Introduction

Even if you only intend to go away in your van to warm countries and in the summer, I'd still recommend fitting a good heater. Its amazing how cold it can get in a van at 3am, and its amazing how satisfying it is being able to flick a heater on with your big toe without even getting out of bed!

Heater Types

There are two main options for heaters - gas or diesel fueled. The only heaters I would recommend for campervans are the 'room-sealed' type ones where all of the combustion gases produced are vented to the outside of the van.  Open convection type heaters always scare me and I certainly wouldn't like to have one on while I was asleep! 

Here I only cover the installation of the Propex 1800 blown air heater. My personal preference is for propane fueled heaters as I'm a bit nervous about tapping into the vehicle's diesel supply - apparently its pretty easy to do though, so don't let me put you off. The big advantage I can see of diesel powered heaters is that its generally going to be pretty easy (and essential anyway) to fill back up with diesel, whereas refilling or replacing gas canisters can sometimes be a bit of a pain - especially when abroad since (amazingly) none of the fittings are standardised.

Propex Heatsource 1800

Steps

• Step 1 - Locate where you will mount the heater.
• Step 2 - Drill holes for the external air intake and exhaust.
• Step 3 - Fix heater to floor.
• Step 4 - Run piping and fit the internal heating vents.
• Step 5 - Wire electrics.

How to Install a Heater in your Campervan

You obviously need to have worked out in advance where the heater in your camper van will be located.  As it involves drilling into the metal shell of the van it is best to do this early on (before all the units and before the floor is in place) so it is easy to clear up all the metal filings you will generate.  I also had to raise my heater up slightly to ensure it was level. 

You then need to drill 2 holes in the floor of your van for the external exhaust pipe and air intake pipe.  These are fixed to the bottom of the heater and need to go to the outside of the van.  Take the chance to double check your positioning.  As detailed above, a room sealed heater needs a source of oxygen and a vent for the combustion gases which is separate and "sealed off" from the inside of the van.  This is what these pipes and the holes in your floor are for.  There are 2 issues here:

• Be VERY CAREFUL about what you are drilling into.  Check the underneath of your van first! 
• The air intake has to be positioned where it will be able to draw up clean air i.e. not near the van exhaust or the heater exhaust pipe.  You also need to ensure there will be room inside the van for the heat ducting pipe!

Once you've created the holes for the intake & exhaust (use a big drill bit followed by a round file), you can fix the heater down using the mounting brackets and some self tapping screws (once again, make sure you know what you're screwing into!).  Use anti-rusting paint (e.g. hammerite) at every opportunity and make really sure you get rid of any metal filings as these are destined to rust and make a mess of your nice new van!

Once the heaters in place, you need to fit the under-van pipes and cut them to size.  You then need to run the internal piping.  The heater will pull fresh cold air from the interior of the van in through the air intake, warm it through the heater and then pump it back out into the van as nice hot air.  The heater intake and out vent need to be mounted inside the van.  I've put them in the side of a unit which surrounds the heater.  Remember to give yourself enough room for all the ducting - you have one intake and as many outlets as you like with ducting leading from the heater to the outlets.  You should think carefully where you put the vents and make sure they'll be somewhere where they won't be blocked and remember warm air rises!

Heater Vents

Finally you need to wire the heater up to the second / leisure battery (see Electrics section).