gas heaters

[gean]

Hi to all;

I have been trying to find out about the stewart-werner gas heater that were put in voltswagen van. Do anyone know where i can find one? Are they still being made? anyother information greatly appreciated.

thanks to all

g.b.

[Sharkey]

Hi Gean, welcome to the forum.

The heaters that were installed on VW Vanagon/Westfalia campers aren't a S-W product, but was manufactured by ESPAR. There are two fuel types, gasoline and diesel, although I converted the ESPAR heater in my EV to propane without much trouble.

Check on eBay, I see these heaters come up for sale frequently, but be prepared to pay a stiff price. You can also find them in wrecking yards if you get to the vehicle before anyone else (these heaters are popular), or try going to VW swap meets (yes, they do exist).

I do have a series of installation and owner's manuals for one model of ESPAR scanned into .JPG's on this site. Have a look at my SCT documentation page (scroll to bottom of page).

[gean]

Sharkey

thanks for the info. how hard is it to convert to propane? how is it done?

again thanks for the time.

gean

[Sharkey]

The gasoline heaters will run on propane without mechanical modifications. I only needed to construct a timer to delay introduction of the fuel for 40 seconds to allow the glow plug to warm up sufficiently. I can share the circuit if you get that far along.

From what I gather, the only difference between the gas and diesel heaters is the length of the glow plug, but that's as much as I know on that subject.

[dadeo]

i have one in my truck...Im not sure if its the same thing your talking about; in mine: its a machine under the bed, in the storage area, with a dial on the control panel, an a few tubes out of the cab; one for fuel and one for exhaust. If i turn it on, it makes a sort of "pumping" noise and it heats the sleper berth real hot!! Ive been told it uses only one gallonof diesel per night, as opposed to the 5 gallon it takes to run the engine. Oh, also, I started it on a cold day, and then saw the exhaust smoke right by the stack for the truck. a little nasty, but its ok!