Propex heater.

[PaulH]

Just fitted a Propex 2000 gas blown air heater to our Vegas, well worth doing as it's so much quieter and more efficient than the original furnace. It means that, on a cold night, I can leave it on all night when were not hooked up. I still have the original which we found very loud and, if left on all night without hook up, would drain the batteries and use a fair bit of LPG. Obviously, it's not as powerful a the standard furnace, but it can be left on when out so interior is warm on our return.

[16ACE27]

6500 BTU Vs 30,000 BTU; just slightly more heat than a 1500 Watt (5100 BTU) space heater but of course you can't plug in a space heater when boondocking.

[Bob Denman]

Glad to know that it's working well for you.

[gnach]

Paul, would you post some photos and details of the install. We're in agreement about the OEM POS and I'm looking for options. Thx

[Lt Keefer]

A lot of van dwellers use those kind of heaters and most have no problems.

[PaulH]

Originally Posted by gnach

Paul, would you post some photos and details of the install. We're in agreement about the OEM POS and I'm looking for options. Thx

I'll try and get a pic or 2 later, it was a tight fit, but we managed to install it under the sofa, next to the water pump. The vent duct goes thru the lower cupboard in the shower room and exits to the right of the shower room door.
We put the thermostat/control on the wall to the left of the sofa at about chest height to the right of the mirror.
As I said, it's not as powerful as the original and if its really cold I'll start off with the OEM heater and then use the Propex to maintain the warmth. One thing's for sure it will be much better when off hookup for weekends at festivals and meets that we attend and I can leave it on when we're sleeping.

[azadv]

I hear ya on the obnoxious OEM furnace. I recently bought an Olympian Wave-6 to install but haven't gotten around to running a propane line for it yet. I'm OK with the small venting required, but the Propex does look like a good option in that regard.

[PaulH]

Its been a few days now and I've been out a few times to test the heater in the evennings. The outside temp has been about 0 to 2 deg and I'm pretty impressed, to be honest. Admittedly, it takes a while to raise the temp from cold, but if I turn on the OEM furnace for 10 minutes and then turn the OEM off, the Propex maintains the warmth very well. Also, leaving it running and going indoors for a couple of hours, it's very pleasant and warm to get into the RV after walking the 100 yards or so to it. I can see it doing what I want perfectly, ie, letting us sleep in a warm RV without using up our power overnight as well as not being so loud, as it cycles on and off, that it wakes us. Also, I'd be happy to leave it on whilst we go to see some bands or sit in some of the great pubs (live music one's) that we have within a few hours drive.
As I said, it was a tight fit under the sofa as in the pic. Cheers.

[PaulH]

Heres couple of pics.

[ducksface]

https://www.amazon.com/Happybuy-Moto...+diesel&sr=8-2

This is what I'm settling on.
I think the fuel tank will fit exactly behind the generator access door in the gap at the front.
It uses so little fuel, will heat the basement on its way to heating the bedroom.
I don't mind pumping fuel to that tank while I'm at a fuel pump anyway.
I'm thinking a stand alone battery would be what I use. Charged through the 7 pin plug and properly dioded.
It will be absolutely free standing with no parasitic or actual MotorHome values.

This is what I'm thinking of.
I haven't ordered it yet. One will live in our greenhouse for a while to evaluate noise vs fumes vs fuel usage vs outputs.
(lots of YouTube videos produced by anmeter/watts/fuel nerds)

My mod box is half full. 8 or so mods need done before this one.

Newer units have water jackets in them for heating water also.

Just a bit of a sideways alternative to the propane use.
A way to remove the battery and propane from the equation, entirely.

[PaulH]

I looked into one of those prior to getting the Propex, they're much cheaper and look like they'd do what the Propex does pretty much. The problem for me was that dealing with diesel is usually a messy affair, if it spills it stinks for days and and we already have gasoline and LPG (the RV is converted to run on lpg) and I didn't really want to deal with another fuel. Keeping the a diesel outside the RV is a really good idea, not sure how feasable it'd be on a Vegas tho ' theres not a lot of room. Keep us posted, love to know how it works out.

[ducksface]

You're running lpg, you made exactly the correct choice with the unit you bought.
Diesel sucks, there's no doubt, and diesel users are pigs if you use the way they leave a pump handle as an example.

[powerboatr]

Originally Posted by ducksface

https://www.amazon.com/Happybuy-Moto...+diesel&sr=8-2

This is what I'm settling on.
I think the fuel tank will fit exactly behind the generator access door in the gap at the front.
It uses so little fuel, will heat the basement on its way to heating the bedroom.
I don't mind pumping fuel to that tank while I'm at a fuel pump anyway.
I'm thinking a stand alone battery would be what I use. Charged through the 7 pin plug and properly dioded.
It will be absolutely free standing with no parasitic or actual MotorHome values.

This is what I'm thinking of.
I haven't ordered it yet. One will live in our greenhouse for a while to evaluate noise vs fumes vs fuel usage vs outputs.
(lots of YouTube videos produced by anmeter/watts/fuel nerds)

My mod box is half full. 8 or so mods need done before this one.

Newer units have water jackets in them for heating water also.

Just a bit of a sideways alternative to the propane use.
A way to remove the battery and propane from the equation, entirely.

interesting, and we already have a 100 gallon diesel tank

i have lots of room in basement and could route hot air hoses up through the heat vent in basement and in turn would heat the inside of the bus.

[ducksface]

Originally Posted by powerboatr

interesting, and we already have a 100 gallon diesel tank

i have lots of room in basement and could route hot air hoses up through the heat vent in basement and in turn would heat the inside of the bus.

For 160 bucks you can't go wrong.
I'd have two of them installed by now if I were diesel powered.
Look a bit in Amazon and you'll find they have 'suitcase' units that just sit somewhere and run. Complete, contained, portable. Not much more money.

I'm considering one for my gas gator instead of splicing into the coolant lines for a conventional heater.

AND
For a dive into obscurity:
There are gasoline models also. They were optional equipment on many year of air cooled Volkswagen.
They are probably listed on ebay under 'vw bug heater' or something like that.
They don't have a glow plug they use a sparkplug so there's some noise(it's been eons since I've seen or thought of one. I might be wrong on the sparkplug. I'm sure heat output is very very low btu)

[powerboatr]

pretty cool, i was already scouting places in the basement .
i think doing mods is a sickness

[PaulH]

Originally Posted by ducksface

You're running lpg, you made exactly the correct choice with the unit you bought.
Diesel sucks, there's no doubt, and diesel users are pigs if you use the way they leave a pump handle as an example.

Yes mate, we've had 4 RV's and we've had all of them converted to run on LPG, with gas prices here at £1.25'ish per litre and LPG at £0.65'ish per liter, it has to be done. Yes guys, £1.25 per liter for gasoline, about £6.00 per gallon or $8.50 'ish....think on that next time you guys gripe about gas prices your side of the pond....����
Cost to convert last year for my '16 Vegas using a v10 ecu and twin tanks was £2000, I get a range on LPG of about 230 miles, and if we run out then we switch over to gasoline. So, with that cost, you have to do the miles to make it worth it, it also makes an RV much easier to sell come change time.
With regard to diesel, it's not so bad, my daily is a 7 series BMW diesel getting about 35 mpg average and we also run a small truck and the wife's car is also diesel. I do have a RAM 2500 Hemi as a toy and it's also on LPG of coarse ����