Diesel heater installation

[mibars]

I'm planning on installing a diesel heater in my Burb, that kind that looks like a dry Webasto, but made out of chinesium. The idea is to add heating in the rear for camping.

These kind of heaters are meant to be installed inside, on a mounting plate where just the intake exhaust and a fuel line stay on the outside of vehicle. It is possible to have them mounted outside, but they must be shielded from elements.

I want to install it in a way it interferes the least with interior. In campers and vandals they are usually mounted under seats, but in case of Suburban there is not enough space under them.

I figured out that possibly the best spot is inside a rear fender, there is enough room to fit the heater, that space is somewhat inside of a vehicle, even if not in a cabin space, but it will mean cutting a large access hatch on the inside and drilling some holes through the outer skin under the car for air intake and exhaust.

I live in Poland where cars do rust, roads are salted, like it's northern US.

I'm not a bodywork expert and I want to do these holes and cuts right, so I won't create rust issues. Any hints on that how to do it correctly? How to protect these holes? Exhaust pipe gets hot so I can't just silicone the opening to stop any moisture and dirt going inside fender.

 

[SquareRoot]

No pics?

 

[mibars]

Good point Was writing from a phone away from the car.
Still not by my car, but I can share some pictures for general idea what I'm talking about:

The heater looks like this, size of the heater itself is 34*11*11 cm/13.4*4.3*4.3 inch

It sucks air from one side, blows hot air from the other. On the bottom there is a part with intake, exhaust and a tiny pipe for diesel. It weights about 8 or 9 lbs.

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The Intake and Exhaust pipes would have to go through the bodywork outside, under the car. Exhaust pipe can reach about 200 deg C / 400 F or possibly more from what I've seen on Youtube.

And I want to install it here, inside fender, there is enough room inside: (not my car BTW). There is enough width and height to have some wiggle rom andiIt's about 40 - 45 cm between the metal part that houses a filler neck and a reinforcement inside fender behind the rear lamp. For me the most important thing is how to make holes in the metal under the car that won't rust and how to seal it, including the hot exhaust pipe.

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[Grit dog]

Good question and not really a common or off the shelf solution, for a car, but there is for RVs. Most of which have hot exhaust vents for their furnaces.
Check out the pic below. I think this is what you’re looking for.
Just paint/ protect the cut sheetmetal edges before installing.
I’d probably consider putting riv nuts in the fender to for permanent attachment rather than just screwing it into the sheetmetal.

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[mxer147]

Mounting an external heat source near the fuel tank and fill location is dangerous in my opinion; I would consider some extra safe guards to eliminate a potential accident if I decided the risk is worth the reward. In my opinion, money would be better spent purchasing a small portable generator and adding an electric heat source somewhere within the cab.

 

[mibars]

These vents look like a kind you put on the side of the vehicle, I want to put the holes under the car, in the bottom part of the fender, so it's not visible at all. It's especially important for me as Podmiejski is officially a historic vehicle, so I don't want to modify it's looks too much.

Having a heat source near fuel tank is a serious concern, but fortunately these kind of heaters are relatively safe, they go in the cabin of the vehicle most of the time. A filler tube goes through a steel envelope inside the fender, like a firewall, it's deliberately kept 'outside' of the fender in it's own tunnel that is open under the car and under a fuel cap flap.

The more I think about it the worse idea it seems to be. But I really can't figure out a good spot for that heater...

 

[Grit dog]

Use the same piece under the car I suppose. Or cut the hole slightly bigger and wrap the pipe in header wrap where it goes through?

 

[Fat 454]

Podmiejski - 'suburban" in Polish - that's hilarious - just found a new nick name for my 'burb - I mean 'miejsk...

 

[mibars]

The heater has arrived and I found out that it will fit under the front bench seat - There is like a depression in floor on both sides of the driveshaft tunnel that is large enough to make it fit. This will allow me to install it the way it is intended: With that oval mounting plate bolted to the floor.

I'm in the process of completing the remaining parts like longer exhaust pipe and smaller diesel tank and will start installing it.

 

[CalSgt]

Why not remove the rear side glass and replace with a piece of sheetmetal...

Benefits:
1) Mount the heater to the replacement panel which will keep your burb body intact
2) Gets the heater box up of the floor of the burb where it won't get smothered or smashed by gear etc.
3) If your chinesium diesel heater craps out and the replacement mounts differently it will be a simple change
4) You could mount some other items to the panel also or possibly line it with MOLLE webbing
5) This would be a reversible install, just put the glass back in if you ever change your mind

 

[Frankenchevy]

Where is the diesel tank going?

Another option would be to install the heater in the engine bay and try to plumb the hot air supply into the factory plenum or just into the cab from there.

I have an Eberspacher diesel coolant heater for my camping build that has a coolant to air heat exchanger and a coolant to water heat exchanger. One efficient device to heat air and water is nice.

 

[mibars]

Why not remove the rear side glass and replace with a piece of sheetmetal...

That would mean that exhaust pipe, inlet and a diesel fuel line would hang from the side of the sheetmetal panel. I don't want to lose my window either Those HCalory / Vevor heaters all seem almost identical, they are copies of some Webasto or Eberspacher.

Another option would be to install the heater in the engine bay and try to plumb the hot air supply into the factory plenum or just into the cab from there.

I was considering that option, but it is still a "wet" location. That plastic enclosure is not watertight and there are not water resistant component inside.

Where is the diesel tank going?

I'm thinking next to the windshield washer bottle. I'm getting a small 2.5 L tank that will be filled only when needed. Diesel is about as flammable as ATF for power steering, but still I'd like to minimize the amount of flammable stuff under the hood while driving.

 

[Frankenchevy]

That would mean that exhaust pipe, inlet and a diesel fuel line would hang from the side of the sheetmetal panel. I don't want to lose my window either Those HCalory / Vevor heaters all seem almost identical, they are copies of some Webasto or Eberspacher.

I was considering that option, but it is still a "wet" location. That plastic enclosure is not watertight and there are not water resistant component inside.


I'm thinking next to the windshield washer bottle. I'm getting a small 2.5 L tank that will be filled only when needed. Diesel is about as flammable as ATF for power steering, but still I'd like to minimize the amount of flammable stuff under the hood while driving.

The Chinese diesel heaters have to be installed in a perfectly dry location, huh? Did not know that. Have you given some thought on how to route the exhaust? I do not believe the connections are perfectly gas tight. At least not that I’d trust being made in the PRC. Not saying that it couldn’t be, but I’m always a skeptic on stuff like that.

I think it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway:

1. Combustion air needs to come from outside.

2. Be sure to keep a reliable CO detector in the cab of the Suburban.

 

[mibars]

CO detector is a must with these heaters. Also they need an inspection before installation, I've seen loose glow plugs in models submitted to YouTubers by manufacture for review, faulty castings, damaged gaskets. The muffler is a complete joke, it has massive gaps near the outlets and even the seam is not fully welded.

I'm not sure what will be the best way to route exhaust, possibly to the side just past the door sill and pointing downwards at an angle so it doesn't get trapped under the car.

 

[mibars]

Diesel heater installed & operational.

I've installed it under front bench seat:

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Rust protected holes:

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Final look, carpet is tucked away & stitched to keep it away from the body of the heater so it doesn't touch it anywhere. Even if the heater is made of plastic and is not crazy hot to touch I want to reduce chances of something smoldeing in case of a fault. In normal operation only the part of the enclosure near outlet gets really hot:

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Bottom of bench seat got this metal plate directly above the heater as another fail-safe protection. There is large enough gap that in normal operation this plate gets just lukewarm.

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