Installing a Vevor diesel heater in the 2010 17' Casita this weekend - Fiberglass RV
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Old 03-10-2023, 03:00 PM   #1
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Name: ash
Trailer: Casita
Arizona
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Installing a Vevor diesel heater in the 2010 17' Casita this weekend

Hi all,

Just wanted to pick your brains on little things, if I may. My GF bought the heater last week and wants the heater to be installed in the closet, right on the floor. Her unit doesn't have the factory furnace, FYI.

As of now, my thinking is that I'll drill two large holes to accomodate the round plastic grills that come with the heater for ducting the hot air and fresh cool air. The outlet hole will be in the bathroom wall, maybe right under the sink so that water doesn't splash into the outlet port. The inlet port will be right at the entry way wall. This is the same wall where the closet door is hung. Cold air settles on the floor so sucking in this air for heating is ideal.

As y'all know, the bathrooms in these things are frigid, which makes the midnight tinkle less than fun for some. So, heating up this space first and then overflow the warm air into the main cabin sounded logical to me but I'm open to other ideas. Should we install the heater somewhere else?

Given the location of the heater inside the closet, I'm not going to penetrate the floor inside the closet then run piping under the camper to somewhere else. I'm also not in favor of installing the heater in a weatherproof box on the tongue because then I'd have to penetrate an outside wall or the floor.

Next question is what is the best way to run 10awg wires from the battery compartment to this heater? One thought I had was to run it along the wall, by the dinette area, then somehow enter the closet.

On the other hand, bringing the power wires out of the battery compartment, penetrate the floor, run them along the chassis, then penetrate the floor in the closet and connect to the heater. This doesn't sound too bad to me and the penetrations can easily be waterproofed. It's not like we're fording 36" of water to get to our camp spots

These heaters pull around 9-12amps on startup, then settles down to less than 2amps. I'm running 10awg just to have plenty of head room, especially when the outside temps dip to single digits Fahrenheit.

Thanks for your insights and have a nice weekend.

Cheers.
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Old 03-10-2023, 06:32 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alia176 View Post
Hi all,

Just wanted to pick your brains on little things, if I may. My GF bought the heater last week and wants the heater to be installed in the closet, right on the floor. Her unit doesn't have the factory furnace, FYI.

As of now, my thinking is that I'll drill two large holes to accomodate the round plastic grills that come with the heater for ducting the hot air and fresh cool air. The outlet hole will be in the bathroom wall, maybe right under the sink so that water doesn't splash into the outlet port. The inlet port will be right at the entry way wall. This is the same wall where the closet door is hung. Cold air settles on the floor so sucking in this air for heating is ideal.

As y'all know, the bathrooms in these things are frigid, which makes the midnight tinkle less than fun for some. So, heating up this space first and then overflow the warm air into the main cabin sounded logical to me but I'm open to other ideas. Should we install the heater somewhere else?

Given the location of the heater inside the closet, I'm not going to penetrate the floor inside the closet then run piping under the camper to somewhere else. I'm also not in favor of installing the heater in a weatherproof box on the tongue because then I'd have to penetrate an outside wall or the floor.

Next question is what is the best way to run 10awg wires from the battery compartment to this heater? One thought I had was to run it along the wall, by the dinette area, then somehow enter the closet.

On the other hand, bringing the power wires out of the battery compartment, penetrate the floor, run them along the chassis, then penetrate the floor in the closet and connect to the heater. This doesn't sound too bad to me and the penetrations can easily be waterproofed. It's not like we're fording 36" of water to get to our camp spots

These heaters pull around 9-12amps on startup, then settles down to less than 2amps. I'm running 10awg just to have plenty of head room, especially when the outside temps dip to single digits Fahrenheit.

Thanks for your insights and have a nice weekend.

Cheers.
Where are you going to install the diesel fuel tank?
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Old 03-10-2023, 11:05 PM   #3
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https://youtu.be/VX1DKZdU0JI
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Old 03-11-2023, 07:50 AM   #4
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Name: ash
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As of now, the plan is to eliminate one of the large propane tanks on the tongue and replace it with a diesel tank of some sort.
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Old 03-11-2023, 08:39 AM   #5
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Trailer: Casita
West Michigan
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Foresty forest on YouTube has installed a couple of these diesel heaters in odd spots on his vans, just a suggestion for ideas. He's tested a couple pumps, only 1 being truly silent, the ones they come with tend to be a little noisy even when mounted/padded/hung. He's done some -41° overnights in remote northern Canada and Alaska, and mentions his diesel consumption in those vids too.



If you can, I would use a duct splitter on the output side of the furnace feeding one into the bathroom and one into the main cabin. The passive transfer I feel like would be a slow transfer, making the forward end of the camper always warmer. You could use plastic round vent covers with angled louvers, cold air return angled down and towards the door, hot air angled out towards the main cabin to blow past the fridge.


You'll have to drill holes for the combustion side intake, exhaust, and fuel lines anyways, so what's one more hole for wiring?


This otherwise seems like a logical spot so long as there's enough room to fit the heater on the floor in that location with the ducting. Keeps the noisy part at the opposite end of the camper as the sleeping area. Maybe set the heater in that space and see where your vents can be at to get a better idea visually if it'll work the way you want.
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Old 03-12-2023, 04:05 PM   #6
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You did bring up some good points, I'm going to have to drill some holes on the floor for the heater anyway, so why not another one for running the power wires.

I have an Espar diesel heater in my camper and I think lot of these Chinese heater owners are purchasing the Espar fuel pump for a more quiet operation. But this will be one of those wait n see type of a thing.

Thanks for the feedback.
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Old 03-16-2023, 08:35 AM   #7
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Fresh air and exhaust air so you don’t die what are you gonna do about that?
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Old 03-23-2023, 06:39 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by ehoepner View Post
Fresh air and exhaust air so you don’t die what are you gonna do about that?
You can answer your own question by looking up on the internet how these diesel heaters work. [emoji16]

I'll give you a hint though, look up above and see the comments made about having to penetrate the floor for the combustion fresh air inlet, and the exhaust air outlet.
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Old 04-16-2023, 07:44 AM   #9
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So, this project is now complete and it was a great success. I'm very impressed with this particular brand of diesel heater because it came with everything imaginable with extra parts just in case you needed them. I think what could have been done a little better is the ability to install both exhaust mufflers somehow. They didn't allow this to happen using the supplied exhaust pipe, not a super big deal as one can improvise. I did notice that having a second muffler after the first one does make it a tad quieter but nothing earth-shattering in terms of dB loss.

As mentioned previously, I installed the heater inside the closet right on the floor with the outlet going right into the bathroom. I tell you what, you will never have to go tinkle middle of the night in a cold bathroom, because this thing makes that bathroom so toasty that is unbelievable.

As some of you might already know, the control panel that comes with these things are rather complicated and the unit has a lot of features like timed on, timed off, etc. This unit also comes with a key fob clicker which is really nice because you can leave it hanging by the bed and simply turn on the heater with the clicker, then select your level from one to four. I had the clicker set on number two, it heated up the camper from 45° to about 70° in about half an hour or less. I basically got up in the morning turned on the heater, then went inside to make coffee, came back out and it was already nice and toasty.

Here are some details that some of you might want to know: an auxiliary fuse block was installed on top of the battery box as shown in the picture, it is supplied with a 12 gauge wire right from the circuit breaker supplied with the camper. Two 14 gauge wires were run from the battery compartment along the chassis rail then penetrated the floor in the closet. During the startup ignition cycle of the heater, I noticed a current pull about 9 to 10 amps, then settled down to around 1 amp.

I had to de-pin two connectors, one for the control panel, and one for the fuel pump so that I can push them through a smaller hole in the camper. One hole was for the fuel pump, one hole was for the front wall of the closet.

The heater basically sucks in air from the floor by the entryway and shoves it out into the bathroom, which in turn heats up rest of the camper nicely. Hopefully the pictures will answer the rest of the questions.

The second propane bottle was removed and replaced with the supplied diesel tank. Having two 20 lb propane tanks for the stove and the water heater is way overkill, not to mention adds to the tongue weight. The propane tank cover still goes over both of these items and keeps everything nice and clean. Still need to finish up the last 5% by painting the exposed steel and whatnot.

Let me know if you have any questions.Attachment 148940Attachment 148941Attachment 148943Attachment 148942Click image for larger version

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Old 04-16-2023, 07:55 AM   #10
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Just a couple of more random pics. I covered up the hole underneath the camper with an aluminum plate in order to keep the road debris out. You can see a the two pins for the fuel pump connector being shoved through the hole to the exterior. All wires and one hose that go through the chassis have an outer layer protectiin by a heat shrink tubing.

The negative wire from the pump is using the same hole that came with the camper, and the bolt was replaced with a stainless steel bolt and star washer for a better ground.

The diesel tank came with three holes inside of it for ease of installation, this impressed me quite a bit.

I'm holding the fuel pump just to give you an idea what these things look like. This is called a dosing pump, it basically moves the plunger up and down versus spinning a rotor. You will hear a clicking sound as the pump is operating. The higher the heat level, the faster it clicks. It is installed with a factory rubber insulator clamp kind of a deal, even then you can hear it from inside the camper. Not annoyingly allowed but definitely noticeable. My ESPAR diesel heater has similar style of fuel pump but it is noticeably more subtle, and some folks have opted to replace the Chinese pump with one from Espar or Wabasto.Attachment 148949Attachment 148950Attachment 148951Click image for larger version

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Old 04-17-2023, 07:41 AM   #11
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Installing a Vevor diesel heater in the 2010 17' Casita this weekend

couple of things that may improve your experience. I have two, one in my workshop and one in my camper.

The soft green fuel hose has been found by many to be a bad choice for these heaters. Most are shipped with the hard plastic line and rubber connectors. This helps the pulse pump work efficiently.

The fuel tank connection should be a standpipe as the one you have may start leaking down the road.

More information is available on the diesel heaters Facebook groups. I think they are three.

Congratulations on your install.
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Old 04-19-2023, 11:56 AM   #12
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Name: ash
Trailer: Casita
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Good tips, thank you!!

It's interesting to note that Espar and Wabasto used to have 3.5mm ID hoses and now they are1.5mm ID hoses. Curious why the Chinese didn't follow the new hose ID!!
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Old 04-22-2023, 01:42 PM   #13
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I just de winterized our camper. The heater started right up after setting all winter. Another tip: Some users have reported the control screen getting dim over time. I installed a switch so we can turn the screen off when it is not being used.
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Old 04-24-2023, 08:27 AM   #14
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I just de winterized our camper. The heater started right up after setting all winter. Another tip: Some users have reported the control screen getting dim over time. I installed a switch so we can turn the screen off when it is not being used.
That's a great idea, I'll pass it along.
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Old 05-24-2023, 06:04 AM   #15
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We finally got to camp using the new heater and it was a game changer, to say the least! The camper was very toasty in the morning before we got up, and of course the bathroom was really toasty. It was quite lovely to have your feet be warm when you're in the bathroom doing your business. Additionally, the air inside the camper was more dry in the morning, still some condensation were on the glass from sleeping overnight. Tim Scott down to the '40s at night, and the elevation was around 6700 ft.

The dog also loved the heater because a lot of the air was coming out of the bathroom door and went right over her while she slept on the floor.

I highly recommend this mod [emoji16]
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Old 08-02-2023, 10:54 AM   #16
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Tunnels and bridges?

Can you take a can of diesel fuel like that through tunnels or across a bridge?
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Old 08-02-2023, 12:56 PM   #17
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Diesel

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Can you take a can of diesel fuel like that through tunnels or across a bridge?
There are no problems carrying diesel in tunnels and bridges. They are more concerned with propane.
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Old 08-02-2023, 01:04 PM   #18
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Can you take a can of diesel fuel like that through tunnels or across a bridge?


No problem. Trucks do it all the time.
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Old 10-31-2023, 08:39 AM   #19
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I know this is an older thread but I am getting ready to do a very similar install in my camper. Do you happen to have any photos of the hot air vents in the closet? I have been playing with how to orient everything and would love to get some ideas on how you went about this!
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