I had a 68 Bus into which I installed a Suburban propane fired heater.

It sat on the floor right behind the driver seat, with the omni-port
right out the side. The port was the type that suplies the air for
combustion and is also the exhaust outlet. It was a "Free Air" type that
allowed you to operate the heater while driving. The unit had electronic
ignition. I found the electronic ignition to be important because when I
would hit a bump the fire would go out, but immediately the electronic
ignition would relight it. I mounted the thermostat on the door post by
the driver seat, just about ear level. the worked good. The thermostat
had a off switch so I could turn the system completely off if I wanted
to. It required a deep cycle battery if I wanted to be overnight
anywhere and was good for about 3 days of continous running on the
propane tank. Also good for about 3 days on the deep cycle battery. The
second battery was tied in through a splitter that would charge when the
engine was running, then would cut out whent the battery was fully
charged. I would run the engine twice a day when really cold to keep the
battery up.

Really enjoyed having that heater. Had ports on it and I had one pointed
forward and one rearward. Really worked good in cold weather. A half
hour before going home from work I could go outside, turn it on and set
the thermostat. It would light off and have the snow melted off by the
time I got off work. I lived in Anchorage, AK at the time, and later
down on the Kenai Peninsula. It was a good heater for the Alaska cold.

It was a great heater, and if I ever go back north again I may get
another. You do sacrifice some floor space for it. but you don't lose
that much. One could easily put a storage bin over it and get good use
of that space behind the seat.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Andrew Fox wrote:
> Winter camping is my absolute favorite thing about the vanagon.  I love
> the outdoors in winter and camp around 30 days each winter in my van.  I
> use a plat cat heater which i like but could use more btu's for those
> really cold nights.  You can do it without a heater but you'll end up
> camping out much more if you have a heater.  Unfortunately a safe heater
> is not cheap.  Here is a list of options for vanagon heaters I have
> compiled.  Feel free to ask me additional questions.  If i could do it
> again I would install a Suburban heater.  Ive only seen one installed in a
> vanagon.  You could probably get one off a wrecked rv really cheap
>
> heater:         cost:           advantage:              disadvantage
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> platcat         $450            safe, efficent          only 5200 btu
>                                 low propane/elec        insullation needed
>                                 draw
>
> gasoline        $500used        convienent, uses        price, hard to
>                 $1200plus new   gastank for fuel        find parts, elec
>                                                         draw requires second
>                                                         bat
>
> carverp4        $500 NOS        just the right          not made anymore,
>                                 size for vanagon        hard to find.
>
> Suburban/       $500-$700new    parts/service avail     elect draw reqires
> modern RV                       plenty of btu's         second battery.
> Forced air                                              some model take up
> propane                                                 lots of space.
>
>
>
>>Anybody have any general tips for camping in the van during the winter?  I
>>plan on doing a few high elevation camps this winter in the Sierras for ski
>>season (probably three days max) and was wondering if people had
>>stories/lessons they might want to share about Vans and snow?
>>
>>Thanks.
>>
>>-eric
>>
>>
>>--
>>Eric Spletzer
>>Webmaster
>>SeniorNet
>>121 2nd Street, 7th Floor
>>San Francisco, CA, 94105
>>
>>"I'm convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% the way I react
>>to it." -- Charles Swindoll
>>
>
>