Truck Canopy Diesel Heater

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Long story short, I got a free Vevor diesel heater. Been wanting to buy one for the truck bed sleep setup, now I gotta figure out how to rig it.

Through one of the side windows is the most obvious, but I have bug screens in there and really like being able to leave those open in the summer. Not sure if blowing through the screens will cause an issue, anyone ever done it?

Don't think there's enough room to pipe it into the cab facing window.

Any thoughts?

 

[ThorM465]

Following. I'm going to be doing the same this year for the first time, so I bought a little buddy heater. I'm not sure how well its going to work out.

 

[Skerhunter]

Following. I'm going to be doing the same this year for the first time, so I bought a little buddy heater. I'm not sure how well its going to work out.

Condensation is the main issue!

 

[Skerhunter]

Long story short, I got a free Vevor diesel heater. Been wanting to buy one for the truck bed sleep setup, now I gotta figure out how to rig it.

Through one of the side windows is the most obvious, but I have bug screens in there and really like being able to leave those open in the summer. Not sure if blowing through the screens will cause an issue, anyone ever done it?

Don't think there's enough room to pipe it into the cab facing window.

Any thoughts?

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You could leave it in the truck bed and vent the exhaust through the side to the wheel! If you want a pass through with the heater on the out side I would run it through the truck cab window with a “window vent”. There are kits for this exact set up online that the over landers use.

 

[JO.]

Can you remove the screen and just take it out for hunting season? We use one in our 7x16 enclosed trailer and it can keep it about 60 on high in single digit temps. I have seen a guy on YouTube that would set one up for weekend camping trips. He had a tire step he drilled holes in to route the intake and exhaust through and then just connected it to an extra deep cycle battery. I don't remember what he used to route it through the window but had either styrofoam or wood cut to fit part of the window opening with a hole to route the duct inside. I'll link a similar step below. For the price of these heaters I have been impressed with the heat output and efficiency. We used it this past weekend on my wife's hunt for about 3 hours each evening and in the mornings I would turn it on about an hour before we got up and used less than a gallon of diesel.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Looks like this guy is running his hot air through the bug screen. I may just give that a go.

 

[Clarence]

I am not familiar with that brand, but we use espar for work, and have had a few others. In commercial trucks, we have them mounted to the cab floor, and the exhaust is piped out of the floor. Be easy enough to cut a hole in the floor of the bed. We use a small 1" or so stainless flex pipe, and run it to out behind the cab. Not enough heat on our units on the exhaust or vent side, to melt anything.

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

 

[svivian]

@sndmn11 has a pretty good window mount posted in his truck topper/camper thread.

 

[KyleR1985]

Look in front wall at bottom of your bed. There are two drain plugs. buy two spares. Cut the middle out, and build an adapter to some flexible hose that you can use for hot air hose.

My f150 has these, I’ve done the same for electrical access.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

I finished the thru-window setup before my Montana hunt this week but decided not to bring it for logistical reasons.

Planning to go back for Thanksgiving to hopefully fill my elk tag. Will definitely bring it for that, snap some pictures and provide some feedback.

We ran a Vevor for the wall tent overnight and it performed great. Kept a 14x16 wall tent 10-15 degrees warmer than outside. Made getting out of the sleeping bag in the morning more bearable for sure. Though I wonder if it’ll be overkill for a truck bed at the lowest setting overnight. I’ll probably just run it a bit before going to sleep and around waking up.

 

[KyleR1985]

I finished the thru-window setup before my Montana hunt this week but decided not to bring it for logistical reasons.

Planning to go back for Thanksgiving to hopefully fill my elk tag. Will definitely bring it for that, snap some pictures and provide some feedback.

We ran a Vevor for the wall tent overnight and it performed great. Kept a 14x16 wall tent 10-15 degrees warmer than outside. Made getting out of the sleeping bag in the morning more bearable for sure. Though I wonder if it’ll be overkill for a truck bed at the lowest setting overnight. I’ll probably just run it a bit before going to sleep and around waking up.

If you don’t run it on recirculate (cold outside air into heater, hot air into bed, some type of venting, it won’t get too hot.

I’ve run mine in a rooftop tent that way in 28-30* temps and it kept it 60* or so in the tent on low setting.

Worst case run it before bed and when you wake up.

 

[KyleR1985]

If you don’t run it on recirculate (cold outside air into heater, hot air into bed, some type of venting, it won’t get too hot.

I’ve run mine in a rooftop tent that way in 28-30* temps and it kept it 60* or so in the tent on low setting.

Worst case run it before bed and when you wake up.

Also run extra length of the hot air hose under your cot, or along a rail of truck bed. That flexible hose is a good heat sink and will radiate a lot of heat inside

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Got back from my first trip with the setup. It worked great for the most part. It was in the twenties both nights I used it. With a zero degree bag I didn’t need/want to run it all night so I just ran it before going to sleep and waking up.

Plus:
- Remote control: so nice being able to turn it on 15 minutes before I want to get up and start getting dressed. Makes crawling out of the sleeping bag much easier.

- Relatively quick to setup and take down. I’d say about 5 minutes.

- The underneath exhaust isn’t ideal and I thought I’d need to screw the fitting tight each night. But it fits snug enough to not need the clamp so I’m chalking that up to a plus given I got the unit for free.

Delta:
- Knockoff weather pack connectors suck, the male pins don’t align well with the female side. Planning on an alternate power source in the future anyway.

- Canopy is not very airtight, especially at the rear where the output is so it didn’t feel like the heat was reaching the cab side well. Might try to put some deflectors in to direct heat more that way.

- DIESEL CAN LEAKED: I thought the Eagle can would be solidly leak proof back there but it did leak a little. Aired out pretty well before bedtime but not completely. I understand why people mount external cans to racks now…

- Wind can cause the duct to rattle against the truck. I was able to flex it out but 15 MPH+ still cause it to rattle against the truck occasionally.


The newer version has side port exhaust/intake so the whole tire mount thing is not necessary. I’d say this is totally worth the cost if you camp in sub-40 degree temps in a similar truck bed setup. I’ll be using it more this winter for predator hunting.