heater ideas?

[ka]

do any of you out there in pinz space have any good ideas for heating a pinz (that is to add to the obvious ones like a webasto or the stock whimpy microbus style heat exchanger)?

i use a regular ol' catalytic heater on a 20 lb propane bottle in my pickup bed camper for use in the am when i'm getting out of bed and it's like zero degrees. i've never used one while driving, tho (which i need in the pinz). i can imagine there may be problems with that.

[M Wehrman]

I have seen the cat heaters that screw onto a disposable propane bottles mounted in various places. Mike N uses a piece of abs pipe as a sleeve for the bottle,the rest is up to your imagination.
Mark

[ka]

hmm. maybe i can get mike to post a pic

[McCall Pinz]

Have you tried the 24v electric heaters? Also, I'm using some 12v electric blankets that work great.

[ka]

i've never seen a 24v heater in person. are they hot?

what are these blankets? you just wrap them around your legs?

[Foz]

stock whimpy microbus style heat exchanger

IMO this is a bit much. The stock heater puts a lot of heat energy into the cab if in prime condition [knock the mud out of the xchanger and replace the hoses and connectors to achieve a zero leak condition].

Also, the system can be upgraded by the additional step of insulating the return hoses so no heat is lost on the trip back to the cab. If you then add an insulated cab canvas and have windows that don't leak air too badly its a pretty good system - better than one might think given common comments like the quote above.

I aint saying you couldn't wish for more - but its pretty cheap to do all described above. If your system is in a similar state to all of the not yet rebuilt/renewed Pinz heater systems I have seen, doing a bit of cleaning and re-hosing will make a vast improvement. My system went from making vaguely warm air at the defrost vent to being so hot I cannot hold my hand over the opening for more than a couple of seconds once things get up to speed.

If when complete, a re-newed system is still not up to snuff, you have at little cost greatly diminished the task of getting up to the total heat input you desire and thus can perhaps downgrade the output requirements for your auxiliary unit upgrade [or perhaps use it less often and save on fuel costs?].

Perhaps a re-newed stock system and a pair of 12v seat warmers wired in series to make 24v with a 600 second delay-on-break timer would fit the bill? Seems like less of a health hazard than some of the other options and the total package would not be very expensive.

My $0.02

[Pinz Enthusiast]

I'm in total agreement with Foz, I installed new hoses and wrapped my heat exchanger with header wrap as well as installing a new heater motor with about 400 rpm higer than the stock motor, tests with a A/C tepm gauge went from 90 degrees to over 125 degrees at the defrost nozel after a few miles, I also took it one step farther and insulated the floors under the seats all the way down to the removeable floor boards, and then installed a outdoor rubber backed carpet over the new insualtion and used same carpet to insulate the cab canvas both front and rear, what an improvement, when there is snow on the roof it nolonger rains in the cab.

Like Foz says do the low buck changes first, then if its not enough go all out like I did and get an eberspacher B3LC airtronic heater, I can almost bake bread in the cab now, the heat out put is amazing, but the costs are high, around $1500.00 or so.....

[McCall Pinz]

I decided it was quicker to warm up the passengers with electric blankets instead of trying to heat up the whole truck. My wife wraps in one and the boys each have one in the back. In a few minutes they're toasty. My winter project is to add sound and thermal insulation and improve the ducting like mentioned.

[McCall Pinz]

PS- I haven't used the 24v cab heaters, but am considering those.

[ka]

foz and eric - awesome!!! i had no idea one could get the stock system to work well! that is now the direction i'm heading, given i can find a heat exchanger (the last owner deleted mine). not sure where i can find one or something that will work.

and seat heaters! gr8 idea. i imagine someone makes that but i've never looked.

i thank you very much for your input!

i think i'll need to use a cat heater like mike nims is doing while i work on the stock system.

[Pinz Enthusiast]

Ka,


I also had used a Mr. Heat budy I think it was called, a cat type camping heater worked really good as long as your on the pavement, as they have a tip switch and also a altitude switch, seems it would shut off on me anytime I went over 6000ft, that small unit put out like 8000btu and worked off a 1lb bottle, it has key hole hangers on the back so I installed a couple of screws in the bulkhead above the shelf in the bed, worked good and was easy to reach from drivers seat, just dont throw a jacket over it while it is on, ( truck still smells like burnt fleece).

[chacaocop1]

Guys thanks a lot for the tips. I stumbled this thread and I will implement your suggestions right away. Just one simple question, since my hoses have so many holes I was wondering if I should go aftermarket or original on the hoses. I know swiss army carries them but may be there are some better quality aftermarket ones for sale?

Thanks again.

[drawe]

My wife and I just about had hypothermia om a trip from CO to IA (what a bad Christmas adventure). The 12v side of the pinz died and thus no heat from the aux heater and forget about the stock heater when the air temp is -10 and you are moving at 60mph (no frozen emoticon). So we did two things.

1. Got rockwool and stuffed under front 'blast plates' and then did a 'quick' install of carpet on floor and front bulk head. It looked like a '70s van conversion but it kind of helped.
2. Strapped in a Mr. Buddy propane heater. This kind of works but make sure it can't shift around or it goes out (flip over safety).

Long term remedies: Install proper insulation and 'real' heavy duty carpet (this also reduces noise), Reinstall 12 volt system so it works correctly. I did look at one of those 24volt heaters at a truck stop but it would have been too much to install because of time constraints. It might be a replacement to the Mr. Buddy heater so you don't have to change out propane canisters.

Example of 24 volt direct wire heater:

[img] http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... 912228.gif
[/img]

Here's a link:

more 24 volt stuff


Dave

[Foz]

I used the hose linked below - worked fine but was resistant to tight radius bends and therefore had to wrestle with it to get fitment.

There are other choices on subsequent pages [General Purpose Neoprene-Coated and Silicone-Coated Fiberglass Duct Hose on page 206 looks like a good prospect] - consider heat tolerance, flexibility and abrasion resistance in choosing a hose type.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#5409k24/=xwsdv

If you go with heated seats add a relay so they don't stay on and drain the battery when you turn the truck off... or add a Interval-On or Delay-On-Break switch[with momentary actuator] .


Bottom of the page...

Highly Compressible Silicone-Coated Fiberglass Duct Hose

* Use with air, paint and weld fumes, and smoke

* Temperature Range: -65° to +550° F

* Flexibility: Very flexible

* Abrasion Resistance: Fair

* Compresses 80% of extended length

* Color: Orange

* Material Meets: Not rated

[Jon_Gilbart]

Perhaps there is a lot of variability in the responses people are giving for how well the heater works b/c the systems may not all be the same? My 1982 712M doesn't appear to have the auxilliary eberspacher (spelling?) heater thing at all, so the heat output SUCKS in my Pinz. Do all of you guys have the eberspacher (stock?) heater or is that only on certain models/years?