Nice van! Very Reimo!
Webasto heaters are meant to be the best so you’ve hopefully lucked out. They are also a global company with a great website so you ought to be able to find the manual and other material there.
A few years ago I was looking to put a diesel heater in my van and opted for Autoterm instead. Webasto and Eberspächer are top tier. Autoterm are just about as good in my opinion and my heater has been running happily for a few years. Autoterm used to be Russian-made (they know about the cold in northern Russia) but are now in Latvia. All three have great online resources and there’s also a huge amount of YT channels and videos dedicated to installing, using and servicing / maintaining.
It’s likely yours isn’t the latest model, which I think is probably better for simple installations. The latest ones have all sorts of electronics and additional features. These might be handy for yachts and big, linked-installations, but I don’t think they are necessary for simple fit outs.
There are many, many much cheaper models sold on eBay, Amazon etc but these can offer a lot of false economy. The heater units are often quite similar but the fuel metering pump, fan, fuel hoses and electronics are generally inferior on these cheaper version. These are generally the most critical components that determine how well and how long these last.
Another thing to consider is how big the heater is? They work best and tend to need least servicing for carbonisation when used towards their max output. Minimum output is something like a quarter of their maximum (give or take) and if the heater is too big then they spend most of their time slumbering at minimal output and can quickly gum up. It’s much better to have a considerably smaller unit that is running towards its max output. A 2kW unit is probably fine for your van. If you were to put a 2kW electric fan heater inside your van I’m sure it’d be very toasty. Many people have over-sized their heaters without doing a simple drive-way test. One thing to consider and not overlook is that a lot of heat goes down the exhaust pipe on a diesel heater. This heat is generally lost on small setups. On bigger or combined installations there are better waste heat recovery system to exchange the heat into hot water etc but on a simple air heater this is waste. It needs to be accounted for in lowered efficiency but also the heat itself and where it’s ducted. Is there anything it can get close to, such as wiring or combustibles?
Final point here is that these heaters push quite a bit of air by volume. They need to have good air intake for combustion and ability to exhaust this to outside. The air to be heated can be from inside your shed / vehicle etc. You don’t need to duct the air to be warmed from outside so they can warm your already warmed air, but the intake for combustion (ideally) and waste exhaust (essential) need to be separated. Hope that makes sense. For a van installation I would NOT take the combustion intake from inside the van. This would vent quite a lot of air through the heater to outside with minimal and limited return so the heater fan would need to work much harder with increased chance of blow back and fan failure. Also, fit, check and renew your carbon monoxide monitor / alarm.
The manual should describe how to tap into your van’s main fuel tank or how to site a separate one.
If in doubt take the unit out and service it or get it serviced elsewhere. Many log hours and they should be serviced about annually. Also go through the installation manual and look for any deficiencies. If you find any then improve them.
Then enjoy!!
Btw, you might like to see the fairly long post I made at the top of my Show Us Yours section. It has links to various resources that you might find useful.
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Sun Oct 29, 2023 12:13 am
