12V THERMOSTATIC NIGHT HEATER

Ok i have bought a 12v night heater from airstream so i will do the blog of the fitting in and testing....
ok it arrived today..parcel soaked in diesel,, ,,,took it to the garage and opened it up the filler cap on the tank had come off and in transit the little bit of diesel in the tank went everywhere,,,,,, so not amused,,,,no instructions so i had to go on the web site and down load a right load of gobbledegook... ...not amused again....  so in the end i phoned the guy up and fair play he talked me through it...anyway got it running its not bad chucks out some good heat but a bit smoky when it shuts down ...ordered the heater hose ducting and the vent as it dosnt come with it thats another £34 and ordered the aluminium box for under the truck that was another 215 quid.... ok when that lot arrives i can put it all together..... 

ok will post some pics tomorrow and a vid......

ok just a few pictures of the unit itself its quite big... .550 long x .250 tall x .250 wide.

just waiting for the box to mount it in to arrive now.... 

Strewth, it's ginormous!

Just in case it all get too much for you, I just looked up at www.airstreamheaters.co.uk and it states, "We now provide a 'Supply & Fitting Service". Here to help.

ok the nice new aluminium belly box came today so i can start to assemble the heater in it and get it all bolted up... ...its a very nice box very well made....you get what you pay for,,,,, 

Bloody hell Tuggy, what are you running? a sauna.

Stick one of these in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brHqBcZqNzE

Well we used the candles floating in water in the camper.  

roamingman wrote:

Well we used the candles floating in water in the camper.   

What, floating in tea surely? They are called "tea lights" after all.  

Hells Teeth Tuggy, That's straight off the drawing board of Frank Whittle!

Peej wrote:

Hells Teeth Tuggy, That's straight off the drawing board of Frank Whittle!

Better Whittel than Brunel in this day and age.
But I was thinking more Flash Gorden  

ok after a short break i have started to fix the belly box that is going to house the night heater i fabricated some brackets and welded them onto the chassis as i wanted some good sturdy mounts so they wouldnt drop off or break off under heavy off road use so all fixed on with 8.8 bolts.. ..there still seems to be plenty of ground clearance . ...so next job is to mount the night heater in the box.....to be continued ......  

Very neat job, waiting for the last post when all up and running, we have a diesel heater in our new motor home, we have a diesel heater in our motor home,  a little bit smaller than yours,   

Two diesel heaters in your new motor home Yoda?   

Blimey Tuggy, that box seems very low - below the spring-hangers in fact. Won't that compromise the ground clearance?

no tom its the same hight as the fuel tank.....

OK managed to finish fitting the night heater today drilled all the holes for the pipework and connected it up....just need to get a new battery and wire it all up might do it this weekend or monday
lets see what the weather says......  

Tom Mc wrote:

Two diesel heaters in your new motor home Yoda?   

Blimey Tuggy, that box seems very low - below the spring-hangers in fact. Won't that compromise the ground clearance?

oops we only have 1 diesel heater in truck, but I do have a spare 1 in the shed, so could have 2 if we want.   

ok got a new battery today and wired up the unit.....    ......did its first test run up in the box and everything went very well it came up to temp very quickly i let it run for about 20-25 mins and nothing caught fire..    .. so thats a good sign. ..had to drill thirty little holes to let air into the inlet i didnt want to put big holes incase muck got in......switched it off and let the cooling cycle run its corse and everything was fine..still have to tidy the wiring up and relocate the switch inside the cab ..and nice and warm inside.....maybe to warm...   

..

Nice installation and congratulations Tuggy, from a diy point of view how easy on a scale of 1 to 10? 10 needing a fully equipped machine shop.

Peej wrote:

Nice installation and congratulations Tuggy, from a diy point of view how easy on a scale of 1 to 10? 10 needing a fully equipped machine shop.

easy if you are handy at DIY [destroy it yourself]    about 3-4 on your scale....  

tuggy wrote:

Peej wrote:

Nice installation and congratulations Tuggy, from a diy point of view how easy on a scale of 1 to 10? 10 needing a fully equipped machine shop.

easy if you are handy at DIY  [destroy it yourself]    about 3-4 on your scale....  

I find it stands for don't involve yourself (DiY) and find most things best left to the experts that way I know I'm keeping someone in gainful employment and so doing my bit for the country as a whole

I concur, a very neat installation. Not for a second did I really think it would compromise the ground clearance (just playing Devil's advocate), you're too long in the tooth to make such a basic mistake. Besides, I know your thoughts on 4x4s ... they're for using, not posing!

Will have to see it in the flesh of course, you were the guinea pig after all, then if all's well I will have to invest in one for the RR ambulance camper. Must stop calling in an ambulance! For the price it has to be the most cost-effective option around?

ok got about 13 inches but i have decided i am going to raise the unit in the box on pads if i lift it up about 2 inches if the bottom of the box hits something it wont rip the exhaust off.....  

Good thinking Batman!   

Boasting again Tuggy, "I've got 13 inches eh"
Seriously it's looking really good top job   

ok had some time on the truck yesterday...I finished putting the new wiring in and rewired the interior lights also had a spare T MAX compressor so bolted that in the belly box and wired that in so i now have onboard air i might fit a small compressor tank in but thats more space i have to find and more weight..    .so might just stick with a long air line...  
i moved the heater switch and mounted it under the seat locker so thats job done and it works very well.

then i built the box around the header tank so thats all safe now..    ...next job is to do the cab insulation keep watching this space...    .