complete new (or second hand) heating vs propex

basically because my little 2l bay use to be owned by sony and they did a custom jobby, any when they had it the removed the hole heating system, heat exchangers, long pipe underneath, cables and any thing else now my question is should reinstall or should i just buy a propex, i need to consider cos and being able to demist the window and keeping warm when driving. thanks

 

Much easier just to sue Sony.

 

There were some pictures on here a couple of years back of an X Plod stickered up van travelling along the M3 or A3 - might have been yours?

I think it was a candy apple red?

 

haha amazing could have been but mines was black with xplod but whats funnier its it broken down on the a3 back in march

 

My propex does a good job of warming up the van on a cold morning, but is not very good at demisting the front screen. On the other hand, the standard heating is OK at demisting once it gets going, but not powerful enough to warm up the whole van. Propex and functioning heating is the recommendation from me.

 

I wish I spent the extra and got the propex HS2000E - I've got HS2000.

Good enough, but as we plug into electricity most of the time it would of saved on gas.

 

The HS2000E is quite a bit bigger and quite a bit more expensive and you can buy a fan heater for under £30. That was my rationale when I bought a Propex HS2000. However, the Propex is still in the box - and the fan heater is in the van...

 

thanks guys im thinking propex cos i think its going to work out about the same price as all the parts id need plus fitting, just dont really want to be driving with the gas on do you think

 

Works fine when driving.

 

amazing thank you looks like i know what im going to be getting now

 

Unless you go 2nd hand your looking at some good money there. If you want an efficient heater with demist etc you could go Eberspacher or Wibasto petrol heater mounted at the front underneath where the totem would go - piped int dash vents or put a totem in with heater underneath the van. Similar to a Danbury air cooled bay set-up.

Propex are good but petrol heaters are more up to the job - no gas on the move and you fill up at the petrol station anyway.

 

I've sold my OG heat exchangers which worked very well and going to plumb the eber in.
The first van I had was like yours with everything missing. I replaced the lot at great expense only to have smoke and a feint waft of heat from the vents. It only got warm when I replaced all the door seals as well and warm was probably an exaggeration.
I'd go propex if I was doing that again. I recently fitted one under offside passenger seat for someone. A lot of hassle fitting, but would be a good place to heat the front and rear from.

 

when i got my van it had j-tubes and no heating, it took me near on 2 years to get all the bits and get it working correctly, the heat is immense once you sort it and i still have the odd dodgy connection and no jacket on the y piece, i also have a propex but that's for camping not driving about.

 

it tells you on the fitting instructions to point the exhaust backwards so it is safe while driving, moreso the reason i don't is 'cos the heating is "free" off your engine but gas is not, working out the cost of parts is fine - but the cost will not increase with original equipment.

 

Got my propex between the front seats with a splitter, to pipe heat in the cab and rear. Heated front screen too for the ultimate winter driving comfort

 

I'd try to get hold of OG heat exchangers and fabricate your own plumbing....you can do a better job for less money, than buying stock parts.
Eberspachers and Webastos are better units than Propex, but this is reflected in the cost.....the Propex is more than adequate for heating the bus when camping, provided (as Zed and others have mentioned) you've sorted out any leaks, and upgraded the insulation....the bigger unit would be OK for demist on the go, but you'd need to mount it close to the cab and insulate all the ducts very well (as Dicky suggested)

if you want the ultimate, then fit a gas fired instant water heater and a calorifier with blown auxilliary air fan.....hot water for camping, underfloor heating and demisting for the screen....as with all things bespoke, big bucks for good gear...or buy a Hymer

 

http://www.pipelagging.com/

 

I fitted a complete original heating system to my type 4 as it was all filleted out . But as Vanorak mentions getting original heat exchangers is certainly a must if you can find them ,but they do appear now and then if you are on search alert . I found a pair at Dubfreeze one new and a good second hand one ....and they really are worth it as it's really hot when alls warmed up , But and a big but you need your thermostat working proper and undertins fitted as in winter it will take ages to warm up even with original HE . Second problem which i have is it stinks a bit down to oil contamination in the engine bay roof sound proofing foam and oil contamination in the fan shroud due to a leaking oil seal from the past which i will be sorting this winter ......it's really a question of whether you want it original or not, they all work providing they all fitted properly .

 

Don't shoot me down but I was speaking to a guy a while back and he said he uses a heater off an Audi as they just use 12v heaters and there toasty ?? Never actually looked into it but it's coming upon us now so may pop to a local scapy and have a look at a couple see if there is a bit of truth to this !!