Heating Upgrade

The Propex Compact 1600 LPG Gas heater just didn't seem to come up to the mark for us, it was a 2KW output which in our LWB van seemed to take ages to warm up, plus we found once up to temperature the thermostat didn't seem to be able to control the heater to maintain temperature and just kept clicking on and off as it pleased.  This lent towards a new thermostat which was around £35 from Propex, now here is the dilemma...
Do we spend £35 on a new thermostat? or do we go ahead and buy a new Chinese Diesel heater at £100?
We opted for a new 5KW diesel heater which cost us with a voucher £90 from Ebay.
We will sell the Propex later on Ebay to hopefully recoup the cost of the new heater.

This heater came with all the kit needed to carry out the fit with no problems.

Luckily, I had the foresight when building the van to allow myself access to the heater in case of repair.

Removal of the Propex was straight forward and didn't take long at all.

A pretty straight forward swap from the Propex to the new diesel heater.

The main issue was deciding how to provide fuel for the new diesel heater, do we us the new 10 Ltr tank that came with the heater, or do I opt to tap the main van fuel tank with a direct feed?

The main consideration started as wondering to fit the new small fuel tank without the risk of diesel fumes in the van from filling it up.  Decision made, gonna tap the main van fuel tank.

Easier said than done as it happens!  The van fuel tank does not hardly have any flat surfaces to fit a standpipe into.  Much reading and Googling I decided to tap the fuel tank right next to the fuel pump access as seen in the next couple of photos.  There was just enough flat area to tap and fit the standpipe without interfering with the workings of the fuel pump and sender unit float.

Stupidly I broke the locking ring on the pump / sender housing, but hopefully not enough for it to leak fuel.  Time will tell on that one!

Fuel tank tapped, now to run the fuel line to the heaters pump and to the heater itself.

Heater fuel pump

Fuel filter prior to the pump.

The instructions that came with the heater were vague to say the least, but good ole You Tube to the rescue with many videos on how to prime the fuel system and run the heater thankfully!

All in all, a good move and the new diesel heater is great!  

Well pleased with the end result and fitting.  The heater runs up beautifully and heats the van up to the preset temperature fairly quickly.  Long may it last.

Note worthy here is, we have fitted a Carbon Monoxide detector and smoke detector.