I've read a lot on this list about different kinds of heaters to heat
the inside of our beloved vans - some gas, some diesel, some catalytic
types, some propane fired space heaters, and others. Most of these types
are for the purpose of heat when parked, as the Vanagon cab heaters in
the front and rear do a pretty good job when the engine is running but
not when the vehicle is parked.

Having a combustion heater in the van is a bit of a problem, because of
the need to have an adequate exhaust. so CO and CO2 don't collect
inside. One solution is to have a small air handling unit type heating
system that would simply blow heated air into the van - air heated in a
plenum so it did not have the gases of combustion mixed in it. I saw
such a system once in Alaska, and I don't see why it would ot be
applicable to our vans.

In the Alaska case, it was a school bus converted into a camper. The old
fellow who owned it had plumbed it inside and had the plumbing connected
to a radiator with a fan motor behind it. Hot coolant circulated in the
pipes and flowed through the radiator with the fan attached. Lots of
heat in winter with no combustion fumes. The plumbing from the radiator
eventually stuck out of the bus at a point where there were
quick-disconnects. There the plumbing went to a box sitting on the
ground with a propane burner attached. The burner heated the coolant,
and a circulating pump circulated it back to the radiator core inside
the bus, where the fan blew cooling air across the radiator to heat it.
When this guy got ready to move, he just popped the quick-disconnects,
moved the heater inside, No fluid was lost.

Has anyone ever considered such a system for the Vanagons?

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver