Night Heater location - internal or external??

[hoggle]

Hi all, after spending a couple of chilly nights off grid in the Van. I have decided that I will be fitting the above. The question is about whether it's best to fit underneath or under the drivers seat! Will there be much of a difference noise wise? I am leaning towards fitting it under the drivers seat, cause if i have to access it to service it etc then i don't want to have to get under the Van again. Is it solely a preference, or is there a decent reason to choose where to fit it? Many thanks, hoggle!

 

[Spaghetti]

For me, it’s under the floor. Keeps the noise down, and saves space.

 

[t0mb0]

They are pretty noisy when they first get going, I don’t think you’d want one actually inside the van.

 

[zombie_T6]

Each to their own obviously, but I've been very impressed with my Chinese clone. best part was it only cost £120 with remote to turn it on from up to 50m away. I have mine installed under the drivers seat.

 

[James1000]

Each to their own obviously, but I've been very impressed with my Chinese clone. best part was it only cost £120 with remote to turn it on from up to 50m away. I have mine installed under the drivers seat.

Where was this purchased from?

 

[zombie_T6]

Have a look on eBay, loads of offers on there.

 

[Steve H]

My Eberspacher was faultless for seven years in my T5. Had it mounted outside but under the drivers seat area and the outlet into the van through the rear of the plastic seat base shroud. They sip fuel, run for ever & a day and pump out some serious hot air. From outside they sound like jet turbine when they strike up, but running is nicely acceptable on the volume front. I certainly wouldn't mount it inside, though.

Brilliant bits of kit & worth every penny, especially when you're freezing..!

 

[Nigel W]

Mine is under the drivers seat, yes it’s a bit noisy when first fired up but from then on it just ticks over, certainly quieter than an electric fan heater and it’s never bothered us overnight.

 

[andys]

From my point of view, space under the seats is in high demand for more things than I can fit in, so if it can go outside, it does.

 

[CrickCampers]

I also fitted my Eberspacher under the floor, taking a total of 11 hours........... And, we had full garage workshop facilities, Hydraulic Ramps & tools etc!
However, this was a first for me and my mechanic, and if we ever did another, we think we could shorten that to 4 hours.
It is worth every penny though, for heat & low noise, and the controller/timer is tiny too total; cost was £802.00 for the gubbins , & £200 labour
and I can get my jack tools under the drivers seat, along with the outlet, and the electrics, that I had previously had fitted by Xtreme.

 

[zombie_T6]

My clone is almost silent when running. You do get the same loud start up noise but from tick over onwards it’s very quiet.

 

[Stay Frosty]

Novice question here but reading through the Webasto info we got with our conversion (after using it) it says to run the heater with a window open, do other users do this as I have to confess we've used this a couple of times for about an hour each time with all windows shut and apart from feeling a bit queasy....

No, seriously, were we a bit lucky just relying on the vans carbon monoxide detector working or as the heater is mounted externally under the drivers seat floor outside of the van are Webasto simply covering all bases?

Thinking here if I left the drivers window cracked a little then the heater exhaust fumes could actually waft in there so that would be a bit silly?

 

[andys]

Novice question here but reading through the Webasto info we got with our conversion (after using it) it says to run the heater with a window open, do other users do this as I have to confess we've used this a couple of times for about an hour each time with all windows shut and apart from feeling a bit queasy....

No, seriously, were we a bit lucky just relying on the vans carbon monoxide detector working or as the heater is mounted externally under the drivers seat floor outside of the van are Webasto simply covering all bases?

Thinking here if I left the drivers window cracked a little then the heater exhaust fumes could actually waft in there so that would be a bit silly?

I'd agree with you, in fact I remember an Autosleeper conversion I had before that had microswitches on the windows that would kill the heater if they were opened!

 

[oldiebut goodie]

If it is installed correctly the exhaust outlet should be sited away from the sliders ( in case of an awning being used) and not beneath an opening window or intake for fridge etc. The VW solution of venting the factory fit in the middle of the underside is not how I would normally advise if any holes have been created in the floor pan during conversion work as VW seem to rely on the integrity of the floor pan.
The exhaust should be pointed downward and outward at the sill ideally. Some conversion companies do not seem to give the matter much thought. My conversion company completely messed up the position for my fuel pump ( I only asked them to fit the pump only as they had the ramp to drop the tank but they got this one thing wrong!)

 

[hoggle]

Thanks for the many replies. I was thinking about going down the clone route, but have decided that after spending nearly 30k on the Van, and a lot more since. I couldn't put my trust in a cheap Chinese copy. Therefore, it is either a Eber or Webasto. And looking through the above posts, it seems to be more of a preference to where the Heater is sited. Than opposed to manufacturers recommendations... Hmm, still undecided!!

 

[oldiebut goodie]

These vans don't have an excess of spare space inside so I would advise mounting externally if at all possible. A 2Kw Webasto doesn't take up much room but with space at a premium it is well worth the hassle of having to get underneath to remove it for servicing. Underneath mounting also gives you more flexibility on positioning the hot air outlet especially if your internal layout means that you cannot use the oem vents in the B-pillar.

 

[hoggle]

This is under my Drivers seat, i left room for either the Heater or the Supply and Extract duct work. I don't fancy cutting away the Drivers door step or B pillar for the Duct work.

 

[HootingOwl]

Put it under the van as VW intended. Dead easy to take it out for maintenance and keeps underseat space free for your electrics. Got my charger, 240v consumer unit, 240v outlet and 12 way fuse box under the drivers seat. Eber breathes in from front step and outputs just before the rear wheelarch. Controls mounted in cab overhead console

 

[hoggle]

It was mainly the noise and the removal for maintenance that i was wondering about. But it seems apparent that it's best fitted underneath. And thanks Guys!!

 

[Jay17cali]

I also have a question for a bit of advice please would you go webasto or erb??
I want it fitted to come through the factory California vents in the door pillar as in the Cali I had .
This can be done and fitted looking like factory .. but the company I’m choosing only fit webastos???
Any thoughts please .is one better than the other??? Don’t actually know what powered the interior heater on the California as it had both erb and webasto stickers on the door .