Diesel heaters.Yes or no?

[Camper634]

With LPG seemingly becoming harder to find,I wondered what experiences forum members have had with diesel heaters.All in one seem to be quite popular at the moment,but i am not sure if they are the answer.Any experiences or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MisterB]

it all depends on budget and ability to self install. lots of people have the 'chinese' diesel heaters, others have much more expensive, often fitted at production, models.

lots of youtube videos of installs and 'tear downs'. David McLukie is one in particualr that is worth checking out in terms of tear downs

i installed a 'chinese' diesel heater at home, to boost my heating in the conservatory/kitchen/diner when the temp really drops and it has been brilliant the last two winters in terms of relaibility and control. i would def install another if this one ever fails.

 

[scotjimland]

My PVC came with one fitted .. it is excellent. and if speccing a new van would have one fitted

Also have 12v Compressor fridge so LPG consumption is very low.. a fridge uses more LPG than many think...

a 6kg bottle of Calor has lasted us two years .. and still not empty

 

[dunnah01]

I DIY installed a Chinese one for under a £100 a couple of years ago. Works really well but only heats the area of the van you install it in so can leave cold areas away from there. It's needed a couple of temperature probes (less than a fiver) replaced but a fairly easy DIY job if you have access.
Too noisy on startup for use in aires

 

[stewartwebr]

When I bought my current van Morelo for some unknown reason fitted a diesel heater. I had not added it to the list of options and thought it a complete waste of money (€3000) However, I would not be without it now. It operates via the cab heating system. You turn on the diesel heater and it sounds like a jet engine starting. A few minutes later the heating system in the cab kicks in and you control the heating from the normal cab controls directing air where you want it. Great in the morning when waiting for the Alde to heat up or great for getting the front screen dried and clear in cold mornings. It is certainly on my must have list now.

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[poppycamper]

My PVC came with one fitted .. it is excellent. and if speccing a new van would have one fitted

Also have 12v Compressor fridge so LPG consumption is very low.. a fridge uses more LPG than many think...

a 6kg bottle of Calor has lasted us two years .. and still not empty

Disagree with your fridge gas usage statement..
Our large Dometic RMD8555 uses 380g/24 hrs..
So a 6kg bottle will keep fridge alone going for 17days...IMO reasonable usage..

 

[Richard n Ann]

Disagree with your fridge gas usage statement..
Our large Dometic RMD8555 uses 380g/24 hrs..
So a 6kg bottle will keep fridge alone going for 17days...IMO reasonable usage..

I disagree the fridge uses gas continuously so although it doesn't guzzle it like the heating or boiler, it certainly gets through it. We used to have to refill our 6kg gaslow bottles mid holiday (lasted 4 weeks) but since the compressor fridge I haven't filled up since 2021. AND I'm still on the first bottle

 

[poppycamper]

What sort of modern fridge uses gas continually?
They are designed to cycle on and off
We regularly when sitting outside hear
the fridge igniters relighting fridge..

 

[dunnah01]

Disagree with your fridge gas usage statement..
Our large Dometic RMD8555 uses 380g/24 hrs..
So a 6kg bottle will keep fridge alone going for 17days...IMO reasonable usage..

Yeah - it only uses the equivalent of 50x more gas than the compressor fridge

 

[Steve and Denise]

We have a diesel heater (self fitted) brilliant a bottle of gas lasts 4 weeks now fridge hot water and a bit of cooking plus we have a lot of solar

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[AdrianChen]

I would definitely have opted for diesel if it had been available when we got our van - have had both hot air based and coolant based in the past and as long as the install includes the correct silencers and the exhaust is positioned with care, I cant see any downside. The bigger the van, the more I would err towards a water based system, simply because after a long run of ducting the furthest outlets on an air system may have a pretty low output. On our last water based jobby we had matrix/radiators with fans like in a car, but whilst they did the job it was not as quiet as using the passive type - will be very tempted to change when Alde launch their rumoured system .

 

[poppycamper]

Yeah - it only uses the equivalent of 50x more gas than the compressor fridge

It is not in doubt...actually obviously more than 50x as compressor fridge don't use ANY gas..
My comment was directed at scotjimland statement "fridges use more gas than people think" ! And I was simply pointing out that 17days on a 6kg bottle is very reasonable gas usage...... For an absorption fridge...IMO...

 

[haganap]

I disagree the fridge uses gas continuously so although it doesn't guzzle it like the heating or boiler, it certainly gets through it.

It doesn't. Not how it works at all. As stated, it cycles on and off as and when the temps change.

 

[Richard n Ann]

We regularly when sitting outside hear
the fridge igniters relighting fridge..

I rest my case

 

[Lenny HB]

Disagree with your fridge gas usage statement..
Our large Dometic RMD8555 uses 380g/24 hrs..
So a 6kg bottle will keep fridge alone going for 17days...IMO reasonable usage..

Don't believe everything Domectec says, one manual they say 380g another one 480g but even that is optomistic.
We have a 8505 which is smaller than a 8555 and it uses 1 Lt (500g) a day.

I disagree the fridge uses gas continuously

They did 30 years ago, now days the gas solinoid and ignition are electronic controlled and switch on and off as needed.

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[haganap]

I rest my case

weird, it goes against exactly what you say.

continuous adjective (NOT STOPPING)​

without a pause or interruption:


also remember the trade off.

In winter, in cold temps it will use less, but you will use your heating more.
In Summer the reverse.


Anyhow, cant stop, Heading off in the van skiing to Italy in an hour, gotta get the van weighed

 

[CRD]

My PVC came with one fitted .. it is excellent. and if speccing a new van would have one fitted

Also have 12v Compressor fridge so LPG consumption is very low.. a fridge uses more LPG than many think...

a 6kg bottle of Calor has lasted us two years .. and still not empty

This is our experience in our PVC, apart from I foolishly had installed two 6kg gaslow bottles, and after three years, we’ve only used half of one of them (and we use the van a lot). They only power the two ring hob and nothing else.

The Truma 6DE is very good.

Even on EHU, we sometimes use the diesel to heat the van in cold weather as it heats up far faster than when using 240V.

 

[tinkertaylor]

What's not to like, the noise lasts for about 5 minutes then calms down, no louder than starting the vans engine so not sure how anyone could get to upset by it.

Instant heat and mines fed from the vans fuel tank, use a remote control from the bed to turn it on in the morning.

They are ideal for self dependent vans, if your on ehu all the time then don't bother. If you have a compressor fridge, solar , lithium, b2b then they are a worthy addition.

 

[Richard n Ann]

It's pedantic saying the fridge doesn't use gas continuously. Even the manufacturer quotes KG per hour use. Ours was about 250g per hour.

OK then, it's switched on continuously and gas usage is very likely per hour

 

[Raul]

I DIY installed a Chinese one for under a £100 a couple of years ago. Works really well but only heats the area of the van you install it in so can leave cold areas away from there. It's needed a couple of temperature probes (less than a fiver) replaced but a fairly easy DIY job if you have access.
Too noisy on startup for use in aires

Why to noisy? According to who? We use ours in Aires, campsites, park ups etc.

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[dunnah01]

Why to noisy? According to who? We use ours in Aires, campsites, park ups etc.

We've had a couple of stops where people have fired up the diesel heater early morning and they were annoying so we don't Fire ours up

 

[Geistguy]

Seriously considering getting one fitted to our 2019 Ducato. Has anyone had one fitted under the passenger seat ? It seems a good location to tap into the vehicle tank.

 

[Raul]

We've had a couple of stops where people have fired up the diesel heater early morning and they were annoying so we don't Fire ours up

Seriously, my comfort is more important, if anyone can’t bear the start up of a diesel heater, they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their problem. I will have no quibbles starting up the heating. Never seen any rules forbidding this anywhere.

 

[BillandHelen]

We swapped our gas Truma combo for a D6E combi and have found it to be great, we have been away for the past few nights, temp down to zero, van toasty hot and heating relatively quiet, much the same as on gas.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Ours was about 250g per hour.

Sorry 250g per day

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[Lenny HB]

Diesel heaters are fine if they are installed properly but I always get the crap ones parked next to me that even applies to brand new vans with factory fitted ones. Had a new Westfalia parked next to me in Germany last year, he had his poxy noisy heater running all night, it wasn't even cold.

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

We have our diesel heater underneath the nearside passenger seat and the leisure batteries under the central passenger seat in our sprinter works very well.

 

[Pausim]

Sometimes people argue that refillable lpg is cheaper than diesel because they just look at the price per litre. However there is very little in it. I recently posted the following on another thread.
“ It is getting close to break even. Bear in mind that diesel has 10kWh of energy per litre but propane has only 7kWh per litre. With diesel costing £1.50/l the heating value woks out as 15p/kWh. At Morrisons’ £0.99p/l for lpg the heating value works out at 14p/kWh. If you pay anything more than £1.05p/l for lpg diesel works out cheaper.”

My new van has been ordered with a Truma Combi diesel boiler.

 

[Lenny HB]

Sometimes people argue that refillable lpg is cheaper than diesel because they just look at the price per litre. However there is very little in it. I recently posted the following on another thread.
“ It is getting close to break even. Bear in mind that diesel has 10kWh of energy per litre but propane has only 7kWh per litre. With diesel costing £1.50/l the heating value woks out as 15p/kWh. At Morrisons’ £0.99p/l for lpg the heating value works out at 14p/kWh. If you pay anything more than £1.05p/l for lpg diesel works out cheaper.”

My new van has been ordered with a Truma Combi diesel boiler.

Surely it will depend on the efficiency of the heater you are using without taking that into the equation and comparing different units it doesn't mean a lot.

 

[Littlewheels]

There is no doubt that Alde is the best for heating 52/7, l didn’t have that option with my current MH so we have the Truma D6 Diesel only, it’s very good quick in providing heat on the button if needed and reasonably efficient in terms of fuel usage.

Same with the Fridge no choice other than a Compressor one and it again is good and efficient ,we have plenty of power having Lithium but ever careful l switch it off on a night so no noise and no power usage and it’s always as cold as normal when switched back on in the morning.