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!  If you're thinking about being warm in your campervan or motorhome, you might also want to read what we've written about campervan insulation and window insulation mats.  If you've already decided to install a heater, then you can use our shop to buy heaters for campervans and motorhomes.

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 2000 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 (we now sell the newer version of this in our shop - Propex 2000 campervan heater on sale.  We also sell a more powerful version for bigger campervans or motorhomes - the Propex HeatSource 2800 heater.

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 (either use a hole cutter or just 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.  When you buy one of these heaters (available in our online shop here) you also need to buy a 'fixing kit' which includes all the ducting, pipes, vents, fixings,etc - we aways sell the Propex 2000 heater with the single outlet kit and the bigger Propex 2800 heater with a double outlet kit which we reckon makes alot of sense.  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 (cold air in through the left, hot air out on the right)

In retrospect it may have made sense to position the cold air intake slightly further away from the hot air outlet, and pick your vent locations carefully so they aren't going to have things dumped in front of them all the time.  You'll also need to pick a convenient spot for the thermostat which controls the heater going on and off - I suggest you place it in a position similar to where you'll be sitting in the van and somewhere fairly central where you can easily reach it from your seat / bed / etc.

Finally you need to wire the heater and thermostat up to the second / leisure battery (see Electrics section).  There is more info on campervan and motorhome heaters in the heater section of our online shop.