Climate Control

Under Construction

Webasto diesel RV heater

  • We opted for a Webasto Air Top 2000 STC diesel heater
  • Generates 2000 watts or 6824 BTUs
  • Runs on diesel fuel from the vehicle fuel tank
  • Is controlled by a remote thermostat properly located in the living area of the van
  • Can be left unattended on its lowest setting of 41 degrees F to prevent freezing the water system. We also have an terrarium heater hooked to a 35 degree F thermostatically controlled outlet to protect the water system from freezing
  • Draws from an auxiliary fitting on the fuel tank that won’t let the heater use all the fuel
  • The combustion is isolated to the outside of the van, thus providing a dry (no condensation) heat via a heat exchanger.
  • Avoids use of propane that is prohibited in mobile home carports in California.
  • Our bed construction includes a 3/4″ plywood baffle/bed support that separates the far rear storage area from the main living space. The heater draws its fresh air from the storage area and blows the heated air into the living space right down our central aisle. This ensures that the entire van, including the storage compartment where our 31 gallon water tank resides, gets heated.

Evaporative Cooler

  • We haven’t built it yet, but I have most of the parts for an evaporative cooler design we came up with
  • The swamp cooler will be constructed of a flexible plastic shroud surrounding a rigid media that will mount on the outside of either front door window
  • The cooler will use solid evaporative cooling media as used by large evaporative coolers used in animal husbandry, athletic teams and large open bays and garages.
  • We will use a small fountain pump to pump water from the return reservoir up to the top of the media to keep it wet.
  • We will create a distribution plate for the top of the media to evenly disperse water into the full length and width of the media top
  • We will use our Fantastic Fan to draw air in through the wet media into the van and exhaust the hot van air out
  • The cooler will be designed such that it can be collapsed to fit into one of the large short Sterilites in the storage bay
  • The inlet side of the media should have bug netting to keep bugs from being drawn into the van