So an offer came up on ebay and I quickly snagged myself a Propex heater. This is not something I had been planning but was at the back of my mind the whole time. I had ruled out an eberspacher a long while ago due to the service costs when something goes wrong and a little more effort to fit.
I think if money was less of an issue I would go with the eberspacher so you can use the fuel you are already carrying. Im not 100% sure but the only other benefit over the Propex heater I would also like would be that the Propex cuts on an off to keep the temperature whereas I believe the eberspacher will just run at a low temp.
So with the Propex turning up and cold weather due it took me no time installing it. Which required a hole in the floor for the intake and exhaust I then used some high temp silicone to seal the hole.
Next was to add a T to my existing Gas pipe to run to the heater, leak test and finally run a 12v feed. So within a very short time I was ready for my first test which went horrendously and had to spend ages looking through the instructions to find out what the flashing error codes meant. Then realising I probably would be better turning the Gas on everything went back to plan.
The heater has had some good use down to about -5c we tend to use it in the evening when having dinner relaxing in the van and before going to bed. We never really left it on over night as once tucked up in bed you couldn’t feel the cold we found we may occasionally give it a blast in the early hours if you had a cold nose and then heat up the van before needing to get out of bed.
It’s something I can’t imagine not having it in any future vans as it can make your time in the van so much more comfortable. And allow you out any time of the year not that it stopped me previously but its certainly made a difference.
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