Cheap Hot Water For Camper Vans/Motorhomes - Bobil Vans Diesel Water Heater System
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- čas přidán 1. 08. 2021
- Very excited to get back and bring a really cool product for you to see. The Bobil Vans Hot water kit allows you to connect hot air systems like the 2 or 5kw chinese diesel heaters to your water systems and provide hot water for a much cheaper price than a lot of competitors.
This is NOT a paid promotion. I bought the kit to test it.
Thanks again Sean:
/ swattergeezer
Bobil Vans:
www.bobilvans.co.uk/
Camera Kit Used Throughout My Series:
BODY: Panasonic GH5
LENS: Panasonic 7-14mm 1:2.8
OTHER: My Phone
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Great overview Hugh, thanks for showing everyone our bit of kit-we are certainly trying to keep the big boys on their toes :)
Yes team! Thanks for bringing it to market, you're well on your way to an incredible product. also chuffed its british made, feels like less and less is made here.
I need this product ASAP
A second three way on the exit from the hw heater would complete the install. Then one could choose to either expel to outside or inside the van for summer winter use.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to have the hot inlet below the cold? Heat rises and if your adding hot to the top of the tank, as it’s less dense it’ll sit on top of the cold water, leading the a temperature gradient within the tank. If you do it the other way around, the hot water will rise through the cold, to even out the temp in the tank. It’s the same as in a house hot water tank. The hot inlet is usually towards the lower part of the tank.
Also as others have stated, The legionnaire's disease bacteria breeds at the sorts of temperatures you spoke of so it would be best to use this as a secondary heating source and get the storage tank up to at least 60° because at that temp the bacteria will die off in as little as 2 mins. At 70° they die off immediately. The thought of loads of people using this system for showering concerns me as aerosolised contaminated water is the most effective way to get the bug deep into your lungs.
I think it's just a design concept to preheat water so that less energy is required to bring the temperature up. Ideally, 65 degrees C to 75 degrees C. It also needs a vessel that accommodates hi temp and ( pumped) pressure, with a pressure relief valve and expansion vessel installed.
The heaters exhaust gas offers more heat, so maybe an egr cooler is a better option than trying to harness just warm air ?.
I finally put mine through its paces in the real world last week, I have an 18ltr tank, enough for 2 quick showers. The water heats really quickly at full blast... like 15min gets it to 35 degrees which we found a nice temperature to warm up after the cold sea. Next time, I'll leave the heater on middle of the road for an hour and arrive back to a warm van and a hot shower! Cushty!
nice Brendan, 18l is a decent sized tank. A great shower head that I found really increases shower times and saves a lot of water are the Methven Kiri Satinjet Hand Shower LOW FLOW.
great product, truma actually make a small water hearer which utilises the feat from the diesel heater ducting. It has a much smaller capacity but also incorporates a heater element which is used when the diesel heater is not on. I have one fitted in my transit custom and it works really well.
Cheers Paul, thanks for sharing
That's a nice bit of kit. Thanks for sharing.
Anyone using this needs to be aware that although 35-40 is indeed a nice shower temperature, it’s also perfect for breeding legionella bacteria. The tank would need to be heated to 60+ degrees on a regular basis, or emptied and dried out each use for it to be safe. Much better to heat a smaller amount of water to 65-70 degrees and mix with cold to get the temperature you want 👍
Could you use a silver coil or UV to mitigate this as well?
@@OMVDmedia
Yes, but you'd have to be very conscientious about frequently checking that the UV bulb was working if you decided on that route.
@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 That's understandable, last thing you need is to ruin your "fresh" water.
Would this be true if I used a submersible heater attached to my water tank? I will be using it to shower everyday or every other day. Will it still make this bacteria?
@@cailabarnes1318
Unless the water is heated to well above 50°C and held there for a period it can allow legionella to breed. Look up the legionella bacteria and how to kill it. The nearer the temp above 50°C the longer the bacteria takes to die and at 65°C it dies very quickly. There are chemicals like chlorine that can be used to sterilise your water if that is acceptable to you.
Great to see you back. Bought mine a while ago. Should be fitting it all in the next week or so
I paired a 90mm kit (which is basically 2 of the large heat exchangers) with the Planar 4kw heater. The main difference with my installation was that I did away with the hideous 1970's car choke cable and I move the diverter with a 50mm linear actuator via a rocker switch. I also have my main water tank gravity feed into the warming tank, controlled by a normally closed solenoid valve and float switch.
You simply turn on the heater, make sure the actuator rocker switch is in the direction of hot water. Press the next switch to open the normally closed solenoid valve for a few seconds to fill your warming tank, it automatically stops when nearly full. Lastly the third switch to turn the bobil system on and off.
Would love to pick your brains about this as I have the same heater. Don’t shower in my van though so trying to work out if it’s worth it just for tap hot water vs a kettle on the hob
@@colourmafia8737 I wouldn't bother just for a bit of hot water at a sink.
@@paulshanesmith thanks that’s helpful
Hugh, Thanks so much for putting a link to my channel, its only small, but i'll be adding more van build content soon, thanks again.
no problem Sean! Thanks again for the recommendation!
That is a fantastic piece of kit. I will seriously think how I can best integrate it for my use.
Brilliant idea. Thanks 😊
Wish I'd seen this before committing to my heater placement. Very clever
Love this system!
We once had a chat about using CDH exhaust to heat hot water and as it turns out, there are heat exchangers that do this on the market. This looks like it has legs, but needs some work. Many would have to completely reconfigure their heater system. As I said before, the Truma units are just too big for a one unit instalation. One look and they were off my options. Truma are okay for coachbuilts.
I think there's massive potential to build a compact heater and hot water system which is plug, play & forget, & most importantly, designed to fit in a typical van conversion.
As to September plans, probably back in lockdown after new super deadly varient release. 👍
cheers for the input Carl, yeah i know what you mean the Truma is weird one. I actually feel that if they repositioned a few ports and inlets/outlets it would be a much easier machine to install and use
This is so well done. Great job Bobil Vans!
Thanks for the review , confirm i won't bother il stick to boiling my water up
Thanks Hugh. Really interesting 👍
Nice one Hugh. Really valuable review. Stay safe mate. Thank you. 😊👍
I think these things are awesome! Great video! Could probably as you say do a little less user input but then again mostly self builders would by these!
sounds great, thank you..
nice one great idea
Would be neat if it had a little wifi servo controller w/ temp &humidity sensor(ESP32?), and RC car servo for the diverter, that way can monitor tank temp, room temp, and ambient temp
Sorry mate,I was thinking of a 40 ltr internal tank which is well insulated.Thanks for the share mate.❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙
Great idea and works a treat. However for my next build I'm going to source the parts myself minus the 3d cowling and save a third.
Great info Thx
I've just fitted the same to my ambulance conversion 👍 i like it, but then i like the whole DIY thing, i already had a really good diesel heater fitted but space constraints meant i needed a small quirky water heater and the bobil system was just the ticket 😎
If pushed to find an issue it would be the pump, it's a bit on the cheap side so i may upgrade later to a bigger better tropical fishh tank item but as i say that's really nit picking and looking for something to find wrong 🤔 .
Enjoyed the vid as usuall buy as I fitted mine 3 days ago it was a bit late 🤣🤣 👍
Just interested to know how hot you can get the water?
@@jonathanspence7721 as hot as the air from the diesel heater i guess 🤔 sure you'll loose a few degrees In the exchanger ? I've had mine up to 60deg quite easy, TBH i never saw the point in heating water too hot then adding cold water to cool in back down 😕
Cheers @DirtDiggler you just pipped me to the post. I get what you're saying about the pump, is a little cheap in feel but thats whats great about the kit is its modular nature and i'm sure the kit will constantly improve as time goes
The bobil systems are great. I hooked mine up to a fully insulated electric heater. With an added pressure relief valve and upgraded pump it runs at the water system pressure, so doesn't need manually filling. Definitely against the bobil recommend setup but it's not exploded yet 🤞🤣 plus electric heating option too 🤘
Keep the great channel going!
interesting @Rich T always love a bit of custom work
Crackin item 👍
I have a 1992 toyota townace with the water heated from exhaust as well as the little diesel heater, for ages I thought i,d left the heater on when I got home and emptied a tank of hot water , Duhh!
Something to keep in mind: 40°C won't kill a lot of dangerous bacteria. You'll want to make sure you drain and clean the system regularly.
If you were to pressure rise your main water tank with air you could have a water system like your house where the cold water would fill up the hot water tank through the bottom or go to the cold side of your faucet at the sink or the shower
Just in the process of installing one myself and If you wanted an automatic ‘push to fill’ option, you could use a solenoid and a level detector with a
relay which is explained on Bobil page .
Exactly what I had in my mind, nice ine
I’m thinking if you wanted you could use this system to hook pex tubing that you embedded in the floor and place antifreeze in the tank. You would then use the system only for heating the floor in a camper van.
Why would you do that when the heater heats the van ?
For the same reason that some people buy RV’s with heated floors.
When it’s 30 degs outside it’s nice to have a warm floor in addition to warm air that rises to the roof.
Nice idea!
Huge question on your simple 12v system ,,did you wire in your charge controller to the fuse board or did you go direct to the battery and is it ok to wire the 20amp controller into the fuse board ,cheers great vids by the way
Great video, but it would have been nice to know where to get this kit with a link to the store that sell it.
Ok. I love this but I'm gonna just try putting my Kelly Kettle around the exhaust pipe and see what that does first.
Well... It's been awhile Hugh... 😄 Looks like you've had some fun!
Looks like I've got rather a lot of videos to catch up on... 😆
🦇
Hello matey its been ages! Sorry for the late reply just needed a break!
What about system of toile tank that soon as the level is Dow full this one up will not work
It turned the water pump off but did it turn the diesel heater off you would need it to turn the diesel heater off.
Yes you would have to turn the heater off manually
I like. Could it be converted to Instantaneous so no tank? That would impress even more.
In short, no. The surface area of the heat exchanger is nowhere big enough unless you're happy to have a shower that only dribbles lukewarm water at a rate of about 15ltrs/hr or 0.25 litres/min, that's about a cup full a min.
It needs to heat a pressurised tank so it can be pumped and used under pressure...
I saw this kit on the Mispronounced Adventures channel and he did a great in depth walkthrough of the system. Great bit of kit at an affordable price.
Glad you think it’s in-depth! Having had it for almost 9 months! It’s been brilliant for my recirculating shower. I hope Hugh has a good experience with it!
@@MispronouncedAdventures I subscribed to your channel and binge watched your whole build. Very impressed with what you achieved., especially the recirculating shower. I've just started my own build and found your channel full of great ideas.
@@AMGMANIAC thank you! The shower turned out great. All the best on your build
I'm now going to have to find this guy and binge watch too!
@@diydoz1871 enjoy!
If the exhaust air from the heat exchanger pipe went back to the intake side of the diesel heater it capture the heat left over…
Solid idea.
Would this system work with a recirculating shower?
was you at hereford rowing club?
Hi Richard sorry for late reply! Yes I was there
Very interesting, will have a think about how I would integrate it with my 12v water heater system.
Hi Hugh,do you think it would work if you used a larger water tank.
Bobil do an 18L tank as Hugh mentioned but for anything bigger, best to contact Bobil. They’re super helpful.
Hi, thanks for replying to me,I will speak to bobil vans.thanks again
Hi Alan really sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. Based on the design I don't see why you cant get a larger tank the only thing I would consider is whether pushing air through the exchanger puts any extra pressure on the diesel heater but as Jane mentioned best to contact Bobil they hopefully have done extensive testing
any links were to buy
Can you buy them from China?
This video would be so great in English. I wonder if anybody could translate it for us here in Canada.
Is this available in the USA..??
Not sure but check out bobil vans website for info
Could someone pls help with a link to the product? Or a name 🙂
Second!
haha hello matey!
Can they ship to US?
They can. I just spoke with them. Also consider the dollar exchange rate.
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First
Looks a good bit of kit mate
really sorry for the late reply just been on a bit of a break. we think we may install it in Bens work van to see it in action but he's not 100% sold
Anyone using a calorifier heater in their van...?? Use them on boats as standard..
I wonder if you could combine the two and just insert the pipes from hugh's set up here^ into a calorifier tank?
its an interesting idea, never looked into it but I guess the tricky bit is keeping the whole setup compact
You can buy a kettle for £10.
haha true but having more options is better than less and also diesel heating the water is less electrically demanding on this scale
What and boil it 5 times to have a bloody shower? 🤣
hasnt been that long , last time you was in them dinosaur undies
Not the best idea and not what I call cheap either ! 40-50 degrees is bacteria breeding temp if you do it you’d need to be extremely careful or it could make you very sick indeed
Looks complicated and messy
fair enough some people would prefer an all in one solution
@@HughTube you guys do great work tho ✌️
Just boil a kettle ffs 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😋
How do you shower using a kettle
@@jasonoliver9549 I have neither the time or the crayons for you ....sorry 😂🤣😎
@@jasonoliver9549 he just pours scalding water from a kettle onto his blistering flesh
Yeah boil it 5 times, pour that water into a tank and somehow keep it warm long enough to have a shower. Whilst using a shit load of gas or electricity to boil a kettle 5 times.
Genius 🙄
Where are you 2months since last vid ridiculous