Propex heaters - inside or outside?

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CJH
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by CJH »

Oldiebut goodie wrote:Yes.
They are not my prices - they are Eberspächer's, you can see why I think that they are overpriced. Mind you Webasto's will not be far behind.

Sorry - didn't mean to imply it was you doing the gouging. Captive market, sole supplier etc I suppose.
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by Oldiebut goodie »

kevtherev wrote:
Oldiebut goodie wrote:
kevtherev wrote:With a propex I would put it in a box that is outside proof.
something galvanised would be ideal
Stainless is cheap enough - it doesn't have to be heavy gauge.

Large baking tins are galvanised iirc
More work, weld it up then pickle it etc and galvanize, more expense. Stainless, weld it up and go.
I use a stainless baking tin - you don't lose the tinning when you clean it with caustic soda then.
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by cleagarr »

kevtherev wrote:With a propex I would put it in a box that is outside proof.
something galvanised would be ideal

Out of interest Kev, why would you do that?

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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by Oldiebut goodie »

tforturton wrote:So, who's got one underneath their bus?
Trucker has his Webasto Airtop 2000 underneath - it is mounted in the old Eberspächer D2L box. (I persuaded him that it would fit!)
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by BOXY »

My replacement Propex is back underneath where the old one was. It was a freebie from my friendly VW garage in Bodmin so my thinking was: A coat a zinc primer and it'll last another few years and didn't cost anything anyway.

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If I'd paid a few hundred quid for a new one it would definitely be inside.
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by kevtherev »

cleagarr wrote:
kevtherev wrote:With a propex I would put it in a box that is outside proof.
something galvanised would be ideal

Out of interest Kev, why would you do that?

Cheers
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by kevtherev »

BOXY wrote:My replacement Propex is back underneath where the old one was. It was a freebie from my friendly VW garage in Bodmin so my thinking was: A coat a zinc primer and it'll last another few years and didn't cost anything anyway.

Image

If I'd paid a few hundred quid for a new one it would definitely be inside.

Interesting, how does it draw air in from the van interior?
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by CJH »

kevtherev wrote: Interesting, how does it draw air in from the van interior?

The warmish air inside the van is pushed out of the van's air vents, where it raises the atmospheric temperature by a tiny amount. This slightly warmed atmosphere is then drawn back into the Propex and heated up some more.

This is called 'global warming', a bit like what those gas patio heaters do.
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by kevtherev »

:ok
:D :D
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by BOXY »

Interesting, how does it draw air in from the van interior?

It seems to work ok. There's no thermostat so it just runs full chat as soon as I flick the switch on the zig. I only really use it to warm the van up after winter trips to the beach. Now I think about it shouldn't it work better by sucking in cold dense, oxygen rich air from outside rather than warm thinner, higher CO2 air from inside?
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by CJH »

BOXY wrote:
Interesting, how does it draw air in from the van interior?

It seems to work ok. There's no thermostat so it just runs full chat as soon as I flick the switch on the zig. I only really use it to warm the van up after winter trips to the beach. Now I think about it shouldn't it work better by sucking in cold dense, oxygen rich air from outside rather than warm thinner, higher CO2 air from inside?

I believe the idea is that by recirculating the air inside the van you don't waste the heat energy that's already in it. But of course you do need natural ventilation. I'm guessing that by pulling in cold air from the outside you're not making a huge difference to the efficiency of the Propex, plus you get the benefit of forced ventilation as you say.
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by BOXY »

Disregard my question above. I've just been thinking about it again. The combustion chamber inlet is separate from the inlet the heated air gets drawn in to. It would work better if it drew air for the heating side from inside the van. Autohomes obviously didn't think this through when they fitted the first one :)
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by kevtherev »

Ah well no point in changing it now :D
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by Oldiebut goodie »

It is only the same as some cars - you can have the heater warm up outside air or in recirculating mode it heats up the interior air. Interestingly when in recirculation mode it doesn't seem to clear the windscreen as well as with outside fresh air.
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Re: Propex heaters - inside or outside?

Post by shepster »

I'm considering moving mine outside for a couple of reasons, where it is at the moment the outlet is directly behind the vent so is quite noisy and also to free up a bit of space in that cupboard.

I was thinking of making a weatherproof box out of aluminium sheet and mounting it under the van where Boxy has his, Is there much heat loss having it underneath?
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