Question for you guys that are running a heater. Where are you putting your fuel tank? I absolutely do not want fuel in the bed of our truck. Anyone running a small fuel tank in the engine compartment?
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So mine itās in the bed but my unit in the pic is an all in one.
Iāve had it inside for 2 months now with no spillage or smell. Love your rig btw.
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Thanks so much! Thatās great feedback as well. Have you off roaded with that in there as well? Curious if any fuel splashes past the lid while the truck is getting tipped around.
Iāve ridden plenty of forest service roads down in the San Juanās and down by Westcliffe with no issues. Did one section of gnarly 4wd and that still seemed fine.
I didnāt keep it full though, maybe 1/2 - 2/3.
I had read about people saying the caps leaked but fingers crossed Iāve been fine.
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This is a real struggle in my setup. I made the mistake of throwing out the filling tube that came with the Jerry can I modified. So mine does leak and itās extremely shitty! Iāve had multiple diesel scented sleeps. I am currently looking at locations close to the heater as that little pump only has so much power. Iāve been investigating quick connect solutions but that still means having something to āhook upā when I park. Which is what Iām looking to get further away from.
So at this point, Iām starting to investigate Un-leaded fuel heaters but know that the combustion process in these diesel may work, it does not seem that it would be as efficient as a two or four stroke system which would require a great deal more electronics and create MUCH more noise. It sure would be nice to plumb the heater into an existing fuel tank. This is where the Sprinter vanās have a HUGE advantage.
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My unit has a fuel cell attached, which does not leak - provided you stop every once in awhile and burp the tank. It also sits upright by default, which helps. My spare fuel cell is rotopax - so itās stored on the swing hitch.
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Great to hear man, thanks for the photo!
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The same style heaters also come in gas versions from the established companies. Try terms like petrol and parking heater. I see many diesel heaters that say they can also burn gas, but never looked in to doing it full time. I like the idea of being tapped in to the main tank or even having an auxiliary tank for diesel mounted under the truck. The best way in the bed would be to have a vent that exited somewhere and of course a fill that seals properly.
Quick disconnects still will have fuel smell when you break the connection (Used Jiffy-Tite quick disconnects on my track car).
Switch to K1 Kerosene, less smell and cleaner combustion.
My next upgrade might be this fuel cell, https://a.co/d/6fncrTj
The ultimate setup would be to have a fuel cell/fill neck outside the cabin of the truck.
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Definitely the ideal goal would be to have a fuel cell under the truck or between the bed and the fender panel with a fill valve in the fender. Iām not bothered by cutting holes on our truck, just as long as they look good lol.
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I would like to have the heater behind the fender also
Yeah, the 12v CLA adaptor and associated quick-connects are en route. Will make the existing power cable compatible with either/or. Good call.
Have you considered pulling the fuel from the fuel cell that is on your swing hitch? That is the other option that we are considering or putting a fuel cell under the truck and routing a fill neck from the fender.
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If I could fit the Planar box into the 5Gal mount on the RIGD, I would consider using the 2gal diesel cell on the ROTO mount and house the Planar in the box. I do not believe it will fit, but it would be close. I imagine another custom mount would do the trick. I could see the benefit of keeping it all on the hitch and having the two separate, but for now I am just glad this thing is hassle-free and works when needed. We had a boiler issue today (baseboard heat will not work as a result) so we used it off-label. It looked ridiculous, but it warmed the house a bit!
Honestly I am not that far along. I could see the desire to permanently mount and install fuel/heater for some, but I love being able to toss the Planar in the garage for months on end and only grab it when I know the temps will be low.
Here is my new home built setup. I had a surplus case so I just worked with that to make everything fit. It already had a waterproof cable door from its time as a COVID ventilator so I used that to run the fuel and display cable. When not being used you can roll them up inside. Yes, I went a bit wild with the high temp insulation but it really helped with the noise. I had some high quality stuff laying around, I wouldnāt recommend the provided wrap unless you like breathing fibres as it really sheds.
Fuel storage is provided thanks to Uncle Sam. The Jerry can and quick connect system originally for some type of military heater. In the future I may plumb it into my truck. I have a 10L version of the same Jerry if I want to go lighter I can just swap the cap. The fuel filter in integrated into the draw straw in the tank.
The heater is āmaXpeedingrodsā 5KW that has a remote and Bluetooth app. Both work really well. The app shows the unit and air temperature and allows you to change all the settings remotely. It fired right up and has been running for a few hours already so far so good.
And yes. I am pulling the air from inside the case. It draws the air through the case to keep the internals cool without any additional fans. I will keep testing the temperatures and air quality but so far so good. I may remove all the covers over the exhaust pipe to let that heat circulate into the system vs. wasting it. Still some testing is required. I have another length of exhaust pipe and a better muffler coming and I will make a āstackā to get the exhaust further away from the intake to be extra safe.
Stay tuned to see how it will integrate into the GFC!
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Has anyone with a diesel heater mounted the heater or fuel tank under the bed in the spare tire location?
Iām planning to build a swingout where my spare tire will live and thinking this might be a location solve so as to not have the fuel tank inside the camper. Although the tank will still have to easily come out from under the truck to fill it up.
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Iāve thought of this exact thing! You would be able to pipe in a fill tube somehow if you did that as well. Then you wouldnāt have to take it out. Those are the things Iām currently considering; where do I put the fuel tank.
But thenā¦I think, all this fucking around. Just spend the money and get one of these:
https://heaters4you.com/air-heaters-planar/983-planar-44d-4kw.html
Then be done with it and pull fuel from your gas tank. Thatās the cheapest option I could find, eberspatcher and Wabasto are a few hundred more for full kits.
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Has anyone done a larger pelican case and included the fuel inside the case? Additionally, if external I lean towards a rotopax vs the traditional amazon heater fuel cans for the durability.
There are cheap ones like the diesel ones on that aliā¦ site. They sometimes call them parking heaters and call them petrol (like that one) or unleaded. I like the idea of using the main tank also.
This is the very thing that Iāve been trying to figure out for a while! There is a company that makes a space tire replacement fuel container, however itās not vented so pulling fuel from it with a pump would eventually end up starving the pump. Iāve considered putting a fuel cell under the bed but running a fill neck is not easy to get a clean line. Feeling stumped!