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I have been intrigued by the idea of using a diesel air (parking) heater as an alternative choice in furnace for my new 28' Charmac deck over trailer. This is my first enclosed trailer, so I have enjoyed reading through this forum for ideas in designing my own, and decided to document my build here in the event that anyone else is interested in giving it a try or is at least curious.
Before making the decision, I listed my requirements to make sure that this heater would meet my needs.
1) Budget - I was looking for a furnace option, that all in, would be around $500 or less (not trying to go on the cheap, I would just rather spend my money on sleds and gear).
2) I enjoy doing what I call "hobby engineer" projects, and I was interested in doing something different that would require me to think through things a little differently. Designing, inventing, and installing a solution was something I was excited about.
3) Most of my riding is a 15-20 minute trailer ride from my home, the longest I have trailered my sleds is about 2.5hrs. I wasn't looking for anything that could run all night, (I don't use my trailer as a sleeping chamber) but I was very interested in something I could fire up before leaving the house and leave running while I drove to the parking lot to warm up my gear and sleds. In other words, it didn't need to be quick heat, just steady heat.
4) I intend to dry out the trailer using shore power and a $20 box fan from Wal-mart, being able to run a heater to accelerate this was desirable.
5) I wanted something with the smallest footprint as possible, and something that would allow flexibility in terms of location within the trailer.
After reviewing my requirements, I felt comfortable proceeding, so I bought one of the Chinese 8kw units off ebay for $170. I bought a furnace exhaust tip for the exterior penetration for about $20 and used scrap wood around the shop for the cabinet as a working prototype. It looks a little redneck for now, but next fall I will spend $60 on a nice sheet of plywood and make it look better for the finished product. All in, I am well under my budget.
This little heater isn't a 40,000 BTU propane furnace, but it is rated for about 18,000 to 20,000 BTU and I'm hopeful that if I can leave it running for longer it will do the trick. I fired it up when it first arrived and it gets HOT! It's efficient too, both in fuel and battery draw, and since a typical riding day for me is around 4-6hrs, I intend to just leave it running while I am on the ride (interpret this as extra drying time).
The total dimensions on the cabinet are 2' wide by 18" tall and only 10" deep! I allowed the back board on the cabinet to extend a total of 4.5' so I could mount the fuel tank (included with the heater kit) and built a protective face plate to guard the fuel line. Other than wires from my battery supply, (this unit uses 12v for the internal fan and to heat the glow plug) this is a totally self contained unit and can be placed anywhere in the trailer!
I will not require access to the internal components in the cabinet to use it, and will put a hinged door as a cover to clean it up a little. The heater kit includes a little LCD panel (not shown) to prime the fuel pump (also included in the heater kit) and to turn it on and off from outside the cabinet. You can even pair the LCD controller to a phone using bluetooth and turn it on from a remote location. (haven't done this yet)
Total startup time isn't super fast...on to hot is about 6 minutes, and there is a shutdown procedure that is roughly the same, but since I intend to fire it up in the morning before I go and leave it running the length of my ride, this isn't a concern to me.
I've read enough comments that the heat from trailer furnaces rises and the floors are cold so I plan on doing something more for air circulation. My idea for this was to purchase a 3" inline fan (looking at a marine bilge fan that does about 130cu/ft/min and about $15 from Amazon) and installing a 3" PVC pipe at the nose of my trailer to pull warm air from above and push it to the floor.
I've attached a photo of my prototype cabinet and would love some feedback or ideas on how to improve.
Also curious from other snowesters...most furnaces are on the passenger side of the trailer, just behind the nose. I want the furnace placement on a flat wall, rather than on the nose, but are there reasons I'm not thinking as to why I should put it that far forward in the trailer? Being a self contained unit, and as slim a profile as it is, I can place this anywhere and was thinking that something more centrally located along the wall of the trailer would be more even heat distribution without having to duct the length of the trailer. The exhaust on this unit isn't smelly (once it is up to temperature) but I intend to keep it on the passenger side to keep exhaust away from the man door.
I will post more photos of my build as I go, time is limited to the occasional free evening to tinker
Before making the decision, I listed my requirements to make sure that this heater would meet my needs.
1) Budget - I was looking for a furnace option, that all in, would be around $500 or less (not trying to go on the cheap, I would just rather spend my money on sleds and gear).
2) I enjoy doing what I call "hobby engineer" projects, and I was interested in doing something different that would require me to think through things a little differently. Designing, inventing, and installing a solution was something I was excited about.
3) Most of my riding is a 15-20 minute trailer ride from my home, the longest I have trailered my sleds is about 2.5hrs. I wasn't looking for anything that could run all night, (I don't use my trailer as a sleeping chamber) but I was very interested in something I could fire up before leaving the house and leave running while I drove to the parking lot to warm up my gear and sleds. In other words, it didn't need to be quick heat, just steady heat.
4) I intend to dry out the trailer using shore power and a $20 box fan from Wal-mart, being able to run a heater to accelerate this was desirable.
5) I wanted something with the smallest footprint as possible, and something that would allow flexibility in terms of location within the trailer.
After reviewing my requirements, I felt comfortable proceeding, so I bought one of the Chinese 8kw units off ebay for $170. I bought a furnace exhaust tip for the exterior penetration for about $20 and used scrap wood around the shop for the cabinet as a working prototype. It looks a little redneck for now, but next fall I will spend $60 on a nice sheet of plywood and make it look better for the finished product. All in, I am well under my budget.
This little heater isn't a 40,000 BTU propane furnace, but it is rated for about 18,000 to 20,000 BTU and I'm hopeful that if I can leave it running for longer it will do the trick. I fired it up when it first arrived and it gets HOT! It's efficient too, both in fuel and battery draw, and since a typical riding day for me is around 4-6hrs, I intend to just leave it running while I am on the ride (interpret this as extra drying time).
The total dimensions on the cabinet are 2' wide by 18" tall and only 10" deep! I allowed the back board on the cabinet to extend a total of 4.5' so I could mount the fuel tank (included with the heater kit) and built a protective face plate to guard the fuel line. Other than wires from my battery supply, (this unit uses 12v for the internal fan and to heat the glow plug) this is a totally self contained unit and can be placed anywhere in the trailer!
I will not require access to the internal components in the cabinet to use it, and will put a hinged door as a cover to clean it up a little. The heater kit includes a little LCD panel (not shown) to prime the fuel pump (also included in the heater kit) and to turn it on and off from outside the cabinet. You can even pair the LCD controller to a phone using bluetooth and turn it on from a remote location. (haven't done this yet)
Total startup time isn't super fast...on to hot is about 6 minutes, and there is a shutdown procedure that is roughly the same, but since I intend to fire it up in the morning before I go and leave it running the length of my ride, this isn't a concern to me.
I've read enough comments that the heat from trailer furnaces rises and the floors are cold so I plan on doing something more for air circulation. My idea for this was to purchase a 3" inline fan (looking at a marine bilge fan that does about 130cu/ft/min and about $15 from Amazon) and installing a 3" PVC pipe at the nose of my trailer to pull warm air from above and push it to the floor.
I've attached a photo of my prototype cabinet and would love some feedback or ideas on how to improve.
Also curious from other snowesters...most furnaces are on the passenger side of the trailer, just behind the nose. I want the furnace placement on a flat wall, rather than on the nose, but are there reasons I'm not thinking as to why I should put it that far forward in the trailer? Being a self contained unit, and as slim a profile as it is, I can place this anywhere and was thinking that something more centrally located along the wall of the trailer would be more even heat distribution without having to duct the length of the trailer. The exhaust on this unit isn't smelly (once it is up to temperature) but I intend to keep it on the passenger side to keep exhaust away from the man door.
I will post more photos of my build as I go, time is limited to the occasional free evening to tinker
