[Jonny 87]

Looks good P@F.

Really think you could be on to something with these.

At a price point of less than £1,000 I reckon more or less everyone would have one.

[P @ F]

It’s looking a lot better now , full alloy frame , and now has an extra failsafe included , if the water pump is forgotten to be switched on or if it fails the heater shuts itself down automatically , it didn’t before which concerned me if I was to sell any .

They will be available very soon at the super dooper price of £850 !
I am just building the final model now , this is how it will be supplied, people can now see it fully , mine is very much a retro fit as space is limited in my van

[P @ F]

Heaters also now carry a CE mark 

[Pete Thompson]

This may be an obvious question, but....

You seem to have spent a lot of effort to convert a diesel AIR heater to heat WATER, which is fine.

But you can already buy practically the same unit that is designed to heat water as well:
https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000249700565.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/33018421161.html

Video review here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtvy2MwbArQ

[P @ F]

That unit won’t heat the water anywhere near quick enough for our use !

[P @ F]

Just looked again and the air/water model only raised the water from 14 to 69 , fine that’s a 55c jump but it was circulating 10L and took 30 minutes !

I can go 10 to 60 instantly 

[nathankaye]

Just looked again and the air/water model only raised the water from 14 to 69 , fine that’s a 55c jump but it was circulating 10L and took 30 minutes !

I can go 10 to 60 instantly 

Yep, i watched a couple of his vids, especially with the 10ltr drum and thought the same as yourself. 

[P @ F]

The only way it could remotely work for us would be to run a coolant loop like a Grippa system , even then it would be a tall order as the plate exchanger would take out faster than the heater could put back in !

[SB Cleaning]

Is this going to be easy to install?
Will it run 2 pumps?

[zesty]

Looking good rich!

[Pete Thompson]

Just looked again and the air/water model only raised the water from 14 to 69 , fine that’s a 55c jump but it was circulating 10L and took 30 minutes !

I can go 10 to 60 instantly 

Ok I see what you’re saying, the air & water heater is splitting the heat output between air heating and water heating.

What if you simply disconnected the fan that blows the air through?

Then all of the heat it produces would be available to heat the water. This is a 5kW heater, same as yours. The only difference is that this has been designed to heat water, whereas yours is designed to heat air and you have adapted it.

And, using a heat-exchanging loop (ie with header tank etc) is, in my opinion, by far the best way to safely get  heat from a unit like this. Plate heat exchangers are not expensive, and there’s no problem stopping and starting the cold-side output water flow, as the hot-side water circuit is unaffected.

I would rig it so that once the hot-side water circuit was up to operating temperature, if the cold-side flow was dead ended then it flowed back into the tank. Easy to do with a thermostatic valve in series with a pressure relief valve.

[P @ F]

Give it a whirl then sounds easy enough !

Although if you stop the fan the heater won’t fire up , if you block the fan the heater will cook itself.
But most importantly the motor has an output shaft on both sides , one side holds the cooling fan and the other has the combustion impeller on it , if that isn’t spinning then no fire is made 

[Pete Thompson]

Give it a whirl then sounds easy enough !

Although if you stop the fan the heater won’t fire up , if you block the fan the heater will cook itself.
But most importantly the motor has an output shaft on both sides , one side holds the cooling fan and the other has the combustion impeller on it , if that isn’t spinning then no fire is made

Lol! Fair enough.

Carry on.

[Jonny 87]

Give it a whirl then sounds easy enough !

Although if you stop the fan the heater won’t fire up , if you block the fan the heater will cook itself.
But most importantly the motor has an output shaft on both sides , one side holds the cooling fan and the other has the combustion impeller on it , if that isn’t spinning then no fire is made 

Everyone’s an expert. 

[Pete Thompson]

Give it a whirl then sounds easy enough !

Although if you stop the fan the heater won’t fire up , if you block the fan the heater will cook itself.
But most importantly the motor has an output shaft on both sides , one side holds the cooling fan and the other has the combustion impeller on it , if that isn’t spinning then no fire is made 

There's also another reason why my idea wouldn't work.  If you watch the dismantle video, at about 36:32 he takes the water heat-exchanger apart, and you can see that it only covers one side of the heating surface.  Therefore, the water will only be able to absorb the heat from one side of the combustion chamber.  The other side would get red hot.  (this probably explains why it took so long to heat the water in his container)

Compare that to a webasto unit that has a jacket of water all around the combustion chamber.

It seems to me that they had perfected the design for air-heating, and the ability to heat water as well was a bit of an afterthought.

[P @ F]

Is this going to be easy to install?
Will it run 2 pumps?

It is very easy to install , it won’t  supply 2 users  as such , due to the flow rate 2 poles would need water temp would probably half

The only way you could do it would be to have a second tank of maybe 75 or 100 litres this would be a feeder tank for the pumps the heater would have to draw from the main tank and continuously fill the smaller tank which would need to overflow back to the main tank if full
Probably easier to get 2 heaters and have them built into a larger frame , this could be done to order with a bit of discount 

[Michael Peterson]

half temp could be good for people that like just luke warm water for freezing nights ? we use lukewarm water to stop the hoze freezing on the ground but we don't have to  change connectors and stuff, id probably be happy with warm water to two poles

[P @ F]

Bump 

[Status Check]

Could you tap into the vehicles diesel tank with this kit or does it not have a fuel pump?

[P @ F]

Could you tap into the vehicles diesel tank with this kit or does it not have a fuel pump?

Yes , it comes with it’s own standpipe for this , although these things are sometimes vehicle specific , this one needs a fairly big hole cut into the tank
I use a stand-alone tank as you can use red diesel or veg oil diesel mix that way !