This is a follow up to an earlier thread discussing the merits of diesel heaters 24v, 12v etc.
I purchased a 24v Eberspacher D1LC heater from a chap on eBay. It sat in its box until a couple of days ago when I started to look at fixing it into my 1990 110 CSW (2.5 TD)
As ever with these jobs, planning is the key. I spent a fair amount of time looking at the options for mounting as well as where the hot air vents could be located.
I also made up a mounting plate for the heater. This plate could be drilled accurately in my workshop, which meant that I could then just hack a chunk out of the car! (I work on the measure with string, mark with chalk, cut with axe engineering system!)
The chosen location was in the drivers seat box. A hole was hacked in the bottom with enough overlap to fit the mounting plate.
A larger hole was made in line with the heater, at the back end of the seat box. This was for the fresh air intake.
Another larger hole was made at the opposite end to take the hot air output pipe.
Finally two more holes were made, one for the 24v + & - cables and one to the 7 day timer/thermostat cable. (This was slightly awkward as it has a rectangular plug on the end. It came out the bottom of the box then entered the cabin just under the handbrake and was then hidden under carpet on its way to the dashboard.
The cubby box and centre panel was removed and holes drilled in the footwells between the transmission tunnel and drivers/passengers seat boxes. i.e. towards the centre line of the car. This was chosen to allow the heat to be directed along the edge of the footwell and not directly into the middle (a mandatory requirement of my main passenger
- the wife!)
A "Y" pipe was fitted with extra hot air piping (obtained through eBay at very much reduced prices compared to "Eberspacher" spares, and in my opinion just as good!)
The piping was held in place using 2.5" jubilee clips and the whole lot supported using a couple of tie wraps either side of the transmission tunnel.
As I run veggie, I had ordered a separate diesel tank. This fits behind a new bulkhead (I put in for the dogs to create a safe "dog zone" in the back area of the car) and the centre seat of the middle row. Holes were drilled in the floor for the diesel (out), breather (out) and diesel return (temporarily capped - not needed for the heater). The diesel pump was mounted on the inside of the chassis member just behind the rear suspension arm mount.
Fuel tubing / electrics to/from the pump was run and held using tie wraps along various chassis members.
The 7 day timer/thermostat was fitted just alongside the clock/cigarette lighter/rear wash-wipe switches. A word of warning here, this is LCD and I had the angle wrong! I needed to step the bottom out a distance to make sure that it was visible from a normal driving position. (Not leaning sideways and downwards, which was the only way of reading it the first time that I fixed it!)
Electrics - now this is where it was potentially very complicated. Showing financial restraint (OK tighter than a duck's a...) I had bought a 24v version. There were many suggestions of how to run with two batteries, in the end, (unusually for me) I went for the simple option. I nicked my sons "Imp" battery and connected it in series with the existing battery. To make life easy, between the "+" of the existing battery and the "-" of the "Imp" battery there is a 15A blade fuse (could be anything, but a minimum of 15A) Similarly between the "+" of the Imp battery and the Heater there is another 15A blade fuse (must be
15A). This means that once a week when I charge the battery, I just remove both fuses and the battery is in "splendid isolation"!The last job was to fit the combustion exhaust (supplied) this just points down the car (it should be pointed into the "wind") and in fact points into the centre area. The inlet air to the combustion must be the same length. This wasn't supplied but I was told that "heater" pipe would do, so a 19mm piece was cut to size and fitted.
Diesel was added to the tank, both fuses inserted and the "On" button pressed. Well, the fan worked at least, but no sign of combustion. I was slightly concerned that I had heard (grapevine) that if it should fail to start three times, it shuts done and has to be reset by a dealer.
120 seconds, still no heat :-( I went under the vehicle to check that diesel was coming through (it was a clear line). Yup, there was diesel. On sliding out under the side I touched the combustion exhaust pipe. The burns on my arm indicated that combustion was taking place! And indeed there was hot air coming out the vents.I have just had an 80 mile round trip today with the heater running the whole time. Toasty warm cabin (for a change) and a very happy spouse!
Well impressed.
Have a Happy (and warm!) New Year
Cheers
Peter
1959 A40 Farina 1964 Rover P4 110 1973 Hillman Imp 1990 110 CSW (Reggie the Veggie)