In the winter and on cold chilly nights I’m going to need more than just layers of clothes to keep warm. The van has plenty of insulation behind the walls, floor and ceiling but this won’t be enough. So a heater is necessary.

I have purchased a Propex Heatsource HS2000. It cost me £480 and is well worth the money. It runs straight off the 11kg gas bottle.

On the control switch I have the choice of blowing air in from the outside or blow hot air. The heater takes minutes to warm the van.

 

 

Installation

I’ve installed the heater at the bottom of my cupboard next to the bed.

 

It came with a sheet of paper with the exact dimensions of the propex heater. I used it on the floor where I wanted the heater to go and It showed me the exact points were to drill the holes in the floor for the flues.

 

 

Flues connected to heater and tighten with jubilee clips.

 

I purchased 8mm copper pipe and screwed it tightly to the back of heater with a copper olive that came with the heater.

 

 

Under the van I put heat resistant silicone sealant to cover the holes up. It is needed as the exhaust flue gets very hot.

 

 

• Both flues and the gas pipe are fixed underneath the van with clamps that are provided.
• The exhaust flue and air inlet have to be away from each other under the van so the air inlet don’t suck in the exhaust fumes.
• The gas pipe goes up through the floor in to my cupboard where the gas is stored.

 

The gas pipe from the heater sticks up though the floor. I attached a flexible gas pipe between it and the manifold and tightened with jubilee clips.

 

At the front of the cupboard is where the hot air will come out. I cut a hole in the wood for the outlet vent to go in and connected a flue from the heater to the vent.

 

 

I also put a air vent on the side of the cupboard to help the heater not over heat and to breathe.

 

Electric to heater

Now the heater is connected to all the flues, gas and vents, all that is left Is connect the power to it.

The heater comes with two set of cables, one that will connect to the fuse box (positive and negative) and the other for the control switch.

First they had to be connected to motherboard that was easily done by opening up the side of heater and then the two set of cables clipped in.

• The positive and negative wires connected to my fuse box under my bed. See my other post on installing 12v electrics for more details. It even includes a electrics diagram.
• The cable for the control switch ran up the inside of the cupboard to the top, this is where Ile have the switch. It simply clipped in the back of the switch.

 

 

 

 

To finish it off I boxed the heater in with a cut piece of plywood.

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• Van conversion