JK's first guinea pig needed!

@Josh_JK Looks interesting so the warm air blows into the main tube and the return air from the bus comes from where?

 

The deed has been done, Eddie the bus was collected today, and Josh was wrong when he said I seemed pleased with the unit........ I'm actually delighted! A big thanks to the guys at JK , but especially to Josh for getting things going and setting up "The Plan", Ivan for keeping us well up to speed on progress, and for his help and suggestions on where's, why's, and locations for bits and pieces (and fine cups of tea), and for Andy for fitting the whole shooting match and making a really top job of it, well done all!
So you may wonder, why so pleased? Well we were considering a heater of some description for some time, were almost ready to buy a standard Propex and create some way of weatherproofing and under floor mounting it, as we've got so little space left inside the bus, then this offer came up, bingo! So, if I was chosen I get to have this new, slightly more more expensive system fitted by a professional, tailored perfectly to fit and work correctly, with the bonus of using the existing pipework and heating/de-misting the bus on route, as a guinea pig, for £400. Whats not to like? No chasing round getting bits made, no finding three or four weekends free to TRY and fit a system myself, or alternatively paying labour charges to have someone else fit, and god only knows how they would price making all the brackets and pipes etc. Personally, I think I've been very lucky, but more importantly, other bus owners will now eventually be able to buy a kit that will be virtually bolt in. So whats it like? Warm, really warm. After around 30 seconds of switching the control/thermostat unit on, we're starting to get warm air through and then it takes very little time thereafter to warm the van thoroughly , and you don't want the thermostat very high as you will sweat your nads off! Warm air to the screen I would say is the equivalent to a modern car fan on it's first speed, so does'nt blast through but with a high setting on the stat the air is so warm the screen should clear pretty quickly anyway. I had already fitted a couple of years ago, an inline 3 speed fan inside the heater tube though so with this switched on as well it blasts through. My heater fan in the engine bay is not connected yet, but I would imagine that if your bus heater fan was working, combined with the Propex fan, the effect would be even more impressive, but, even if not, your screen I would imagine is going to clear very quickly. When I get a cold morning and get a chance to really test it, I'll let you know how it performs. The instal is so neat, I am really pleased with it, and although you would be doing the instal yourself, Andy was really careful when designing the brackets etc, to virtually only use existing holes in the chassis. I think even including drilling the gas pipe hole through the floor and mounting the Exhaust pipes ( Using the existing bumper bolt holes), there were 3 holes drilled, maybe it was even 2! The system itself is very neat, a similar size to the Propex they currently sell, has a neat control unit, which I have had mounted behind the drivers seat, only because I'm a fussy git and preferred the clean look in the kitchen and cab area (make up your own mind about that one!), but I can still easily just flick on even while driving.

If you fancy a look at the instal we'll be at the Brighton Breeze on Saturday, please come and say hello and have a gander, I'm sure you will be as impressed as we are.

Thanks again to the JK team

Gazman & Jaynie

 

Well it looks good, but I need pics!! Where does the combustion exhaust exit?

 

also you dont get off that lightly oh chosen one. can see the tee-in from Joh's photo but where is the return air vent i.e. the one to take air to the heater?

 

what he said

 

Sorry chaps, been a very hectic day, got a lot to do on the bus this week as the MOT is due Wednesday, got a few pictures being taken Thursday, DJ'ing Friday, and want the bus ready to drive down to The Breeze on Saturday! Goddamn , I'll stick a few of my own photos up as soon as I get a chance to take some decent ones so you can see properly. Hopefully tomorrow, but just so you know the exhaust and what I think is a breather exits on a little mount on the bottom of the rear bumper, which matches the heat shield I have on the bumper by luck, but very neat. Photos will, eventually, show the pipe routing more clearly....... The Chosen One x

 

Here you go gang, took a few photos while the bus was being MOTd (, no advisories!), hope that gives you a bit more of an idea of the set up, and as I said before, feel free to have a look if your at Brighton on saturday.


[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]




[/URL][/IMG]

 

Picture 3 bend in pipe.....what pipe is this please mate

 

Its aøright just worked it out ....derrrrrr

 

Does it take its return air from the vent in the walkthrough?

 

Yes , it looks like that from the quick look I've had, the second pipe ie not the one that "T's" in to the old heater pipe,

Yes mate, bus lowered around 5-6" if you include the lower profile tyres, and the heater box only sticks down about 3/4" at most past the chassis rails.
certainly connects to the walkthrough outlet ( or iinlet depending if your inside or outside!)

 

So when your camping, where does the heat come out?

 

The inlet and exhaust look like they may be over the total designated length by propex. Think it is meant to be a total of 1 metre if I remember rightly.

Also having the inlet and exhaust right next to each other may cause problems with the inlet sucking in exhaust fumes

 

like pulling teeth this!

 

I'll jump in and be rude then.

Agreed, and...
The heat whether driving or camping looks to me like it's gonna come out the dash! No use to me, my van's now non-walkthrough and I have a blind to seal off the cab. I haven't double checked back through the thread, but I thought the idea was to have a flap thing with different settings for driving/camping?

 

My thoughts on the install as far as I understand it. If you want to go down the "plumbed in" to the heater system to use for demisting or even heating when driving and actually have heat when you are camping ie not coming out of the front vents then there are a few issues to consider. If you put your heat into the system as per the JK conversion then you only seem to get heat to the cab area but can use the heater lever to direct through the low level vents or up to the windscreen vents.
Bare in mind that if you direct the heat downwards and all is as it should be that you normally would throw heat into the rear through the walkthrough vent. As far as I can see they have used this to extract the return air from the inside of the van. This will probably be perfect for heating the cab area but warm air is going to short circuit to an extent which is great as the cab will heat up quicker as you are re-heating pre-warmed air.
I think it is likeley that ,although you will eventually get some heat into the rear, this would take significantly longer than just putting warm air directly into that space. It would be far more effective to locate the return air duct so that it is pulling air in at the rear of the living space, freeing up the walkthrough vent for its intended purpose. What you would then have would be the system as it was intended with a heat source blowing into it to provide the heat the engine would normally provide. This does, however leave you with the small issue of a good proportion of the heat going to the totem. If you have it switched to the position to allow heat through the walkthrough vent then you will still be heating the cab area through the foot vents in the cab.

Fitting a fan on the supply to the walkthrough would allow that to draw the hot air. possibly draw some through the cab vents therfore cycling this so not much of a problem but would also try to draw air through the main heater tube from the exchangers. If flaps are good then this wouldnt be an issue but if not then you would draw ambient air in from the engine.

The best compromise for an underfloor system, where you also require heat into the original system would therefore be:

• heater plumbed in as per JK install except the return air
• return air duct from rear of vehicle (depends on furniture layout)
• vent controls retained as standard
• small in line duct fan put in line in the flexi duct to the walkthrough vent (switched so it doesnt run all the time whilst the heater is on so you can direct the heat up front)

If you use a booster fan in line in the main duct after the propex but before the tee then Im unsure what effect this will have . It will increase the velocity of the warm air ie pull more air through quicker but there is only a limited amount of heat. Good for demisting and probably give abetter warm up time in the van but the heat exchanger would run cooler and not be quite as efficient.

Just a few thoughts and the install looks ok. I know Im impatient and Im sure Gazzer will give some more feedback hwen he has more time.

If your not bothered about demisting and all that palarva and just want the space and the quiet that this system provides the I would suggest you will either cut two les and have heat in and recirc out or sacrifice the walkthrough vent and have that deliveing your warm air.

 

Forgot to mention - as Zed said above a good electrically operated or even cable operated diverter valve would be the thing to save on compromise - system for driving, system for camping controled through a diverter. Preferably electrically operated, possibly with an ignition change over or manual switch. Doesnt seem that complex to me but I havent done any research into the diverter but a quick look found me this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/60mm-Duct...tEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item4177a5810c

 

or you could just fit one of these in the gloove box