We wanted to move away from gas as our main heating fuel as we felt that diesel is a more readily available fuel around the world.
Although there are many companies that make diesel furnaces we soon discovered that there were two main players providing a service in many countries . These being Webasto and Eberspacher.
The Mercedes 1017A does not have glow plugs to assist cold starting so we knew that what ever additional heating system we fitted it had to be connected to the engine cooling / heating system in order to pre heat the engine for extreme cold starting.
For two years on the trot we went to the Dusseldorf motorhome show to look at vehicle component section. On both occasions we spent several hours discussing our needs with both Eberspacher and Webasto.
Our decision to go with Eberspacher was made at this show because we discovered that the engineers on their stand could not do enough to help and knew exactly what they were taking about . These guys usually had dirty fingers and had clearly fitted thousands of systems between them . Sadly the the Webasto stand was always staffed by young suited salesman who worked behind computer screens. When we started asking technical questions about things like performance at high altitude, the Webasto guys started bleeding from the ears.
Ebespacher it was, the only thing to decide was which system.
There were two main heaters in the running, the very popular Hydronic 5 ( 5KW ) heater which is a very good machine or the less popular in the UK M10 ( 10KW )
Back in the UK we sent our requirements to their head office in Hampshire and one of their chief engineers ( Jon Jennings ) examined our requirements and made all his calculations and came to the conclusion that the 10 KW was the right choice.
10 kw of heating is a huge amount and could easily heat a small house let alone a 5 meter well insulated cabin.
The reasons given where :-
1. When up to temperature the M10 can tick over at 1500 watts making its running more economical than the D5 which has a low setting of 2400 watts.
2. The D5 is not suitable for high altitude and requires a further kit to enable it to be used to up to 4000 meters. ( the extra altitude kit is nearly as expensive as the heater ) Whereas, the M10 is already suitable for altitudes of 4000 metres ( tested ) and needs no additional kit or modification.
3. When at high altitude both heaters can run at as little as 30% power and in theses circumstances the 5 kw would not be sufficient to pre heat the engine.
The difference in cost in both setups was negligible.
We were directed to a local dealer South East Auto Electrical in Maidstone and one of their staff Roger Lyons came down to our workshop and examined our needs and guided me through our requirements .
This would be a good point to mention that both South East Auto Electrical and Eberspacher were an absolute delight to deal with. Their customer service was second to none and they really went the extra mile.
It was like Christmas when the kit arrived
The mounting box started life as one of the original Mercedes Storage boxes that had been attached to the chassis.
All the external plumbing was in thick walled heater hose. as it entered the vehicle though the front of the cabin the pipework became a mixture of both rubber hater hose and Hep20 plastic pipe and fittings .
Each appliance and radiator had isolation valves fitted on the flow and return .
The Main cabin interior is heated by one Eberspacher 2 kw heater matrix and three ALDE convectors
An additional Alde 650 Watt ALDE fan matrix is in the bathroom area
The convector heaters are under the under seat lockers and the heat rises into the cabin via a false wall board behind the back cushions . A similar setup is at the rear wall behind the bed.
As the system is gravity fed with no pressure the use of numerous air vents in the system is essential
Obviously the radiated heat is transferred into the cabin by convection so all the cupboards housing the radiators were given adequate ventilation
The water circuit , which can be short circuited in the summer to only heat hot water, can be heated via the Eberspacher or by harnessing the engine heat via a plate exchanger mounted in engine bay.
I did make the mistake of buying inferior pipe clips and paid the price when I first filled the system up with water. I had to replace all of them with good quality clips.
One of the problems we became aware of when installing the Eberspacher Hydronic Heating is that the Heater has an internal thermostat that monitors the temperature of the water returning to the heater . If the circuit doesn't contain sufficient water then the returning water temperature, if too hot, can cause the heater to shut down and restart in a cycling procedure . To combat this the solution is to add more water into the system and this can be achieved simply by adding a double port header tank . All the water flows through this tank and is sufficiently cooled to allow the heater to work constantly . I mounted this tank on the outside of the cabin and have since boxed it all in with aluminium.
The hot water is provided by an Elgena Nautic Them S 15 litre calorifier that is situated in in a lower kitchen cupboard.
The water is heated either by the Eberspacher or by a 220v ( hook up or via the solar ) or from the engine via the heat exchanger .
We liked this one because it sits upright and is very compact
It heats the water up to 85 degrees and it stays hot for over 24 hours .
The heating control panel allows us to program the heater and it can either be run on an external tank stat on the calorifier for the summer ( hot water only ) or via a room stat in the winter .
The water in the vehicle is fed from two transversely mounted water tanks, which were made to our specification by FT Design in Germany . They were a great company to work with, their quality is is superb and they will trade with the UK at very competitive prices. My total capacity is just short of 500 Litres.
In the space between the end of the tanks and the cabin wall I created a box that was sealed with bitumen paint and had a drain plug in the bottom. This box houses the water pump, 3 filters and taps. My thinking was that if the system was going to leak anywhere then this was going to be in this area so I made it into a waterproof tank with a drain to try and contain any leaks . It has never leaked.
The water is pulled from the tanks via a 12 v Flojet pump. I have tried to keep the pressure in the system as low as possible so have used a pump that has a maximum of 2.4 bar. The reason being is that the calorifier has a a pressure relief valve that activated at 3 bar so if you have a starting point too close to the 3 bar then as it expands the tank will vent.
We have two drinking water taps in the kitchen and bathroom . Both of these outlets are fed via a Seagull IV filter from General Ecology. We have used this purifier in previous vehicles and found it to be superb . However the very fine filter cartridges can block up easily with larger sediment.
In view of this I installed three pre filters that the water runs through prior to the Seagull. My thinking was that this should extend the life of the Seagull by maybe 4-5 times and the pre filter cartridges were very cheap. All the water in the vehicle ( hot and Cold ) passes through the three pre filters, Only the two drinking water outlets pass through the additional Seagull.
The first filter is a course sediment filter that is attached to the pump, The second and third filter is a made by BWT and consists of a sediment filter and then a carbon Filter. These were purchased at Screwfix
Each tank supply can be isolated independently or it could draw from both tanks at the same time .
The water tanks are fillable from both sides of the vehicle
An outside shower point by Bullfinch has been added . This is a superb piece of kit, like their gas points and works on a quick release bayonet fitting that you simply turn to adjust flow and temperature .
When it comes to costing such a project, it was in this area that we completely under estimated. A handful of push fit joints could cost you £25.00 and there are plenty of handfuls in here. There is probably in excess of £100.00 spent on Jubilee Clips alone.
