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Heater mount location? and exhaust routing?

8.6K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  bdosborn  
#1 ·
Last rig, the heater was under the passenger seat. Wasn't super awesome in terms of air-flow location since it's primarily at night - when we're in bed - when we want the heat AND it blows right out the door every time the slider is opened. And the exhaust pretty much came in the slider every time it was opened. But it worked. And effectively took no space from anything else.

We were determined to put it ahead of the rear driver's side wheel this time... but that ended up being the electronics.

So... leaning toward the passenger seat again. Or /possibly/ behind the driver's side rear wheel with ducts to bring the air forward.

Two concerns:

1- if we go passenger seat, IIRC it's a no-no to route the exhaust pipe UP - meaning we can't route the exhaust over to the driver's side? Anyone done it? or correct me? or have a better option?

2- much as I hate to waste the floor / storage space behind the rear wheel... I'm also very concerned that it will be a mud mess back there. Any thoughts / ideas if we were to put it there?
 
#3 ·
If you go with the Propex heater they have a version that you can mount outside.
Works great for us and no lost interior space.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk
Where did you mount this (pictures?), and how are the ducts run to the interior? It was on my short list initially but I opted for the HS2000 instead. If I do another build I might favour the external version.
 
#4 ·
Mine is mounted in the rear, roughly 3' from the back and 1' from the driver's side. The floor ribs had a huge influence on my decision, and there's a place where it's nice and flat there. Another exists a few feet behind the driver's seat, which is where I have a floor vent.

The furnace lives in the bottom of a cabinet that would have otherwise not been that useful due to the wheel well being right there. The heat duct vent is mounted nearby.
 
#13 ·
149972
This interior version has the combustion intake and exhaust on bottom of the unit shown above. The mounting location did not have space to accommodate this unit to duct intake and exhaust directly through the floor.

Interesting discovery: The Propex thermostat received with my unit will not turn on the heater on a warm day. After some LPG system work, I wanted to purge out any air, had to wait for cooler temps. So what's the point: I you are gonna want to have a Transit-Propex-sweat lodge, ya gotta get a different thermostat🤣
 
#18 ·
I put mine in front of the passenger side rear wheel. The van floor is flat there so the install is pretty easy and it isn't in the way.
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The combustion air exhaust exits in front of the rear wheel and angles towards the back. No problems with exhaust coming in when the slider is open so far.
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The rear wall of the kitchen counter straddles the heater.
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The hot air is directed out through the garage into the living space. You can't see it in the picture but there is an adjustable splitter that supplies warm air to the garage.
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I used a flat louver on the hot air exhaust rather than the angled one you see on most installations. The angled one heated too much of the floor or directed the hot air straight up. A curtain between the front seats and the living space helps a lot with this arrangement.
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I made sure to put the thermostat up at bed height. This arrangement works well for us and I don't have to remove the seat to maintain the heater.
Bruce
P.S. I would have put it on the driver side if I had thought about installing it earlier in my build.