Diesel fired heaters for trucks

Anybody know of a good source for used take-off heaters? The new ones are very expensive.

I'm talking about the hot-air and the hot-water units. They tie into the exisiting diesel tank and will heat a passenger area, truck sleeper cab, boat bunks, or heat the engine block for cold-starting. I know the Canadian military used them years ago, and I now see Ford offers them as an option in new pickup trucks.

I also see that that are getting popular in sleeper-cabs in big-rigs so somebody can have heat all night without the engine idling.

Espar is one company. Webasto another. They make in gasoline or diesel versions. The gasoline heaters used to be common in air-cooled Volksagen cars.

I have a small diesel 4WD motor home and I'm looking for a small diesel fired heater to tie into the 40 gallon diesel tank it already has. I'm also cheap and will not spend $2500 for a new heater.

I don't have any experience with one, but wouldn't one of those propane fired "Mr. Heaters" be a better option?

I got the one I have off a school bus. They use them here when the buses are sitting overnight to keep the cabin warm without idling. It had entirely to many safety devices on it but a little modification and it works great! Might be at least a place to start.

Are you talking about something like a diesel fired burner per say? The ones on semis I believe have a motor on them that runs all the hvac components. Have you ever seen a walmart semi. They have what one man would describe as an idle box. Not sure what they are exactly.

No. I don't want to have to carry another fuel tank. I was going to bring a propane tank, I'd just install a propane RV furnace.

Good idea. I had forgotten about some busses using them.

My old 69 White Freightliner had a "Hot Box" on it. Ran off of gasoline from a small tank mounted inside the frame. It warmed the coolant up to 110 degrees but I only used it to heat up the Cummins before I hit the started on cold days. Back in those days I just set the idle up to 1,000 rpm when in the bunk. Can't imagine what they've come up with these days.

Yes, Volkswagen cars with air-cooled engines had the same. It was the only good way to get heat in the winter.

Try somewhere that parts out trucks perhaps? I've run across a few of them. Good luck, Sam

Hello jdemaris,
I have a contact that has them on over the road trucks.He buys them and installs them on the new truck.Takes them off when he sells the trucks. don't know what he gets for them.
They are heater A/C combo, and well kept.
I can ask, if you want, and see what he has available and what he wants for one.They are made to fit the class 8 truck frames.

Guido.

The Chevy Corvairs were air cooled and had gas fired heaters, too. Might be something to look in to.

Jde. Some time back I was interested in puting a heater in the back of the pickup(in the bed area). Found the webb for SOUTHWIND HEATERS,if you remember them. Sure would run ya out of the vehicles. Didn't use much gas as i recall. When I got a reply, I almost went into SHOCK! Prices way beyond what I Had in mind for prices.
Guess they are still available. Reguards, LOU

JD, I had a 1965 VW and a 1970 VW beetle, for heat it used hot air gathered from a special area around the exhaust manifold, but where no exhaust gases would be captured. The Air cooled VWs did not have any kind of gasoline combustion fueled unit for heat. Then engine had to be warmed up by running to generate the head caputured from around the manifold and brought into the cabin. Tom

I've to two Corvairs parked out back. A two-door Spyder and a 1960 Briarwood wagon. Both with gasloine heaters, similar to what Volkswagens used.

But, my rig is diesel and I need a diesel fired unit so I can avoid installing a second fuel tank.

They've started installing them in school busses here very recently because they've come up with some anti idleing policy... but they still need to keep the little darlins' warm. That should yeild a pretty good supply of them down the road as they turn the buses loose every 10 years around here. Only other place I can think of would be heavy truck salvage... Webasto heaters have been fairly common in road tractors here for probably 10 years now.


Rod

I had many Volkwagens with the factory-installed, optional gasoline heater. They certainly did exist. I used to work in a Volkswagen repair shop and had to fix many of them.

OEM standard heat on Volkswagens and Chevy Corvairs captured hot air from the engine via heat-exhcangers - that quickly rusted out in areas where you needed heat the most. Even before they rusted out, they worked terrible. That's why both Volkswagen and Chevy offered optional gasoline heaters. The ones in Volkswagens were fired by a standard single spark plug and were made by Espar. Can't recall who made the ones in Chevys. I've got two sitting on my shelf, but haven't looked at them for a long time.

I just checked some #s. Early 1960s Volkswagens used Eberspacher (called Espar in US and Canada) BN2, BN4 gasoline heaters. Later in the 70s, they also used BA6 gasoline heaters.

Corvairs used Stewart-Warner gasoline heaters - I've got two here.

They are self-contained units with a carb, spark plug etc. and tee into the cars gas tank.

Is there anything in there now, or do you want to create something? What kind of vehicle is it. Stuff is real common here because vehicles can't be left running. Webasto heaters run about a thousand bucks new but are all over the place used. Give me your vehicle info and I'll see what's available.

Dave

Here I am almost 70 and still learning something every day. Today I learned about the VW gasoline heaters. I wore out 2 VWs and never knew there was an optional heating system. Thanks, Tom

Small air cooled Yanmar diesel clone running a 12V alternator? Use a heat exchanger to reclaim exhaust heat?

A funny winter sight around here in New York - was seeing Volkswagen drivers coming down the road - hanging out the window and scraping ice off the windshield as they drove. Heat was bad, and the defroster function just about non-exisitent.

The air-cooled Volkswagens and Corvairs did the same. So does my neighbor's Deutz-Allis 140 horse tractor. The problem with the cars was two-fold. First - there was no forced air (i.e. no blower) for moving heat. It relied on the engine cooling fan which didn't work. Second - the heat exchangers by the exhaust manifolds quickly rusted out and stopped working at all . . . and an exhaust leak could enter the heater ducts and almost gas you to death.

It's an 86 K5 4WD turbo-diesel Chevy Blazer with a 1979 Hallmark mini-motorhome body with a pop-up roof. Pretty rare. Made in Colorado. This sort was originally installed on 79 Blazers with gas engines and they used propane furnaces. Chevy and GMC authorized and dealer installed for only one year. Official called Blazer-Chalet or Jimmy Casa-Grande.
I don't want propane since space is limited and I've already got a 40 gallon tank of diesel. I could make anything fit. Cost is my only problem. The Blazer has two big deep cycle batteries just for appliances, so power draw isn't a problem either.

Here's an original dealer-ad, and also some old photos of mine before I fixed the body and painted it. Holds and sleeps three people plug dog find, and a fourth adult can fit if wanted.

I guess you don't see too many mini-motorhome with snow plows?

<a href="http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m162/jdemaris/?action=view&amp;current=chalet_ad.jpg" target="_blank"> </a>

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One thing cheaper to try is a janitrol out of an old airplane. You can find them where used aircraft parts are sold. They are very basic and work well.

I helped burn down a GP Medium tent with a diesel furnace when I was stationed in Germany.

Was about 20 of us got sent out to live in a tent in the field on a ski resort. We had to dig a couple of feet of snow to put up the tent, but it worked out good because it sealed pretty good around the base. But it was cold and we had a pot bellied diesel fired stove for heat. The manual very clearly said not to cut the diesel with gasoline, to use denatured alcohol. Problem was we were up on a ski moutain and had no denatured alcohol, but someone had a gasoline powered jeep with a spare gasoline can full of gasoline and since the diesel kept gelling and stopping up the pot bellied heater burner, guess what we did? Thats right, we cut the diesel with gasoline, and that made the burner burn pretty good. Slowly the diesel and the gasoline seperated, and that caused a recalibration or few of the burner to flow the thickening diesel finding its way to the bottom of the 5 gallon can, and the lighter thinner gasoline to settle to the top. It got late and we all cozied up in our sleeping bags as sugar plums danced in our sleepy heads for a couple of hours, when there rose such a roaring clatter that had us all up out of our sleeping bags, dancing the jig because after the thick diesel ran through the burner, the much thinner gasoline followed. It wasn't Santa Klausen and Rudolfo roaring and bellowing out on the top of our tent. Nope, it was WOOOOOOOOOSHHHH, and POOOOOOOOOF, and then up in flames. That burning gasoline overflowed and by then we had been there a few days, so inside the tent was dry grass, and up she went. That tent and everything burned to the ground in no time. It was bad enough that our Battalion and Brigade commanders left us up there a few days to teach us a lesson for doing that, sleeping in shelters on the backs of duece and a halves and five tons before they pulled us out of there, but before we left, we had to dig up all of the burnt and contaminated ground and cart it off in bags because the Germans take conservation very serious.

Up to that point, it was fun hitting on the hottie German women skiers and drinking beer in the gasthouse (guest house/tavern/bar/schnitzel place). But...all good things must come to an end, and did that night...thats for sure.

Mark

When I was over the road, the freightliner I drove had one. The brand was PRO-HEATER. It was a relatively trouble free unit. Plumbed in to the coolant lines, had a low battery cut-off and kept the bunk warm no matter how cold it was. That was 1995, so they have been around a while. I would try truck parts yards,or a google search. good luck.

Small aircraft use gas heaters as well. The gas heaters in VW's worked great and gave instant heat. They weren't supposed to be used continuously because they used too much gas. The even bigger problem was keeping them working. My sister had a couple bugs in the early 90's and it was hard finding someone who still worked on the heaters and knew what they were doing. Dave

remember seeing a burnt-out VW bug in winter of 1972. They said the gasoline heater caught & burnt it up. Driver wasn't in it at the time. Sure was a hot fire!

To many motor homes with a snowplow!! I thought you were planning ahead, should you get stuck plowing your mountian road, just go into the back relax and wait out the storm..lol J