Boy, do I wish I was this handy!

Sounds great.

Make me one.

Mike

On 11/16/04 3:44 PM, "Doug in Calif" <vanagon@ASTOUND.NET> wrote:

> Well Volks,
> Especially those of you who are doing the winter camping thing and are dealing
> with the COLD.
> Here is a heating idea that I have put together for my bus, that I would like
> to share with the group, especially those of you who typically think out of
> the box and design your own solutions. This is one of the greatest values of
> the list in my opinion. I am constantly getting fantastic ideas from the
> group.
> I have finally completed another one of my Syncro GL to westy conversion
> projects.
> The completely "HOME GROWN Primus Lantern mantle fresh air heater". "Ta-da!"
>
> Some of you will surely say I have too much time on my hands which I wish was
> the case. Rather, I really really enjoy and get a great deal of accomplishment
> from projects like these.
> I think it is a shame there are not more "fresh air" heating options for the
> vanagon.
> I wanted a heater that would completely vent intake and exhaust air to the
> outside of the van and would have zero emissions and oxygen depletion inside
> the van.
> I wanted a heater I could sleep right next to with absolutely zero worry that
> I may wake up "dead" from depleted oxygen or build up of carbon monoxide.
> I have looked at pretty much everything out there and the Propex is the one I
> really like but its not cheap and I could not install it where I installed
> this one in the side body cavity.
> I have done some initial tests now with my completed project and I feel I
> achieved what I wanted.
>
> By using two Primus lantern mantles re-jetted for the low 1 psi pressure of
> the regulated westy tank I am able to generate a decent amount of heat for the
> rear sleeping area of my syncro.  I started with a basic ten dollar electrical
> box from my local yard birds, seal welded in eight 3/4 inch metal tubes to act
> as a fresh air heat exchanger.
> I used two hot water heater copper flex lines to vent intake and exhaust air
> to the side air duct at the rear of the van. I am using a thermocouple from a
> parted out westy fridge to shut off the propane in the event the mantles
> should go out. Wood stove ceramic glass for a window in the face, wood stove
> door seal rope for the seal of the face. I made a hinged cover to hide the
> light from the lamps. 4 inch 107 cfm 12vt box fan draws 1/2 an amp for the
> main blower, 10ohmm resistor to gives the fan 2 speeds, a thermal 160 degree
> snap switch mounted on the top of the heater box cycles the blower fan on and
> off.  Webber bbq Pizo ignighter lights the first mantle and once lit, the 2nd
> mantle will light from it.  I found out the hard way that the unit would not
> "draft" as it did on the bench test, once I had installed it in the van, the
> box filled up with propane to the level of the pizo before igniting, my heart
> is still recovering from that event. I ended up installing a small 1inch CPU
> fan to the far end of the exhaust run which I ran all the way to the top of
> the air intake behind the plastic louver intake. You can just barely sense a
> slight temp change of air at the outlet. Which means that most of the heat
> from the mantles is being extracted by the heater. Installing the combustion
> fan on the exhaust side and drawing a "vacuum" on the heater box is the best
> way to install a combustion blower because any leakage will draw air into the
> box and exhaust it. If you install the combustion blower on the intake and
> create a pressure to push the air, any leaks will come into the van. I believe
> I have a good seal as with the blower off the mantles use up all the air
> quickly and go out.
>
> I used bubble foil behind the heater and around the heater to create a proper
> air duct for the blower fan to push the air through the heater. I used
> fiberglass header wrap on the back of the heater box itself as it gets pretty
> warm, also a small section of the body metal behind the heater where its a bit
> close. My testing running the heater for long periods show only a small
> warming of a few degrees of the body metal when you feel it from the outside,
> hardly even noticeable by feel.
>
> The amount of heat is not huge, I do not think you could heat the whole van
> effectively unless you had really good insulation and ran the heater for a
> long time. It does heat up the back sleeping area pretty well and it uses a
> very small amount of battery and propane. I am thinking of a drape at the end
> of the bed to trap some of the heat and perhaps a small length of the new
> aluminum coated 3 inch dryer vent hose to route the heat under the covers in
> severe cold .   With both mantles going on high the blower fan will cycle on
> and off running for a few minutes to cool down the heater then off for a few
> minutes as it heats back up.
>
> I have the corvair gas heater that I will be installing next that is a bit of
> a heat monster. It draws a hefty 7.5 amps and blows out significant heat to
> heat the whole van in several minutes. I am going to try to incorporate a hot
> water coil to its exhaust for heating water in the tank.
>
> My thinking is use the gas heater for major heating and this propane unit for
> low draw during the night.
>
> I have the GL back seat and access to the drivers side body cavity for this,
> the westy has the closet there. I believe I could design this to work as a
> free standing unit that could sit on top of the closed stove sink lid and
> route the intake and exhaust to the side slider window for fresh air heat. You
> would need to splice into the propane line behind the fridge and hook it up
> after cooking etc but I think I could make a nice unit that would work well
> and throw light to boot.
>
> What is once only a thought and notion in your head can become a reality.
>
> Pics:
>
>
> http://users.ca.astound.net/dougfayne/lanternheaterwideshot.JPG
>
> http://users.ca.astound.net/dougfayne/Lanternheatercloseup.JPG
>
> http://users.ca.astound.net/dougfayne/lanternheaterxposed.JPG
>
> http://users.ca.astound.net/dougfayne/lanternheaterplumbing.JPG
>
> http://users.ca.astound.net/dougfayne/nightimelight.JPG
>
> http://users.ca.astound.net/dougfayne/exhaustvent.JPG
>
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Doug
>
> 87 syncro conversion
> 89 wolfy
>
>