Imagine my surprise....
...when I discovered a Webasto Top Evo lurking under my T6 that I previously had no idea was there (the Webasto, I mean, not the van)! This was despite having done loads of work on the van since I bought it a year ago. There's no dash-mounted controller, remote, or sticker on the door frame to give it away.
This has implications for my camper conversion plans, which include installing a Truma D4E (diesel/ electric) air/ water heater inside the van (already bought) and I'd really appreciate any comments/ responses to my questions, please.
A bit of background: It's a LWB high roof and the first owner was seriously disabled (first job I had to do was remove the wheelchair lift). I guess he specified the Webasto to ensure he'd be warm enough on cold mornings. I also discovered, when I stripped out the plastic panels in the rear, that there's a second heater at the back, with coolant pipes linking to it, but no aircon pipes that I can see.
I was all prepared to drop the tank to install the Truma's diesel pipe (I'd even obtained the new sender seal and tank mounting bolts), but now realise I might be able to plumb directly into the Webasto's diesel pipe, which ought to be a lot easier (a couple of contributors to this forum say it's OK to do this).
So, my questions:
1. I take it that using the same diesel pipe for both Truma and Webasto wouldn't present any technical problems? Insufficient fuel flow to run both, for instance? (Not that I can see this arising.)
2. Both systems appear to use pipes and hoses of roughly the same diameter, despite what I thought was implied in another forum thread. Anyone know if this is the case, and whether they need to be of a certain spec? As far as I can see, all I need is a simple 'T', some hose clamps and, maybe, an in-line filter.
3. I'd like to remove the bulky rear-mounted heater, which the Truma will make redundant, but to keep the Webasto in case I want to upgrade it for use as an engine pre-heater (the engine takes an eternity to warm up in cold weather). So, I need to isolate the coolant pipework that I want to retain (that links the Webasto to the front heater matrix) from the two pipes that currently carry coolant to the rear heater. Anyone know how best to achieve this? Are there standard/ non-branching pipes I can substitute for the existing ones, or should I simply sever the pipes and terminate them with stop ends/ plugs of some kind? I take it the Webasto will work OK, albeit a lot slower, with the front heater matrix only?
4. Can I just confirm that the Webasto, as normally set up, simply heats the cabin, and that it does this automatically, with no controller of any kind? Just seems a bit odd that you can't even switch it on/off, and that engine coolant isn't also heated.
5. Anything obvious I've overlooked?
Many thanks for taking the time to read this rather long posting! Photo of van in recently acquired L31 Dove Blue livery (available on VW vans 1950-67) attached, for interest.
