Espar Heater Installation
There was no question as to whether I needed heater or not; not only does winter come at anytime of year in Alaska, but I planned on using my van extensively in the cold months. I went back and forth deciding between the Espar and Webasto and the multitude of knock-offs that are out there. In the end, I just wasn’t comfortable with the idea of buying a no-name heater when considering it was a device that’s burning diesel all night, inside the van, while I’m asleep. After reading (too) many forums comparing Espar and Webasto, I came to the conclusion that either would work well so I picked the one I could get shipped to Alaska for the least cost; at the time, it was Espar. (In retrospect I’m very happy with this choice, but more on that at the end.)
Heater Location
As most convertors do, I struggled with the best location for the heater. Some typical installation locations are under the passenger seat, somewhere back in the conversion area, and outside the van in various places. While considering the logistics of different locations, I had discovered that I could use the passenger seat base for my electronics including batteries so I decided to save that location; I also didn’t want the rear floor space to be permanently interrupted; and I became wary of putting the heating unit outside as I wasn’t convinced the Espar is fully weatherproof (I was also warned against this by a couple conversion shops). There’s a location behind the driver’s seat that I had seen used in other conversions, and though I was insecure about this at first, it began to make sense:
- it was on the same side as fuel tank and close to the auxiliary fuel line,
- there’s plenty of room and no obstructions below that location,
- heater exhaust could be vented to the driver’s side without any extensions or routing issues,
- wiring access was easy for the fuel pump,
- the heater controller harness would reach to a convenient location by the bed platform,
- and finally, the heater cabinet could serve as a foot rest when the driver’s seat was swiveled.
Installation
This is the location on the floor behind the driver’s seat. I marked it out after positioning the heater in various orientations. I wanted to leave enough room for ducting the cold and hot air but have it close as possible to the rear of seat pedestal. The mounting hole is (obviously) already drilled/cut. The dark lines on the floor are the edges of the planned cover cabinet. After the layout, I trimmed the factory flooring so that the heater and cabinet would sit on the metal floor. (I didn’t want anything potentially combustible near the exhaust outlet or heater itself.)
This is the underside view, before cutting, of where the heater base access would eventually end up. After locating the ideal location from the inside, I confirmed that there wasn’t any interference by drilling pilot hole through the floor. You can barely make out the pilot hole and some faint marks that would be the edge of the access hole. This is where the combustion intake, exhaust, and fuel lines come out from under the heater.
Mounting Plate
You may note that I cut a single hole for mounting the heater rather than the individual holes for the exhaust, air-intake, and fuel line. A trick I learned in my last Sprinter was to mount the heater first on a custom mounting plate and then mount that plate onto the floor. This allowed me to place the heater over the flooring ribs and give the heater a more stable platform than mounting it directly on the floor. It also made the mounting process much simpler as I could attach the exhaust, intake, and fuel lines to the heater before I mounted the heater to the floor. There’s not much space around the heater ports, so mounting them from underneath the van after placing the heater is a real pain (I tried that). I also felt I could do a better job of caulking and sealing the single mounting hole rather than the three little ones.
DIY Mounting Plate
Although you can purchase a mounting plate (photo), I had some scrap aluminum laying around and it was super easy to make my own: I took a square sheet of aluminum that was just large enough so that the mounting plate bolts would be accessible around the heater. I used the rubber seal (photo) that came with the heater as a template for drilling the holes for the exhaust, combustion intake, fuel line, and stock mounting bolts. After drilling the holes, I placed the heater onto the plate with the rubber seal and secured it using the factory bolts.
Here the heater is in place. You can see the aluminum mounting plate and mounting bolts. I used butyl tape to seal around the hole and the edges of the mounting plate so moisture won’t get under the plate. The plate is mounted with stainless steel bolts through the floor.
Fuel Supply
My passenger van came with an auxiliary heater booster, so I knew it had an existing fuel supply line already drawing from the diesel tank. After a bit of research I discovered that I could purchase a connector that would allow me to tap into the auxiliary line using the factory connectors. In the photo you can see the tap (yellow) with the factory male and factory female ends in place. The remaining port of the new tap is then connected to the heater fuel line with short section of rubber fuel hose and clamped in place. I made a short loop of the hard fuel line that was supplied with the heater to get the line to the heater fuel pump without crimping. This line is connected to the fuel pump intake and the fuel pump output is connected to the heater supply line with sections of rubber hose and clamps.
As per the Espar instructions, I was careful to mount the fuel pump at the specified angle with the intake lower than the output.
Electrical
The wiring of the heater is pretty straightforward: there’s the connection to the main power supply, power to the fuel pump, and the thermostat/control. The wire harness is well marked and wiring diagram is clear, so I won’t repeat those details. The biggest challenge is the routing of everything.
The main power is connected to my battery supply and circuits under the passenger seat (see my Electrical post for the details on that setup). The entire harness is then routed in the floor channel that runs between the passenger seat and into the driver seat base. The smaller section of harness that runs to the fuel pump remains in the driver’s seat base while the remaining heater harness runs through the driver’s seat base and out the back through a gap that exists between the base and the floor (see photo). The main harness then connects to the heater. The thermostat section of harness (long slender section) runs up the pillar (B pillar?), inside the trim plastic, up to the ceiling. The Espar harness had just enough length to run back along the edge of the ceiling to where I could mount the thermostat on the bed-side (rear) of the upper cabinet.
Fuel Pump Power
Meanwhile the branch of the harness that supplies power to the fuel pump needs to run through the floor to the pump below. In the photo you can see where there’s a rubber boot that is zip-tied closed around the factory wiring where it exits from the driver’s seat base down through the floor. I simply cut this zip-tie and ran my heater wires through this same boot along the factory harness. It took a bit of fishing to get the heater wire around all the factory stuff in the base, but there’s a path there if you work at it. After connecting the wires to the fuel pump, I zip-tied this boot snugly closed again.
Altitude Compensation
Espar heaters have an issue when operated at altitudes over 7500 ft (2200m). According to Espar, the thin atmosphere causes soot buildup and will eventually clog the heater. When I initially purchased the Espar, I wasn’t really thinking of high altitude driving since the roads here in AK don’t go over high passes. After considering my future travels, I decided I should spring for the High Altitude Kit. (Note that apparently Webasto doesn’t need this add-on.) As this “kit” needs to be wired into the thermostat/control harness, I opted to locate it near where I was going to mount the thermostat. Here it is installed, (along with distribution buses) at the back of where my upper galley cabinet will go.
Heater Box
I constructed the heater box out of 1/2″ plywood and covered it with the coin-mat rubber flooring that used for the floor and rear cargo boxes. I trimmed it with 1″ aluminum angle since I knew it was going to take a beating at foot level. I cut holes for the air intake and hot air vent and connected the heater using the hoses that came with the unit. There is also a gap between the “B” pillar and the box where additional air can draw in. The top is held in place with 4 screws so it can be removed for cleaning and servicing the heater.
You may notice that I covered the floor with foam-rubber flooring tiles. I do this in the winter for additional insulation and comfort. They are cheap and easy to install so when they get damaged, I simply replace them.
Espar D2 Review
This is the second van I’ve had a D2 installed in and, in short, I’m impressed. We have camped out at -25F in Denali National Park and spent numerous nights at well below freezing. We found that it easily keeps the van at 50+ (F) above the outside temperature which, when you do the math makes for comfortable camping at some pretty cold temperatures. I feel that that the performance could be improved by more insulation including better sealing around the window shades. I knew the extra windows in a passenger model would compromise the ability to insulate, but honestly, it’s a sacrifice I’ll gladly make. (Note that I hate the concept of a “stealth” van with minimal or no windows.) I would be pretty comfortable saying that the D2 is plenty sufficient to heat a 144 high-top.
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