So here goes my Van Gogh project!!

Luc said:

How do you go about locking or fixing the two sliding pannels? I would guess you need to hold them in the closed position for securing contents and also preventing rattle right?
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Click to expand...

For rattle prevention I weaved a fishing line with Teflon outer casing of the correct diameter. For locking I made a little gadget but you could use a ball detent pin. https://www.google.com/search?q=bal...srYAhUJ5oMKHZ-XDqUQ_AUICygC&biw=2560&bih=1260

Beautiful and inspiring build! Thanks for taking the time to document it

Ohhh this is briliant!
Thanks!


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My Planar 44D heater just came in today!!
I will try to document the installation as best as I can.
I will try really hard to install under passenger seat while leaving in place the aux battery



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Today I went to a truck heater system installer and got two!!! That’s right, 2!!!! Fuel pick up tubes installed on my tank sending unit.

So long story short, i wanted an independent fuel point for : wallas stove, planar (espar D4), and factory original Espar water heater.

The reason for this is that I had a « t » installed on the factory Espar in order to run the Wallas. Lets just say that I got some unpredictable results on the Wallas for reasons that i still cannot explain.

So while we had the tank dropped, we installed the standpipes they had in stock : a Webasto with the banjo fitting and the Espar pickup tube.

Here are a few pics until i finish the install of the planar 44D heater.



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It is important to get the right torque on the large retaining ring. Otherwise fuel seeps can happen. A bit of permatex number 2 sealant cant hurt either.

Midwestdrifter said:

It is important to get the right torque on the large retaining ring. Otherwise fuel seeps can happen. A bit of permatex number 2 sealant cant hurt either.

Click to expand...

Are you talking on the big ring for the fuel pump/sending unit? It was actually easy to take off by hand(strangely) but we tightened it up quite a bit more (but still by hand)


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Luc said:

Are you talking on the big ring for the fuel pump/sending unit? It was actually easy to take off by hand(strangely) but we tightened it up quite a bit more (but still by hand)


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Click to expand...

Yes. Not a big deal, but if you have fuel seeping on a full tank, that is the likely culprit. Mine.came off pretty easy as well.

There is so much that I like on your build, Luc! Thanks for documenting and sharing everything. I am planning a similar layout with many of the same features.

Although I'm going to use the Webasto cooktop and Espar D2, I'm very interested in hearing about your experience with the Wallas.

How do you like your foot pump for the water?

HarryN said:

Thanks for starting this thread.

There are various ways to look at the rust / age situation:

...

Click to expand...

What Harry said.

Any real monetary value in an older Sprinter has already gone away. That's why I own two Sprinters. The 2004 is reliable, but if sold won't get me much money.

If the underside is in generally good condition and it's mechanically sound then you'll be fine. My rusty brush painted 2004 still looks ok from 10 feet away.

Enjoy the T1N. They are a nice truck.

vic

TamagoVan said:

There is so much that I like on your build, Luc! Thanks for documenting and sharing everything. I am planning a similar layout with many of the same features.

Although I'm going to use the Webasto cooktop and Espar D2, I'm very interested in hearing about your experience with the Wallas.

How do you like your foot pump for the water?

Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply! Thanks!!

Since I sorted out the fuel supply for the Wallas, it has been performing flawlessly. The only negative points are the following:
-Time to heat up (a good 5-7 minutes)
-Time to cool down (about the same)
-Fan noise while operating

In retrospect, today, if I had to start over again (and because I ended up adding an extra air heater) I probably would increase my battery bank and get an induction cook-top. But I don't regret the Wallas.

The foot pump : brilliant! I can't understand why it isn't more widespread. Silent, no power usage, reliable, frees both hands, makes you save water because you really only use exactly the amount you need.

Back reporting after installing and using the Planar 44D heater.

I installed it early spring 2018, and have now used it a few times in the spring/fall, and now a bunch of time (20+) in the cold Quebec winter.

Aside from the controller taking some getting used to, I have to say I LOVE the heater. It's a game changer for my winter camping, and party sleep-over applications.

Installation was pretty straight forward, considering the fuel pick-up had been installed beforehand.

A really good tip the truck outfitters gave me was to use a 4" steel turbo pipe (like they have in big trucks) and use that as a flange to pass the inlet, exhaust and fuel line. That way, I only needed to drill a 4" hole in the floor of the van and everything goes-in, in one drop. It will make it much easier also to do maintenance when it is needed. They also had an Espar mounting plate laying around, and the bolt pattern was exactly the same, so I used that for the interface with the 4" pipe.

I might try to mount the heater under the van one day (in order to reduce internal noise, although I'm not sure how much this would reduce the noise, since it's basically generated from the fan, and if the outlet is only 6" under the floor, the sound should be pretty present).

I am starting to think about adding a heater.

It looks like the 44D is the big brother of the 2D ?

For this area, the smaller unit is most likely sufficient as it seldom gets below 0F, and mostly I would use it to help dry out the 35 - 45 F moist / foggy air.

I have even thought about being lazy and buying this canned version so that it can be used in multiple applications and locations:

https://totalcomposites.com/product/portable-diesel-air-heater-planar-3d-12-volt/

Did you buy the 44D mostly for the capacity or was there more to the decision?

HarryN said:

I am starting to think about adding a heater.

It looks like the 44D is the big brother of the 2D ?

For this area, the smaller unit is most likely sufficient as it seldom gets below 0F, and mostly I would use it to help dry out the 35 - 45 F moist / foggy air.

I have even thought about being lazy and buying this canned version so that it can be used in multiple applications and locations:

https://totalcomposites.com/product/portable-diesel-air-heater-planar-3d-12-volt/

Did you buy the 44D mostly for the capacity or was there more to the decision?

Click to expand...

Hi Harry!

Here is my thought process.
Last winter I only had the Wallas XC Duo. It is rated at 1.8kW of heat output when in heating mode. Last winter in -25c (-12F) it was only able to barely maintain 0c (32F) inside.
That convinced me that I needed more than a 2kW heater, and that's why I went to the 44D (4kW).

Later on, I read somewhere (from someones experience I think?) that the Wallas, even though rated at 1.8kW does not really output that kind of heat, and that a 2D (2kW) could have done the job.

If I listen to the power output volume level of my 44D when it's really cold, it is definitely running at more that half power. When the temps are milder, yes of course, it is running at or bellow medium, so a 2kW would work in those cases. I selected the unit for extreme conditions. Was this a wise choice? In my case, if I encounter this -25c a few nights a year, then my personal answer is : yes. Cost wasn't that much more. And for the carbon build-up issue, I will hope that my seller's solution will work. He recommends running at full blast for 5-10 minutes, any time you have been running on low for a long time, and this burns up buildup. I think it makes sense, and after a good 15-20 times of using for a full night on low, and then turning it up, I can't see when I will have issues (not sure you can see predictable degradation where you can definitely say : aha! carbon buildup!).

That canned version you shared is really interesting! Maybe a bit on the expensive side compared to making the kit on your own though... Depends if you have time on your hands or not.

Cheers!

Thanks for the information on the heater. If anyone understood heating a van it would be a Canadian.

It makes perfect sense to me to have a heater that covers the more extreme needs vs just when it is only moderately cold.

My own use is to heat up my work space so that I can extend my working hours (earlier in the morning - later at night) and drive off some of the chilly / moist air. Perhaps that tells you if I have time to roll my own or not.

For the pre-built power systems that we build and sell, it is easy to see the 3 - 4 big ticket items, but what always surprises me (even with the spread sheet) is how fast the secondary items add up, plus no doubt I would end up doing it at least 2x to be happy enough. My guess is that they face the same things that I do cost wise.

Anyway, since the critical thing is to have some warm air always flowing across the floor, maybe having a unit that has to always keep blowing a modest amount of warm air is what I am after.

What I should do is get a heat pump for both summer and winter use, but that is a ways off.

Take care,

Harry

I finally installed an electronic temperature controller for my Vitrifrigo C85i.

I haven't found anything really detailed out there, so I thought I would post it here.

I just finished doing it this weekend, and looked at it cycle a few dozen times, and at the moment I can say that it's pretty darn accurate and responsive.

I also wanted to add fans inside the fridge in order to even out the air temperature throughout.

So here are the items I purchased:

2 ( 1 + 1 spare) temperature Controls on Amazon.com
Bayite digital temperature controller
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011VGAPOC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And also 2 fans (that I installed inside the fridge, connected in parallel to the condenser fan, but I find them too noisy, so I installed an external switch to turn them off at night):
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B071WMHNG5/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also bought 2 of these other fans (that I haven't installed, but they seem quieter although bigger):
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B072HJ38PS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So basically, I passed the wires through the hole in the back of the fridge that is already there for the coolant line.

Connected 2 small fans, 1 blowing up in the back of the evaporator and 1 blowing down, in order to get a good swirl of air going on. I had tested the fans in the house prior to installing, but after everything was done, the noisiest part of the system (compressor and all) are these 2 little fans. So I ended up installing a cut-off switch for these fans so I can turn them off at night. I made sure the fans would not interfere with the drip pan and the wire rack in the highest position I use it at.

The fans are connected in parallel with the condenser fans that are installed in the rear of the fridge. I had already replaced this fan (and added a second one) with a less noisy and lower consumption fan, so adding these small fans do not trigger the over amp fault for the condenser fan.

Pretty straight forward to do, very cheap. Took me about 4 hours, but I was really laid back doing this.

On the temp controller diagram, there were 3 choices for wiring which had me confused. I ended up using the 3rd choice which was named "not recommended", which is only a dry contact. This is actually what you want because the mechanical thermostat that is there originally is only sending an "open/closed" signal that is not powered.

I also saw that there is a resistor on the T terminal to change the compressor speed (some of these have a resistor and some don't). On mine it was a 265 Ohms resistor, which makes the compressor speed increase to 2,500rpm instead of the stock 2,000rpm

I can't wait to see how this is going to work in the summer heat, but I would put money on the fact that it will perform better. I would have crazy variations this summer while just trying to fine tune the old mechanical clicker box. The termocouple reacts so fast that you can't beat that.

Thanks for reading!

FYI, that resistor block on the back of the compressor control unit changes the compressor speed. So you could wire a potentiometer, switch with different resistors, or even use the high/low speed output from some thermostats. This allows the compressor speed to be modulated to reduce cycling. Ideally you want the compressor to run as long as possible by adjusting the speed down. This reduces power consumption.

Very cool Luc.....I am a little foggy on how you connected the temperature controller to the refrigerator's controller. Can you expand on that?

wankel7 said:

Very cool Luc.....I am a little foggy on how you connected the temperature controller to the refrigerator's controller. Can you expand on that?

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Well I just unplugged the "T" and "C" terminal on the fridge controller. The compressor turns on whenever there is continuity between these 2 terminals.

I then wire the dry contact relay of the electronic controller on these same 2 terminals on the fridge controller. Voilà! That simple

Luc said:

Thanks!

Well I just unplugged the "T" and "C" terminal on the fridge controller. The compressor turns on whenever there is continuity between these 2 terminals.

I then wire the dry contact relay of the electronic controller on these same 2 terminals on the fridge controller. Voilà! That simple

Click to expand...

Wow that is easy...the wire choice doesn't matter either since it is just continuity?

Is your fridge controller DC only?

I found a commercially available 12V controller....nicely done doing it for under $20 when they are charging $175.
https://www.go2marine.com/product/3...NQUDHReiEQBSg_cU8otazbIR5BIyTOjzxMf2sQLWXn7nY

They also sell a few other controllers that work with compressor speed.