Overland Build

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
The filters and housing arrived. A few observations; they have pressure relief valves. These will leak water if pressed when the system is pressurized, so they need to be protected from unintentional contact. The 3/8 NPT ports are sufficient size for the flow rates we expect. However, there are limited fittings in this size on hand locally. 1/2NPT ports would have made sourcing fittings easier. I needed a pair of elbows to make the filters fit side by side, those should arrive next week.









I dropped the fuel tank (again) to fix the leak at the Espar pickup tube. To clarify, this leak was only present with a full tank and the van parked nose down in my driveway.




Upon inspection the leak appears to have been through the threads on the pickup body. The rubber washer does not fully seal this area.










So I disassembled, cleaned, and applied permatex #2 sealant to all the affected surfaces and to the threads. Hopefully this is the end of leaks from here.







I also noticed fuel seeping from the Sprinters in-tank assembly. So I also re-sealed this unit with permatex #2 as well.




The bench seat latch is installed.









Here is the rear shower assembly. It is pretty compact, but still requires substantial room for the plumbing. Note the drip-less quick disconnect.










The filler/cabinet aft of the bed is partially assembled.




I made and mounted the shore power outlet box. I was originally considering a 15A connection. I only wanted to do this once, so I opted for 30A service. There are some very nice marine style plugs that don’t require twist to lock. I would suggest checking them out if you are in the market.












 
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lukedog

Why Dogs Fly
The filters and housing arrived. A few observations; they have pressure relief valves. These will leak water if pressed when the system is pressurized, so they need to be protected from unintentional contact. The 3/8 NPT ports are sufficient size for the flow rates we expect. However, there are limited fittings in this size on hand locally. 1/2NPT ports would have made sourcing fittings easier. I needed a pair of elbows to make the filters fit side by side, those should arrive next week.




I made and mounted the shore power outlet box. I was originally considering a 15A connection. I only wanted to do this once, so I opted for 30A service. There are some very nice marine style plugs that don’t require twist to lock. I would suggest checking them out if you are in the market.












I like the mounting of the 30 A connector. Where did you rout the wire into the chassis.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
I like the mounting of the 30 A connector. Where did you rout the wire into the chassis.
I drilled a one inch hole in the floor below the electrical cabinet. I lined the metal edge of the hole with a 1"OD 3/4"ID rubber grommet.

There are locations in the D pillars where wires could be run up behind the tail lights if desired.

If you plan on running a large number of cables here is a suggestion. Cut a hole in the floor to match a 4 or 6" electrical box. Seal the open side of the box to the floor. Then add a series of cable grips/glands/pass-throughs to the box. This will save time over drilling individual holes.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Most of my time has been spent working on plumbing and related goodness recently. First up is the spacer cabinet behind the bed. I opted to use the RH side of this cabinet for fill and shower hookups. This way I do not need to obstruct the storage area below. It is tight clearance to fit all the hoses in here. It took a lot of back and forth to find the best routing. I used 3/8” pex tubing. For easy of fitment braided vinyl tubing could also be used. This cabinet will also be receiving 120VAC and 12VDC outlets.

















The water filters are hooked up and I pressure tested the water system. No leaks after a 2 hours pressurized. I made a guard for the pressure release buttons; I will be making another for the filter bowls.









The shurflow pump is very quiet and with the mounting/hose provisions used, no noticeable vibration or pulsing is present in the lines. I filled the water tank to ¼ no leaks, and the gauge works.

Due to the chance of freezing I purged the system. This is done by opening the dump valve on the water heater and letting the pump run. Because the pump is a diaphragm type it will pump air into the lines. I then opening the faucet/shower and allowed the remaining water to clear. At this point I removed and dumped the filter bowls.

Some of the coolant lines for the Hydronic D5/water heater/engine loop are run.





I have recieved the led lights for the main cabin. I also have led strips and diffusers on order for task lighting and exterior lighting. I should get those around new years.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
Great progress. What is this metal cylinder on the last picture? How are you planning to purge air from the D5/Isotemp coolant loop or you will be relying on a high up connection to the engine loop?

George.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Great progress. What is this metal cylinder on the last picture? How are you planning to purge air from the D5/Isotemp coolant loop or you will be relying on a high up connection to the engine loop?

George.
The silver cylinder is a compressed air tank. I have an on-board air system installed.

I am planning on tying into the engines cooling system at the AUX coolant pump under the brake booster. This location is ~6 inches higher than the isotemp inlet/outlet. I am hopeful that the height and pressure from the pump will bleed all the air out of the loop. I think total additional volume will be around half a gallon in the cooling system.

Edit: Here is a link to the on-board air system I installed. It has been working great.

http://amzn.to/1QBWloq
 
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Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
I noticed a few posts about foam and mattresses on the conversion forum.

The mattress I am using is the one below. I slept on it for a week prior to cutting it down for the van. I found it adequate. If I were to order again I believe I would opt for a 7" instead of the 5" from a comfort perspective. I have a 2" memory foam topper which I will be placing between the cooling foam and foam base on the 5" mattress.

http://amzn.to/1U0rgbQ


For our bench seat cushions we used 3" foam with a 2.8LB /ft3 density and a 55LB ILD from this seller. My wife wrapped it with 1/2" dacron. This foam is a bit low density/stiffness for a 3" thickness. I would suggest going with a 70LB foam for 3" or less. Going to 4" would also work well.

http://www.foambymail.com/foam-types-for-seats-and-cushions.html
 

d_bertko

Active member
I noticed a few posts about foam and mattresses on the conversion forum.

The mattress I am using is the one below. I slept on it for a week prior to cutting it down for the van. I found it adequate. If I were to order again I believe I would opt for a 7" instead of the 5" from a comfort perspective. I have a 2" memory foam topper which I will be placing between the cooling foam and foam base on the 5" mattress.

http://amzn.to/1U0rgbQ


For our bench seat cushions we used 3" foam with a 2.8LB /ft3 density and a 55LB ILD from this seller. My wife wrapped it with 1/2" dacron. This foam is a bit low density/stiffness for a 3" thickness. I would suggest going with a 70LB foam for 3" or less. Going to 4" would also work well.

http://www.foambymail.com/foam-types-for-seats-and-cushions.html
Coincidentally, we bought that 5" Lucid mattress (4" firm base + 1" softer top) as a replacement for our stickhouse bed. I was somewhat disappointed at the initial stiffness and tried adding the 2" memory foam topper from the van. Better.

The surprise was that it took maybe two weeks of use before the Lucid mattress reached final softness/firmness. Took our 2" van topper off after a couple of days of use and found the Lucid bed had softened reasonably. It did continue to soften as said over about two weeks use and has been stable since. I'd blame it on the superduper compression device that allows a big mattress to be shipped regular UPS.

Our bedroll of two inches of high quality 4lb memory foam rolled out over two inches of upholstered high quality firm seat foam has been a marvelous combo. Over 1000 nights on it on the road in all season use. Supportive but softened to our liking.

More is not always better---but the mattress industry figures more inches will get the customer to pay more $$$.

Dan
 

lukedog

Why Dogs Fly
I saw in one of your photos what looked like full height cabinets. how tight to the ceiling are they? Any magic getting them in place?
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
I saw in one of your photos what looked like full height cabinets. how tight to the ceiling are they? Any magic getting them in place?
I do not actually have any full height cabinetry currently. (see photo below). Due to the door openings being lower than the roof any full height cabinetry will have to go in at an angle or on side.



Becuase the cabinetry will have to be tilted over and then set upright you will need some clearance between the roof and the cabinet. Depending on cabinet depth half an inch may be sufficient? I would suggest making a mock-up prior to committing to a design.

This thread has a full height cabinet. It looks like Doug (the OP) has his cabinets a bit shorter than the full roof height. Another option would be to make the cabinet in 2 pieces, and assemble inside the van.

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27653&page=35
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Coincidentally, we bought that 5" Lucid mattress (4" firm base + 1" softer top) as a replacement for our stickhouse bed. I was somewhat disappointed at the initial stiffness and tried adding the 2" memory foam topper from the van. Better.

The surprise was that it took maybe two weeks of use before the Lucid mattress reached final softness/firmness. Took our 2" van topper off after a couple of days of use and found the Lucid bed had softened reasonably. It did continue to soften as said over about two weeks use and has been stable since. I'd blame it on the superduper compression device that allows a big mattress to be shipped regular UPS.

Our bedroll of two inches of high quality 4lb memory foam rolled out over two inches of upholstered high quality firm seat foam has been a marvelous combo. Over 1000 nights on it on the road in all season use. Supportive but softened to our liking.

More is not always better---but the mattress industry figures more inches will get the customer to pay more $$$.

Dan

It took almost a month after unpacking for the mattress to reach the advertised 5" thickness. I find the matress works well in most positions. When I lay on my side or similar I find that the mattress bottoms out a bit. Not a deal breaker but since I have the foam and the space I figured adding extra thickness can't hurt!
 

d_bertko

Active member
It took almost a month after unpacking for the mattress to reach the advertised 5" thickness. I find the matress works well in most positions. When I lay on my side or similar I find that the mattress bottoms out a bit. Not a deal breaker but since I have the foam and the space I figured adding extra thickness can't hurt!
Since you know what the 4"+1" Lucid feels like I'll compare it.

Our van bed has an underside of 2" seat foam (wrapped in heavy vinyl) topped by 2" of 4lb firm memory foam.

The van bed is equally supportive as the Lucid but the thicker memory foam is superior for side sleepers.

I'll note that we previously had a 1.5" 3lb memory foam topper in the van. The firmer, higher-quality-pour 4lb memory foam in 2" thickness is considerably more luxurious. Happy to stop there---no more of anything needed.

It is also possible that the (Polaris jetski seating remainders) vinyl serves to distribute a point load like a hip or shoulder over more area and prevents any bottoming out.

It was an interesting job to design supportive seating first (the vinyl cushions on my atv ramps) and then proceed to figure the added layer needed to soften it into a bed.

We've slept on the improved van bed for over 700 overnights so far. Both the cushions and the new memory foam have held up with no sign of degradation.

Hope some useful light is shed here.

Dan
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Partial update while waiting for the sun to rise. All the coolant lines for the Hydronic/Isotemp loop are completed. I am using this heater bypass valve. It is vacuum actuated so I am using vacuum from the engine. In its normal position both loops are isolated. When actuated the valve connects the espar/isotemp loop to the engine. This allows the engine to heat the water tank, or the espar to heat the engine.

http://amzn.to/1OeATnf







Here are the hose clamps I used.

http://amzn.to/1OeAYr3


My stock cooling pump had almost completely worn out brushes, so I had a replacement on hand. Here is the original pump in its stock location.



Here you can see the two hoses I ran for the espar loop.



Here is the new bosch replacement. It uses an O-ring seal on the main case. This allowed me to split the pump body and re-clock it 180 degrees.







Here is the pump installed. I used a ¾”-5/8” coupler. The pump output now goes downward and to the espar/isotemp loop. The return from this loop continues upward and to the sprinter heater control valve. I will likely need to insulate the long hose runs to prevent reduction in cab heater output.



I took the van for a drive thursday, and no leaks that I could identify appeared. There were a few seeps on 2 connections at the heater bypass valve. I tightened the clamps. I may need to change clamps if the seeps persist.

Bleeding the loop consisted of overfilling the expansion tank and jumping the pump. Total added coolant was about 3/4 of a gallon. But maybe a quart of that is likely to be wasteage as is comes out the overflow.
 
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Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
I just finished testing the Espar Hydronic and water heater. Wiring was very simple as just one wire needs connected to the Easy Start, and 2 wires to the fuse panel for power. Control is via the Easy Start controllers Add-On feature. This allows the operation of a second heater of any type. Because It is connected using the diagnostic line the Easy Start can also read fault codes. The simplest way to operate the add-on heater is using the timer mode. Another option is to install an external temp sensor which will allow the easy start to operate a hydronic unit as a room heater.









Here is the exhaust and intake routing. I am short a clamp, so the exhaust ending will have to wait for a bit.





Performance was good; heater took 13 minutes from a cold start to heat the water tank to over 100 degrees. Starting temp was the mid 50s. It did cycle low-high a couple of times.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
Great work, I can’t wait to get my system finished, but since me moved into our new house I still did not park my van in the garage full of boxes.

I assume that engine vacuum connects both loops when engine is running automatically. That is a very clever way to connect these loops.

Hein experienced the Isotemp thermo-switch disconnect while running high temperature coolant during climbing steep roads. The thermo-switch must be manually reset which requires taking the Isotemp gray cover off. Hein drilled a small hole so he can reset the thermo-switch without taking the gray cover off.

In your case you could have a high temperature switching valve on the vacuum line to disconnect engine coolant from Hydronic/Isotemp loop or manually disconnect coolant loops with a vacuum valve.

George.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
George, I noticed Hein's post on the over-temp topic. Is there any documentation on what the exact cut-out temperature is?

I pulled the isotemp front cover off earlier today. It looks like there is enough room to mount one of the thermostat switches you mentioned previously. The plate that contains the heater coils appears to be stainless and directly in contact with the water in the tank.

http://www.senasys.com/shop/product/2511-series-34″-thermostat-switch-large-bracket-l/

I am thinking one of these switches could be epoxied to the plate below/between the heating coil terminal bolts. I am considering a 140-165 degree thermostat. The higher temps improve water storage times. :thumbup: I will snap a photo of the area under the cover tomorrow.

The other option I was considering (which was posted in a previous thread?) is to use a DPST 120VAC relay to isolate the built in thermostat. This would allow the internal thermostat on the isotemp to control the vacuum solenoid/heater valve. When AC power is connected the relay will automatically connect the thermostat to the AC heater circuit.
 
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GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
There are many different ways of addressing this issue and I think that replacing the over temperature switch with self-resetting thermostat one could be the easiest way. There should be no harm if 105C coolant occasionally flows through the Isotemp heater or if the heater is easily accessible Hein’s manual method should work well. The high engine coolant should be the only trigger activating this over heating switch.

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showpost.php?p=305876&postcount=538
http://www.isotherm-parts.com/PDF/manuals/isotemp_2006_up.pdf

George.
 

Attachments

PCR

New member
This started with 1" of closed cell spray foam in the walls and ceiling.

All the remaining space in the roof and walls is filled with thinsulate.
Did you attach the thinsulate to the spray foam with spray adhesive? How do you like the result - insulation and noise performance?

I was thinking of doing the same but wondering whether it made a difference if the thinsulate was attached directly to the wall. thanks for the build info!
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Did you attach the thinsulate to the spray foam with spray adhesive? How do you like the result - insulation and noise performance?

I was thinking of doing the same but wondering whether it made a difference if the thinsulate was attached directly to the wall. thanks for the build info!
I used 3M 90 spray adhesive to bond the thinsulate to the foam on the roof and doors. On the walls I used some aluminum duct sealing tape. In retrospect I should have used spray adhesive, and will do so if I pull the insulation.

Its difficult to compare with regards to sound dampening with/without the spray foam. I can say for sure it is quieter. The insulation value of the foam+thinsulate is much better than a single layer of thinsulate alone. The thinsulation is much better at absorbing noise that passes through the body. However the foam provides more dampening on the panels themselves as it has higher stiffness.

For the man hours involved It may be more reasonable to go 100% foam from an insulation standpoint. However the mix of the two materials has several benefits as I perceive them. Better overall sound dampening than either alone. More flexibility for running wires and hoses, as the thinsulate can be moved/removed.

Additionally the thinsulate can be used in areas where foam is not feasible. For example the areas near door locks, and around wiring you may need to access. Compared to completely filling the walls with foam, the thinsulate compresses, so I had minimal trimming/mess that can occur when using 100% spray foam. For example I coverd the back side of the step well liners with thinsulate. Due to the tight clearance spray foam would have been difficult to use.

If I could do it all again, I would order a larger spray foam kit. I would completely fill the lower wall areas with the foam. I would use the nozzles to fill the back door cavities (except where the locks, latches are). I would still use the thinsulate/foam combo in the doors. The roof and upper walls would also remain thinsulate/foam for access and noise reduction.

This is of course a battle of diminishing returns, especially in vans with lots of glass. I am planning tight fitting insulated curtains for this purpose.

If budget is a concern, a single layer of thinsulate combined with rigid foam would be the best value IMHO.
 

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