The down and dirty of coach heat

[Scott & Heather]

interesting. I did like the forced air heat...was sooo nice compared to space heaters. But, if I can use a hot water heater (30,000 BTU) and it's a shorty (like my 30 gallon kenmore in the bay right now) then that's the route I'd love to go. Hydronic all the way. But for now, maybe I'll give the furnace another try...

[Oonrahnjay]

interesting. I did like the forced air heat...was sooo nice compared to space heaters. But, if I can use a hot water heater (30,000 BTU) and it's a shorty (like my 30 gallon kenmore in the bay right now) then that's the route I'd love to go. Hydronic all the way. But for now, maybe I'll give the furnace another try... 

    What's the wattage and BTU rating of your Kenmore heater now, Scott.  Might work.

[Lee Bradley]

I have a 19 gallon water heater with 4500 watt element. That is about equal to my websato top c (15,000 vs 17,000 BTUs). I use the electric when I have 50 amp service and diesel when I don't. Either one keeps the hydronic system hot.

[buswarrior]

And with Lee's approach, the electric and the diesel could be run together for those deeper cold situations, provided the system has enough ability to shed the combined 32K btu into the coach.

Normally radiant, fan forced when necessary? Choices for economy, combined for crisis?

And the thermal inertia of the tank, perhaps warmed by an engine heat exchanger, prime mover or generator, would be lovely "free heat" on a cool evening.

So many ways to roll your own!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Oonrahnjay]

...  So many ways to roll your own!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

     The best part of converting a bus!

[luvrbus]

Scott, you can buy the Webasto 2000 air heater at most truck wrecking yards from the bunks for 300 bucks used then you could have forced air heat diesel fired the new units are around a 1000 bucks from PeterBuilt they do a good job I haven't checked the E place

[Tikvah]

I'm interested in how the hot water system (water heater or Wabasto) plumbs into our coach water system.

I imagine, on the road the engine would supply the hot water for the fan forced coil, when parked the water heater provides the hot water to the coil, and when preparing to drive, the water heater would preheat the engine.

Where do the systems tie together?  How is it controlled?  I've always considered the ports where the OTR heat coil was removed.

[sledhead]

if you want to go the route of radiant heat this is how mine is .
6" apart in the floor pex front to back with 4 zones + 1  36000 btu fan heater ( hi , low , off  fan ) under the fridge
pro heat 45000 diesel heater ( zero maintenance in 10 years ) it needs a new exhaust pipe as the old one is almost gone
1 42000 btu heat exchanger between the coach system and the engine ( = 2 separate system )
I can turn off the proheat to the engine with 2 valves if I only want to heat the one side ( coach or engine )
1   2 gal . elect . 120 v water heater in the coach side for quite heat after the floor is already warm

when on the road we 1st turn on the pro heat ( to preheat the eng. ), then start the eng. then turn on the fan heater under the fridge + the floor and after the coach heats up from the eng. driving down the road I turn off the fan on the heater at the fridge . it is so nice as I hardly use the noisy bus heat

it is not that complicated as it sounds but it did take some to install . it all works off a wall thermostat , master switch , the proheat switch that is at the driver seat    

<a href="http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/crane66/media/buspicsapril222014021_zpsdc5981bb.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/a484/crane66/buspicsapril222014021_zpsdc5981bb.jpg" border="0" alt="floor heat 4 zones photo buspicsapril222014021_zpsdc5981bb.jpg"/></a>

the heat exchanger is on the left in the picture

dave

[luvrbus]

I did read a article from MCI they use Pro/Heat now because of all the problems with Webasto.I know they line up at the FMCA rallies for John Carrillo to work on Webasto's and AquaHot's systems lol I been in that line before cost me 1500 bucks 

[chessie4905]

 Since you bought the furnace used, what happened to it could be an expected failure. Who knows how old it could be or whether it set a lot in a damp area before you obtained it. I don't think you can expect this to happen to one you purchase new; you can replace it every so many years if you have concerns. They are pretty trouble free compared to what else is available vs. the expense. Keep a spare Dinosaur board handy if it decides to quit on the coldest night in the middle of nowhere.

[Lee Bradley]

I'm interested in how the hot water system (water heater or Wabasto) plumbs into our coach water system.

I imagine, on the road the engine would supply the hot water for the fan forced coil, when parked the water heater provides the hot water to the coil, and when preparing to drive, the water heater would preheat the engine.

Where do the systems tie together?  How is it controlled?  I've always considered the ports where the OTR heat coil was removed.

I left the drivers heat/defroster connected to one bank of the engine. The other bank is looped to a hot exchanger in the basement with a loop to the water heater tank both of those loops have circulation pumps switched from the driver's station. I switch them on to preheat the engine or to bring heat from the engine underway. They are also valved to stop thermal circulation when I don't want heat loss through the engine loop. I also have a 3 way Suburban water heater in the heat exchanger/water heater loop so I have hot water while driving. 

[Oonrahnjay]

I'm interested in how the hot water system (water heater or Wabasto) plumbs into our coach water system.

I imagine, on the road the engine would supply the hot water for the fan forced coil, when parked the water heater provides the hot water to the coil, and when preparing to drive, the water heater would preheat the engine.

Where do the systems tie together?  How is it controlled?  I've always considered the ports where the OTR heat coil was removed.

    I have an Aquahot unit that I bought used from Nick at Nimco (back when they were in business) and Gary Throneberry ("Garhawk") and I sat one night and charted out different valve and/or manifold settings; he has one also.  A simple system of routing things is pretty easy but there are other things to consider.  A simple system may leave you in danger of a leak i one spot causing you to lose antifreeze in you entire system -- engine and all.  You also may want to use some or all solenoid (electrecally powered) valves versus mechanical ones.  But it's a pretty simple place to start.  Look at the sub-systems you have and the way you want to tie them together and look at features you want to build in.  It's pretty easy to start if you just do a diagram of your individual subsystems and then figure out the details.  
    I'm pretty sure that there's an Aquahot manual on line that shows a couple of different diagrams with optional features (there's probably also similar pubs from Webasto, etc.)  That might be a good place to start, too.

[Lin]

I just saw that Costco has a 52k BTU pellet stove.  That should keep a bus warm!

[Scott & Heather]

Ok so you guys that like your propane furnaces, do you use them at night when you're sleeping?


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[Lin]

Yes, same as in a house.  We also have a vented Platinum Cat that we will use for sleep, but I do not use the unvented Olympia catalytic heater when sleeping.

The only time that we have had the CO alarm show anything was from an orifice problem with the frig.  But that was my fault and a whole different story.