mtnick
Member
Espar Airtronic Install-
So I purchased an Espar D2 earlier this summer, but just finally got around to doing the install. Under the passenger seat seemed like a logical place to mount it. I spent a fair bit of time reading about Midwestdrifter's install here:
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showpost.php?p=411272&postcount=67
As usual Johnathan did a wonderful job with his install and write up. The one thing that I wanted to do differently was the routing of the the heat ducting. I really didn't want to restrict the air flow with any unnecessary bends. I also wanted to leave as much free space as possible under the seat to store other thinngs. I was also concerned about the amount of space on the floor between the wire channel and the underbody support members that are in the area. So I decided to build a mounting plate that lifted the heater off the floor.
I built this out of aluminum, because I just happened to have a bunch of scrap aluminum sitting around. The bracket allowed me to angle the heater up and toward the center line of the seat pedestal.
You can see here that there is very little bend in the heat duct.
I used high temp silicone to seal the exhaust connection to the heater. I also used this same red silicone to seal around the hoses as they exited the floor of the van.
You can see here that there is plenty of room to bring the hoses down through the floor when you don’t have to worry about having enough of a flat surface to mount the heater to. The exhaust pipe is actually a bit over the edge and into the wire channel that goes between the seats. The exhaust pipe sneaks out from underneath the heat shield and travels a bit toward the back of the van to where I mounted the muffler.
The combustable air intake and fuel line are routed toward the driver side. And I mounted the fuel pump right next the the pump of ray hydronic heater. I used a brass 1/4’ barbed “T” and used standard rubber fuel line for the supply side of the pump.
I then cleaned up the interior install a bit.
My Espar kit came with the Easy Star Select controller. It is a newer basic, yet digital controller. I opted to add an external temperature sensor. I ordered this sensor from the Espar / Varnish folks in the UK:
http://www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk/Eberspacher_Sensor.html
That little blurry thing is the temp sensor.
So far I am very happy with the amount of heat output. It is getting chilly here in Montana. We are looking forward to testing it out this weekend for a Fall trip to Glacier National Park.
A big thanks to Midwestdrifter for his advice on this install. This was a daunting install, but once I started things went fairly smoothly.
So I purchased an Espar D2 earlier this summer, but just finally got around to doing the install. Under the passenger seat seemed like a logical place to mount it. I spent a fair bit of time reading about Midwestdrifter's install here:
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showpost.php?p=411272&postcount=67
As usual Johnathan did a wonderful job with his install and write up. The one thing that I wanted to do differently was the routing of the the heat ducting. I really didn't want to restrict the air flow with any unnecessary bends. I also wanted to leave as much free space as possible under the seat to store other thinngs. I was also concerned about the amount of space on the floor between the wire channel and the underbody support members that are in the area. So I decided to build a mounting plate that lifted the heater off the floor.
I built this out of aluminum, because I just happened to have a bunch of scrap aluminum sitting around. The bracket allowed me to angle the heater up and toward the center line of the seat pedestal.
You can see here that there is very little bend in the heat duct.
I used high temp silicone to seal the exhaust connection to the heater. I also used this same red silicone to seal around the hoses as they exited the floor of the van.
You can see here that there is plenty of room to bring the hoses down through the floor when you don’t have to worry about having enough of a flat surface to mount the heater to. The exhaust pipe is actually a bit over the edge and into the wire channel that goes between the seats. The exhaust pipe sneaks out from underneath the heat shield and travels a bit toward the back of the van to where I mounted the muffler.
The combustable air intake and fuel line are routed toward the driver side. And I mounted the fuel pump right next the the pump of ray hydronic heater. I used a brass 1/4’ barbed “T” and used standard rubber fuel line for the supply side of the pump.
I then cleaned up the interior install a bit.
My Espar kit came with the Easy Star Select controller. It is a newer basic, yet digital controller. I opted to add an external temperature sensor. I ordered this sensor from the Espar / Varnish folks in the UK:
http://www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk/Eberspacher_Sensor.html
That little blurry thing is the temp sensor.
So far I am very happy with the amount of heat output. It is getting chilly here in Montana. We are looking forward to testing it out this weekend for a Fall trip to Glacier National Park.
A big thanks to Midwestdrifter for his advice on this install. This was a daunting install, but once I started things went fairly smoothly.
Last edited: