John,

I've been considering these, for my Diesel vanagon (some models have water
coils in them):
http://www.go2marine.com/product.do?no=20007F

Be nice to find a used one at a good price!

Also, used to know a guy who traveled around in an old Dodge van, who had an
ice fishing type wood stove installed. No hot water, but he could cook on
it.

Gary

Date:    Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:44:11 -0600
> From:    John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
> Subject: Alternative Heaters
>
> 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
>
>