Heat for cargo trailer

[GoatPackr]

I'm pretty impressed with my diesel heater. Got it in the mail last week.
I've got a 5-8kw . I'm pretty sure on the low setting it will be more than enough in my 25' trailer.
The one thing I don't like is the fuel pump noise. Sounds like someone knocking on my trailer.
My buddy got his today and says his hardly makes any noise. Same heater as mine as I sent him the Amazon link and he order it.

Looking online you will find mixed reviews talking about noise.

I'll be mounting mine outside and using 3" duct. And opening the roof vent to let the air flow through.

We leave for our trip tomorrow.
If this works as well as I think you won't get me to go back to any propane heater.

Kris

 

[Corey Paulsen (teamkabob)]

Shop / BK Marine Services / Planar Heaters

Planar Diesel Heaters, Wireless Headsets, Aluminum welding and fabrication, UHMW. All sold by BK Marine Services LLC and located in Palmer, Alaska

www.bkmarineservices.com

Buddy makes these planar heaters in boxes for Alaska and installs them in boats. They are coast guard approved. Not cheap, but make they are really nice when you're cold and wet.

 

[Mtaylor]

A buddy of mine took the foam insulation and insulated his trailer then added a couple outlets. And a way to hook them up to a generator outside the trailer. Then he can charge his gps/ phone and still run a buddy heater.

 

[Titan]

I'm pretty impressed with my diesel heater. Got it in the mail last week.
I've got a 5-8kw . I'm pretty sure on the low setting it will be more than enough in my 25' trailer.
The one thing I don't like is the fuel pump noise. Sounds like someone knocking on my trailer.
My buddy got his today and says his hardly makes any noise. Same heater as mine as I sent him the Amazon link and he order it.

Looking online you will find mixed reviews talking about noise.

I'll be mounting mine outside and using 3" duct. And opening the roof vent to let the air flow through.

We leave for our trip tomorrow.
If this works as well as I think you won't get me to go back to any propane heater.

Kris

Make sure the pump isn't touching part of the metal case on your unit. You can also zip tie some foam pipe insulation around the pump to quiet it down. Of the 4 units I have, they all make a different noise.

 

[GoatPackr]

Make sure the pump isn't touching part of the metal case on your unit. You can also zip tie some foam pipe insulation around the pump to quiet it down. Of the 4 units I have, they all make a different noise.

I was thinking about putting a zip lock bag around the pump and filling it with foam so it would hold it from moving and also be able to be removed if needed.

Kris

 

[Wrench]

I took this thing on an overnight hunt and it was AWESOME. On setting number 1 of 10 it kept my 10x10 tent 70* with an overnight low in the 20's with snow falling.

I ran for 13 hours and my finger is pointing at the fuel level after the trip.

 

[Titan]

Crank it up for a little while to burn the soot out. Sometimes it will build up when you run at low speeds

 

[shtrbc]

As Titan mentioned, I would always run it for about 5 minutes on the highest setting before shutting it off. Will save you headaches in the long run.

 

[GoatPackr]

Back from our trip.
I run a 25' enclosed snowmobile trailer with a kitchen biult in the V nose. In the back I have 5 bunks that are stacked and fold up against the walls and 1 across the back that is split and folds up against the sides. This allows a quad or SxS to be loaded in.
I have 1" board insulation in the walls and ceiling.
In the past I heated the trailer with a buddy heater style of heater. It was plenty heat. It created 2 issues that I needed to solve. 1 was moisture and lots of it. The second was it was very warm on the top bunks but down low it was cold too the point of all that moisture making ice against the inside where ever there was a metal stud.
I decided to buy a new-way propane stove and try it.
Right before the trip I learned of these little diesel heaters. So I ordered one the New- way was staying home .
I had enough time to quickly run the heater and decided it was NOT going to work inside the trailer. Way to much noise.
I quickly made a little platform for it to set on outside and installed the vent in the floor near the front of the trailer. Then off to hunting camp.

We arrived at camp and it wasn't bad to set up. Remember I hadn't fully run it set up outside. All went well hooking it all up with no major hiccups. Filled it with fuel and hit the start button. It wasn't long and we had forced air heat . We slightly opened the roof vent and it was perfect. We never got cold and it was always dry. The coolest part was being able to control everything with the little remote that came with it. Some nights I would run it a little hotter others it was completely on low. The most fuel used was about half the tank. We used as little as 1/4 tank one night. With 8 nights of use we used less than 6 gallons of fuel. The air being blown into the trailer was dry and moving so it solved both issues and was way cheaper than other alternatives.
I'm very happy with the heater and how it works.
My next project will focus on the electrical supply. Currently I use a small Honda generator and a large battery charger along with a single RV battery to power the trailer. It's wired for 110v and 12v . I'm looking at Solar so that it will work throughout the day when I'm not around so the freezer will run more than a few hrs in the evening.
Kris

 

[GotDraw?]

Diesel heater for sure. It’ll heat you out of any trailer, dry heat so condensation and propane is t an issue, runs on diesel so easy to get fuel anywhere and sips fuel on low which will likely be hot enough.


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Let's be clear here and deal with facts...

There is NO such thing as wet heat/dry heat, period.

ALL forms of combustion (wood, propane, diesel...) generate water vapor during the combustion process and if that exhaust is NOT vented, will create humid, sweaty interiors in vehicles. This includes Buddy Heaters.

ALL heat is "DRY" heat (wood, propane, diesel...) if the exhaust is vented outside.

Get a diesel heater, they run forever, produce a lot of heat and the Chinese ones are inexpensive. Vent your "camper" to allow some fresh air in and some of the humidity created when you breathe/sweat to leave, otherwise you can still have condensation on your relatively uninsulated walls/roof. Install a carbon monoxide detector just in case the heat exchanger cracks and allows carbon monoxide into the heated air blown into your camper.

JL

 

[BRTreedogs]

I would use a propane ventless heater..... 99% effcient.... around 200$$....
I own several...basemnt,(1)..up north deer camp (2) cabin.....3 season porch..(1)....

4500' elevation limit my man. They work great till you go to the mountains. Then they won't run.

 

[BRTreedogs]

@GoatPackr how did you run the heat inside the trailer?

I'm really hung up on cutting a hole in my trailer.

I'm also worried about setting the unit outside in snow ice. It almost needs its own little shelter

 

[Voyageur]

@Goatpacker
Thanks for the write-up. Have you used a Nuway heater, or were you just thinking of buying one prior to purchasing the diesel heater? I ask because I'm curious as to your thoughts comparing it with the diesel heater.
Thanks.

 

[GoatPackr]

@Goatpacker
Thanks for the write-up. Have you used a Nuway heater, or were you just thinking of buying one prior to purchasing the diesel heater? I ask because I'm curious as to your thoughts comparing it with the diesel heater.
Thanks.

I'll answer this question a little later along with some of the others. I'll also post some pics.
I had the concern about snow or rain also.

I need to go pick up the kids new dog and take some pics around the trailer then I'll post.

Kris

 

[GoatPackr]

Ok I'll try to answer some of the questions first then post a few pics.

Remember this is a ruff draft version and was very restricted on time before leaving. I basically needed to prove the system would work so now I can nice it up. I've got some ideas for that.

I have not actually run the Nu-way. I actually purchased one and was planning to install it but found out about these little diesel heaters before I was able to install the thing.
Why I chose to go with the diesel heat. First I wouldn't have a hot stove in my trailer that runs the risk of burning or melting items. You basically have a dead zone around any stove that is not useable space along with the flu pipe. Second is it's so much more efficient than the propane Nu-way portable. Third is the moisture issue with non vented heaters like the Buddy style heater I had used previously.
Near the front of the trailer I cut a hole and placed a piece of tin over it with the proper size hole for the vent. This was needed to have room to slip the vent pipe over the vent. I secured it with 2 screws. The little neck wasn't long enough to give me much under the floor so that's why I had to cut the wood back then use tin. I used a 3" dryer duct from Homedepo that worked perfectly.

Now I needed something to set the heater on and like mentioned I was concerned about weather getting on the heater. I ruff cut a piece of plywood with a hole in the middle for combustion air and exhaust. They both attach at the bottom and need a little space to turn out. I then stacked a couple short chunks of 2x4 for the cover to set on so it was held up and could draw fresh air for the heating air that blows over the heat exchanger and into the trailer.
For a cover I used an old cooler and cut a notch in the one end for the dryer duct. I made sure to keep it pushed all the way back so the fan could pull air over the heater at the back end and not be blocked. Like I said this is the ruff draft version.

In the future I will be mounting it on the tung of the trailer but removable for travel and be powering it with a milwaukee 18v battery. My buddy purchased the same one and use a step-down converter and run it off an 8 ah milwaukee battery all night on low and had about 50% life left in the morning. I've already ordered the step-down converter.

Hope the pics work.
Any questions I'd gladly answer.

 

[Jake Leibke]

Picked up a Maxpeedingrods branded unit a few weeks ago. Was the stand alone/ all I one unit. Was hoping/ planning on using it on our couple week long trip. Heating a couple pop up fish shacks.

Got it all set up and home and ran good. Was excited to use it. Of course left and backup source of heat at home. Long story shorter..got camp set up and went to set up heater and it kept throwing error code E11. Some sort of sensor failure.

Thankfully it ended up not being super cold and we didn’t “need” heat but a few mornings it was close to 20° and a little chilly climbing out of the sleeping bag.

Tried contacting company once we got home on Monday and still have not heard from them. Bought through Amazon so just returned to them.

Ordered a Vevor branded one now to try. Hopefully it’ll work. Have another week long trip coming up and we’ll be needing heat for sure. Probably bring the buddy heater as a back up this time.

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[GoatPackr]

I made sure we had back up heat. We travel 7 hrs on the first leg of our trip. It's late when we pull over to sleep due to working a part day so we just run the propane buddy heater that night. Didn't want to deal with setting things up as sometimes we just sleep in a rest area for 4 or 5 hrs then get going for that last 8 or 9 hrs.
In the future I hope to have it all simplified and be able to set up the diesel heater in less than 1 min.

Kris

 

[Titan]

I’m a big fan of the Jupitek power station. 1220wh and the heater only pulls 35-40 per hour. Only $300 for 3-4 nights of use without recharging.

 

[BRTreedogs]

I'm thinking about a permanent mount on the trailer tounge in a tool box or something.

 

[packer58]

The diesel heaters sound interesting and promising, my first build had a big buddy and stove top for heat and the condensation was ridicules. My new build has a thermostatic controlled 30,000 BTU Suburban RV furnace under the front cabinets and works amazing.