2010, 06:56:05 PM
you can get the same motor from buhler motor for $64 or so..
You're kidding me....dont that take the cake. Thats good to know, thanks.
Welcome to the board..I learn something new here every day..Bob
Easy enough to do a little math, total the electric load and see how much battery you need to have 50% left in 8 hours of sleeping at that load.
Then you can decide if that fits your design plans?
Hard to beat a Webasto for block heater use!
happy coaching!
buswarrior
I've had Webasto heat in a couple of buses they do have their drawbacks besides the outrageous parts prices they cost big bucks to run and never mount one where you sleep been there done that with the generator run time to charge the batteries they will use 5 to 7 gals of fuel a day on a cold day and at 3 bucks a gal it gets`pretty expensive over a months time.
If you need to verify the numbers check the Aqua/Hot site 5 gals a day on average without generator time not my choice for heating but YMMD
good luck
Clifford, what is a better way to heat than a Webasto, Proheat, or Aquahot if you're so down on them? A propane furnace isn't exactly light on propane use and is quite heavy on battery usage.
A BTU is a BTU. The only heat that is 100% efficient is electric heat. All other heating methods that burn fuel let some (or a lot!) of heat out the exhaust.
I have a Mr Heater that is I think 18,000 BTU on the highest setting, It will suck dry a 20 lb propane cylinder in around 18 hours. Now, it has to be fairly cold to need to use the high setting for hours on end.
I have Primus hydronic heat in my WL and am looking to change it out to a Webasto 2010 (scholastic?) has anyone done this? (Primus parts are getting hard to come by and the Primus is hard on propane. This can be an issue when you carry 45 gal LPG and 200 gal diesel.)
Jim, if your Primus is using a lot of propane something is wrong.
I had the double boiler for years they don't use that much fuel mine used 1.5 gal tops every 24 hrs in 20 degree weather.
If you need parts I know of 4 places that sell the parts.
Mine had the electric on it also if plugged in to a current tree in a park it used no propane fwiw I never liked the way BB installed the units those are good units if you do change I'll buy it for the right price
good luck
I like my webasto system. I have it in the coolant loop and 'valved' so I can isolate the engine or have the engine 'be the source of heat'. I use our bus for camping(boondocking) and occasional vacation trips. On camping trips, I need to run the gen every other day (6-golf carts) to keep up. The fuel for both doesn't effect the 'happy factor' in my use.
If I used the bus for 'pole to pole use', I'd find another way to heat the bus that would be more cost effective, less maintenance and more efficient.
phil
Due to where I live, I surely wouldnt valve the engine out of the loop. I am just looking for the most efficient way to keep this thing warm while we sleep. Best bet for the btu would probably be a wood stove. Fuel is expensive, propane and generator electricity is as well. Wood is free [sigh].
Wood is only free if you have your own trees to cut down or know somebody who will give you wood. This is a great way to heat if you sit in one location. Not so great if you travel. You can certainly find free wood on the road if you're willing to invest the time to look for people giving away pallets and other free wood. The problem is most free wood besides pallets and such is generally going to be green.
There are tradeoffs in all types of fuel for heating.
Quote from: belfert on October 19, 2010, 05:19:35 AM
Wood is only free if you have your own trees to cut down or know somebody who will give you wood.
Wood is plentiful and all free but I am not sure I want to go wood yet.
Still trying to figure out how to do this with the Webasto. I dont want extra batteries, no room for them. If I could run them a generator, I would. I could run them with my lawn mower engine/alternator setup I guess.
These are a few of the heaters:
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh6.ggpht.com%2F_4XnTo50N_sc%2FTGmZO8IhnSI%2FAAAAAAAAAqM%2FZ-JvsUN6PlM%2Fs800%2F0816001325.jpg&hash=aa178c5079c0d983981f4554437fe89a9b1b1ae8)
That looks like enough heat to keep thinks warm with the windows open.
Here is some baseline info for reference for those who were curious
I just repaired a Aqua-Hot in a bus with 8 4-D wet cell batteries. To test I ran the cabin heaters set at the lowest setting 55 (5 of them opporated thru 2 thermostats). I left the engine loop on. I did not run the plumbing bay loop cause the heat exchanger is mounted at the ceiling but ran the small electric heat source that is on the inverters cause it is mounted low in the compartment.
It was below 20 and windy overnight
We also left the 2 24 volt inverters on for the fridge and the intermittent cycle of the electric plumbing bay heater.
Went 11 hrs and the batteries were at 12.3 when we started things back up.
IMO I think an aqua-hot (or Webasto) could easily heat a cabin overnight (8 hr) off batteries, without getting the batteries below 12.2, and that would require 4-4D wet cells minimum.
If you were to close the bedroom door and only run that loop and did not run inverters you could probably stay warm 8hr with 2 good 4-D batteries
I've insulated well from the windows down. All the windows have thermal curtains on them that fit tight. They are rolled up when not needed. The ceiling is whatever is in there. I think its 1.5" glass or such.
Is there a converter that takes 110v and turns it into 12VDC that I could use? I guess that would be the opposite of an inverter. Adding batteries would be a lot more work than I want to get into, plus I dont have the room.