Fast Hot Water from our Diesel Heater (& Solar!) with Bobil Vans Kit | Transit Van Conversion E37

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This time we're working on our vans hot water system which will heat the water in our tank using the air from our diesel heater and the Bobil Vans heat exchanger kit!
We needed a van hot water system that would work well with the recirculating shower that we're building, so the DIY kit from Bobil Vans (‪@bobilvans4205‬) looked great.
It uses a heat exchanger and diverter that fits inline in our diesel heater air ducting to give us both hot air to heat the van, or hot air to heat the water.
And we're also using the solar upgrade kit so we can get free hot water in our van using the sun if the weather is good!
After drilling a lot of holes (!) we hooked it all up to test how quickly it could give us a tank of hot water... it was quite a fun project!
Thanks for watching! Any comments or questions? Let us know below!
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Products used in this video (includes affiliate links *):
↠ Bobil Air Xchange - www.bobilvans....
↠ Bobil Solar Element Upgrade Kit - www.bobilvans....
↠ 85L Water Tank - www.directwate...
↠ Shurflo Trailking 7 Pump - geni.us/FvjF (Amazon)
↠ Seaflo Accumulator - geni.us/ApQGZ11 (Amazon)
↠ Pipe Cutters - geni.us/VVEId (Amazon)
↠ Holesaw Kit - geni.us/Vz37a5 (Amazon)
↠ Sanding Drum Set (similar to the one we have) - geni.us/aJVNpWX (Amazon)
↠ Victron Lynx Distributor - geni.us/BRX0 (Amazon)
↠ Blue Sea Fuse Hub - ebay.us/82Ohou
↠ Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink - ebay.us/Ap6huk
↠ Heat Shrink Crimp Terminals - ebay.us/dQYD0Q
↠ Heater Air Vent (flat) - ebay.us/BCnP4P
John Guest 12mm Fittings:
↠ Pipe inserts - geni.us/BhqP5V1 (Amazon)
↠ Elbows - geni.us/j8GXAWE (Amazon)
↠ Shut-off taps - geni.us/mDVQn (Amazon)
↠ John Guest Release Tools (makes getting the pipes on and off easier!) - geni.us/fWg0s30 (Amazon)
↠ Everything else! - ebay.us/ngauL6
Disclaimer: Some of the links above may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them we may earn a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
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Support Us
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If you're enjoying our videos and would like to say thanks you can buy us a tea or coffee here!
☕️ www.buymeacoff...
Resources
------------------
You can download our diagrams and power audit spreadsheet here:
↠ www.buymeacoff...
🚐 Follow Us
------------------
🔔 Subscribe on RU-vid: www.youtube.co...
↠ Follow us on Instagram: / selfbuiltstories
↠ See our full van conversion playlist: • Transit Van Conversion
Filmed with:
↠ Sony ZV1 - geni.us/LW73Jx (Amazon)
↠ GoPro Hero 8 - geni.us/PsIIH9 (Amazon)
↠ Zhiyun Crane M2 - geni.us/WhUBT7I (Amazon)
↠ Rode VideoMicro - geni.us/tzPbJ (Amazon)
Disclaimer: Some of the links above may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them we may earn a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
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All our videos are for entertainment and show our process of converting our campervan. They're not intended to be tutorials and we may make mistakes along the way, so always do your own research and if in doubt about anything then make sure to get advice from a suitable professional
***************************************************************************************
#vanconversion #campervanconversion #vanlifeuk

Опубликовано:

1 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 300

@SelfBuiltStories 11 месяцев назад

All the different bits of kit and products we used in the video should be linked in the description, thanks for watching! 🙂

@oaksho Год назад

Your van build is amazing, this is where people should come and see how a conversion should be done. Well done on a very impressive van conversion. 👍👍

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thank you very much! We're happy with how it's all come together 🙂

@petewarby7158 Год назад

I've missed the videos recently so it's great to see you back, great job on the van tech and also on the video, really entertaining and informative. I honestly think this must be one of the best conversions I've seen on RU-vid

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thanks so much Pete! That's very kind of you to say, we're really glad you've enjoyed following our videos 😊

@ianstjohn4506 Год назад

It's been a while, but great to see you both back again. Love the build for this one, which must have given you a brain and at times. Brilliantly explained though and the fit inside that tiny space is amazing. Looking forward to the next installment

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thank you! It always ends up a lot more work than you imagine, especially because of all the tight spaces 😛 We appreciate the support and hope you enjoy the next video 😊👍

@MichaelYarde Год назад

I love how you manage to explain some complex stuff so easily! Just a quick thought, might it be worth insulating any of the pipes with hot water in? If the pipe feels warm to the touch, that’s heat escaping, might save an extra for seconds when heating up the tank 😊

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thank you! We try to keep a nice balance between the technical bits and actually getting everything working 🙂 And yeah you could do that for sure, but the hot water run is so short that I'm not sure it would make much difference in practice as it makes its way into the tank really quickly and then will start rising to the top. We have insulated the tank though and tested it out a lot (which will be in the next video) and are really happy with how quickly we can heat it up!

@MichaelYarde Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories Insulating the tank makes far more sense than insulating the tiny run of piping. I should have known you'd have it well in hand! haha

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha no worries, it would definitely do something! Not sure we'd actually be able to fit the pipes with extra insulation around them in the cupboard though 😂

@gonefilming2020 Год назад

I am always in complete awe when seeing your dedication to detail and the endless thoughts that go into your planning. And I do love Abi's sketches - those are better than most people's computer drawings (mine included). I am just so eager to see how you reclaim your water (filter, UV, etc.)... 😯 We have decided on a hot-air heat exchanger (featuring a 230V 500W heating element) with a 6 liter tank, giving us 70 degree hot water - diluted to about 35-37 degrees, enough for one person to shower comfortably. We will filter and treat all water entering the van from unknown sources to avoid contaminants. We want to keep the number of water lines, connects and (water) electrical to an absolute miimum to avoid the possibilities of any leaks as much as we can. We'll see how that turns out. 😎 Reclaiming used water was not on our list (until now), watching your videos tends to get expensive on our end. 🤣 Stay safe you two! 🚐☁🍀

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha cheers, it is definitely easier to visualise everything with a nice pencil diagram we find 😛 Yeah we're really eager for that part too, it's great travelling around in the van but the first thing that forces off to go back to civilisation is having to empty the grey tank, so it will be great doing the recirculating upgrade. Hopefully when we find a good spot to stay for a few days and decent weather to get the tools out... been karting them round in the garage all this time 😅 Thanks for watching as always and hope you're able to make some nice progress with your van 🙂

@scopex2749 9 месяцев назад

Before i ever heard of these I wrapped micro bore copper pipe around my exhaust and inulated it so FREE hot water and it keeps the exhaut heat down! The water gets PIPING hot. If I fit one of these as well I will be able to fit a BATH in my van.....

@SelfBuiltStories 9 месяцев назад

Yeah we have thought about adding an EGR cooler to the exhaust to reclaim some of that heat too, but we've found it quite efficient for our setup at the moment so far. Maybe something we'll explore in the future 😛

@stuydnz Год назад

Hey Guys, just start watching your videos, great series. Looking at the diverter for the intake, this appears to be the wrong way. The part facing the intake from the cab should be going to the heater. The way you have it now, will block off the intake into the heater.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Well spotted! 😀 We realised after we tested it the first time and swapped it round, didn't have any video of that though. Not sure how neither of us noticed at first 😅 and thanks!

@alice.inwondervan 8 месяцев назад

Hey, I was wondering what the set up is you have to fill the tank up? I have had this kit in the van for over 2 years now I reckon and have yet to actually use it. The tank is under bed and hard to get to to fill it up, and the last time I had it full it was slowly leaking out of the pipe joins and my entire underfloor fell victim to 20L of water ingress that I never discovered until every inch went black D: This year I really want to get using it, understand how to actually use it, and fill it up without hassle. The blue pipe and valves look ideal but I don't really know how it's been fitted :)

@SelfBuiltStories 8 месяцев назад

Hey! We fill it up from from our fresh cold water line via a manual valve on the top of the shower tank. You can see us doing it in the follow up video of this one here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TkdUtj5v3eo.htmlsi=Uf92Y_ulGw_vr0sT&t=867. So we just turn the valve and fill it up watching the gauge we added on the front, then shut it off again. We drain the tank out in a similar way with a manual valve. That's not ideal about your leak! Maybe it would be worth putting some paper towels/cloths around your tank and filling it up and then watching to see if you can notice any leak anywhere, maybe one of the connections needs tightening/fixing somewhere! Water is not a vans best friend a lot of the time. Good luck! 🙂👍

@rubblestacker Год назад

top build ) i just boil kettle mix it with cold water in a bucket and drop in submersible pump ) simple, space saving and cheap but dose the job, altho it dosent speak to me lol . keep up the good work and enjoy )

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers! Yeah nothing wrong with that setup if it does the job for you, we were thinking of something along those lines for the sink actually 😀

@letzgow6110 21 день назад

Great job! I’m thinking about doing something similar with my old PC radiator.

@SelfBuiltStories 14 дней назад

Cheers! Hope it goes well 👍

@ronaldjensen2886 8 месяцев назад

Very inspiring! I am working slowly on an old Mercedes camper and I like your DIY approach to this. Did you consider using a heat exchanger from the engine coolant in addition to those other two heat sources?

@SelfBuiltStories 8 месяцев назад

Thanks! 🙂 We did consider it briefly but we decided to prioritise air heat and wanted all the functionality that using the diesel heater for that gives with the afterburner controller. And so the bobil kit was a natural fit for what we were doing and has been working really well for us so far and has been efficient enough on its own 🙂👍

@lucasn2535 11 месяцев назад

Great idea, thinking of doing this myself. What are the interior dimensions of your shower? Length and width? Thanks!

@SelfBuiltStories 11 месяцев назад

Cheers! And the rectangle part inside the shower not considering the angled or wheel arch bits is roughly 76x60cm 👍

@Flintynicknacks Год назад

Consider heating the water above 50degC- prevention of things like legionnaires etc.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers, yeah that's why we wanted to test it to 70C. We'll take it up to that periodically to help take care of any nasties in the tank 🙂

@tone_ Год назад

Great video, nice install.. just heads up your water pumps, keep them upright rather laying them flat.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thanks! 🙂 And we were only able to fit them in flat in the space we had, but both our pumps and accumulators say they can be mounted in any orientation. We have the cold water ones mounted vertically and haven't noticed any difference between the two

@alaisterdraper1164 Месяц назад

Love your video but one thing could you include rough pricing on cost products. Great job

@SelfBuiltStories Месяц назад

Cheers :) We don't like to mention prices in the videos really as they change a lot over time, and particularly with the Bobil kit they're constantly updating their product range as well. But we have links to everything we used in the description to get the current costs 👍

@nickthorley1 8 месяцев назад

I would be interested to know more about the recycling system - is this covered in a different video?

@SelfBuiltStories 8 месяцев назад

Yeah there will be a video at some point when we get round to editing it, but probably not for a while as have a few others to do first 😛 We have a post about in on Instagram with a few photos in the meantime though 👍

@lifeadventureprojects Год назад

Great work guys, as always. All them drawings need to go in the a book 😉

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers guys! Haha yeah, we've built up quite a collection now 😀

@swattergeezer 2 месяца назад

Hi Guys great video, I have the same Bobil tank, I was wondering where you got the brass fitting from and size, I couldn't find them in your parts list, thank you 👍

@SelfBuiltStories 2 месяца назад

Cheers 👍 And do you mean these ones? www.bes.co.uk/12-mm-x-1-2in-bsp-taper-brass-male-coupler-jg-speedfit-push-fit-12780/ . They were the only 12mm brass ones we found available on the whole Internet when we were looking 😛

@swattergeezer 2 месяца назад

@@SelfBuiltStories thanks for the link, and what where the brass fittings you used through the tank, thanks again

@SelfBuiltStories Месяц назад

@@swattergeezer the bulkhead fittings? Those are just the ones that came with the bobil kit 👍

@PresidentBust Год назад

Ahhhhh ❤ im delighted to see this. I have the same kit n its on the install list very soon. Love you guys n your super help to me since the beginning

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Hey! 👋 That's cool, good luck with the install! Thanks for following along for so long and glad they've been helpful 🙂

@wheelyliving4093 Год назад

Hi Guys. Been on the road full-time for three years. I designed a filtration/recycle/shower system. Put in a heating element in our polyprop tank. Those tanks are good for 60 deg C before softening. It was a big mistake. Where it went through the tank, that held firm, BUT above the heating element, the tank melted, so the hot water coming off the heating element did not circulate like a thermo syphon. Took the tank out and the 3-stage filtration system, and replaced with a Thermomate Flow activated gas heater. They state not to use it inside. However, I mounted ours behind the driver's seat. We have a 5kg gas bottle with a reducer on top, just push the gas hose from the Thermomate onto that. Water comes from any open water source, or a 19 litre plastic water bottle. My wife Carolyn with long hair takes 20 litres to shower, using the wet/wash/rinse system. We top up to halfway again for my shower. We have a garden hose push-fit connector under the sill of the Sprinter, and we connect the hose to that, (hard hose to prevent vacuum collapse) and then into the water bottle, or attach a hose extension with a weight and a funnel on the end to throw into the river of whatever. The funnel keeps the hose end off the bottom. We have a course pre-pump filter, and a 15 stage just before the showerhead. We binned the hot water for the sink idea, as it's so very easy to heat a pan of water on our induction hob. Hope that guides you. Best wishes. Tony and Carolyn.

@SelfBuiltStories 11 месяцев назад

Hey guys, thanks for sharing your setup. And ouch that's annoying, we'll be careful not to take the temperature up too high to start softening the tank. We only take it up briefly to high levels to periodically kill off any lurking legionella. Working great so far, and with the recirculating shower part now done we only need round 4.5l for the complete loop which is pretty cool. And yeah we've just been putting our leftover kettle water in a flask and reusing it throughout the day for washing up which is fine. Hope you're enjoying all your time on the road 🙂👍

@diezmon Год назад

Very cool! Well, not literally of course 😏. I didn’t know such a product existed! I wonder if you may want a third air route to the outside? For when you want to heat the water but not the van.🤔

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha yeah, we find it pretty cool 😛 We don't find that a problem actually as when the bobil kit is running quite a lot of the heat energy is taken out the air, so what comes out the shower is more warm than hot. And then we have a sliding door which seals off the shower to the rest of the van so the warm air rises inside and then is pulled out the ceiling by the maxxfan 🙂

@diezmon Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories it's pretty impressive. I really enjoy the videos. You motivate me to keep working on my van :)

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@diezmon Thank you! It's a big project but rewarding at the end, good luck with yours 🙂

@greenwoodgarage9341 9 месяцев назад

Does it get hot enough to kill bacteria?

@SelfBuiltStories 9 месяцев назад

Yep, the kit is rated up to 70C and at around 65C almost all (99.9%) of bacteria is killed in ~5 minutes. So we take it up high periodically to get rid of any traces of legionella 👍

@mickwolf1077 Год назад

Nice setup. Did ya know there's a version of those diesel heaters designed for water heating? (keeps cars cooling system from freezing up) They use a water jacket thing built into one side of the head and the other 3 sides plus the end are still used to heat air. This used with your setup should heat water quicker.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers, yeah we've seen some of the hydronic heaters and looks like there are a few of the cheaper Chinese ones available now too. We went with it this way as we wanted to prioritise the air heating and have really fine grained controller over that with the afterburner. Now that it's all insulated and fully setup it's working really well for us, only takes 10 mins or so to heat up for the shower from stone cold which we're fine with 🙂

@pdx650 7 месяцев назад

SBS, Thanks for posting this informative video. Good work. Will be using some of your ideas.

@SelfBuiltStories 7 месяцев назад

Cheers! And no problem, good luck with your build 👍🏻

@vicki9929 Год назад

Hallelujah! was my first thought when I saw you have posted a new video! I’ve missed watching your progress! Keep up the great job! And please, don’t go for so long? 😉

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha thanks, yeah sorry there was a pretty big gap this time 😃 We're actually travelling around in the van at the moment and have a backlog of videos we need to get round to editing when there's some rainy days! Hopefully the next one won't be so long 🙂

@davidpatrick1813 Год назад

really cool ... gives me some ideas ... I like the team work

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thank you very much! 😊

@mickskeldon5238 Год назад

Nice one guys, I am also converting an xlwb Transit and just got my bolbil vans kit. Have gone for the Air hybrid which i will be starting this Sat. Love your vids given me some great tips and ideas, hope you dont mind but stole a few lol. Think mine will be a little rougher a round the edges tha your perfection but very inspiring. Cannot wait to see the finished van, well done to you both

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Awesome, and thanks! Yeah the hybrid looks like a nice bit of kit. If we weren't building a recirculating shower we'd have been a contender for us. Good luck with it 🙂

@GenevieveHaddock 10 месяцев назад

Hi guys - loving your videos and diagrams, they make everything so clear! I was just wondering how much ducting you used when making the system? Thanks!

@SelfBuiltStories 10 месяцев назад

Glad to hear! 🙂 And we haven't measured it exactly, but each piece you buy is generally around 50cm expandable to 100cm, and I think we used 3 pieces. So for our setup probably somewhere between 2-3m when in place. We had some that came with our heater and then picked up a bit more on eBay. HTH 👍

@hunglikeadonkeybutnotassmelly Год назад

You have been nominated for the 2023 YTBCBA ( RU-vid Best come back award )

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha, cheers🏅

@Workshop-of-Allsorts Год назад

Super build.... random question, where did you get your water fill cap and hose ?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers! And we got them both from eBay: Filler cap: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144157371031. For the hose there are various sellers, if you search for something like '40mm ID water hose'. HTH 👍

@ontheriver6518 Год назад

New subscriber, really enjoying your video's thanks for sharing. Really helping me out with ideas and info which is going to be really helpful as I'm planning something similar as your conversion only in a boat not a van. One question, do you have a vent from the shower to outside the van so the heat can escape outside and not back into the van? I haven't got round to watching your shower build video yet which I probably should have before asking the question. I was just thinking how hot is it going to get inside the van with the diesel heater running and not being vented outside during the summer.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

No problem, thanks for watching! 🙂 And yeah good question, so we have a sliding door that completely closes off the shower with a small air gap at the top, and right outside is our maxxfan. So with the door closed the hot air rises in the shower and then out the top of the van and it doesn't get hot inside the van if we don't want it to 👍

@Boltonguy76 Год назад

Loving your series guys. Lots of useful info here. Could I please ask who you get to insure the van whilst you are converting it. I’m struggling to find the right insurer. Thanks.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers 🙂 And yeah sure, at the moment we're with Adrian Flux who are often recommended for self conversions and we've had a good experience so far. We did lots of calling around as we found some brokers had slightly different terms and prices even with the same underwriters so worth doing that. Others to try are ones like Brentacre, AIB, A Plan and Just Kampers 👍

@loony457 Год назад

Brilliant video , I’m interested in the power used to heat the water by the heat element ,what solar panel power , battery power and watts of that element could you tell me please … thanks how long can it heat for

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers :) So the element is 300W (or can be wired at half power for 150W), and we have 525W of solar on the roof with 200Ah of lithium batteries. 300W at 12V is 25A. So with nothing else on and our batteries 100% we could theoretically run it for 8 hours. We would never do that though, we don't run the element just on battery power, instead we have it so that it switches on only when there is excess charge when we're driving or have a lot of sun. We did some more extensive testing with how long it takes to heat the water which is at the end of the part 2 hot water video. HTH 👍

@loony457 Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories ok Thankyou. Do you have full details of the heater you , used and the kits used to make what was shown. in your videos

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@loony457 Yeah our heater is the Lavaner Pro, and the bobil kit is the Air XChange and element upgrade kit, details of those are on the website: www.bobilvans.co.uk/shop 👍

@gustavohasan3131 Год назад

Hi guys! Question: Are you using an extra pump to bring the water from the shower drain back to the tank? Thanks

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Hiya, yeah we have another one of the same pumps that will pull the water back out the drain when the recirculating part is turned on 👍

@rustynuts4426 Год назад

Off topic, but I must say, your little bottom shelf that protrudes from the small window is an amazing touch. I'm stealing that idea, sorry.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha cheers and no worries, it's the little touches that make a build, if they do take a bit of work 🙂👍

@BennaCaique1 Год назад

Awesome 😃 didn’t know this existed so thanks for sharing 👏🏻👏🏻

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

You're welcome, it's a cool bit of kit! 👍

@philpowell6915 Год назад

I was wondering to myself where you guys have been....!! Glad to see the van coming along nicely. Top job...👏 👏 👏

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers! And we've been spending some time exploring the Cornish coast so got a bit behind with the videos 😀

@marksmith8663 7 месяцев назад

Thought of everything. Not sure if you’re going camping or living off grid. Am a engineer so love watching this .

@SelfBuiltStories 7 месяцев назад

Cheers, glad you enjoyed it! We're living in it for extended periods, sometimes campsites but mostly off-grid 🙂

@brightgreencarrot 6 месяцев назад

Who needs CAD when you've got Abi 👍

@SelfBuiltStories 6 месяцев назад

Yep, I've got lots of Cool Abi Designs! 😄

@edoliver9360 Год назад

Glad to see you back 😊 Your videos on the self build camper van are the best I’ve seen on RU-vid and I’ve watched a lot 😊 Thank you for sharing your Journey ☺️

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

You're welcome and wow thanks, that's quite the accolade, glad you've enjoyed watching them! 🙂

@ezioauditore3128 Год назад

Love the series and it's great that you're still uploading despite finishing your van. I've got this system (yet to be installed) but I'm gutted you didn't use their hybrid system with the boiler as you could have made my life easier😉 though this system is similar. Great vid as always.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thank you! It's nice to have a bit more time to be able to finish editing them all 😛 And haha sorry, the hybrid looks like a nice bit of kit but wasn't going to work for us with the recirculating shower... good luck!

@17bArawata Год назад

Brilliant video and a great job done. I'm really interested in seeing how the solar heating works to heat the water too. Will that be your next video or is that a job for further down the line?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers :) And yep, that will be in the next video. We tested the whole setup fairly extensively 😛

@ForSure871 8 месяцев назад

I’m glad you figured out (Timelapse at the end), that you installed the air intake diverter in the wrong way👍

@SelfBuiltStories 8 месяцев назад

Haha yeah, somehow neither of us noticed at first. Fortunately realised before we put all the cabinets back 😆

@Vlaid65 Год назад

Great work. You made a complex task sound straight forward - thanks :) The van is looking like a little home now.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

You're welcome, and thanks. It does feel nice and cosy 😊

@TheHiveOffGride Год назад

another amazing video guys, looking forward to doing ours. looking forward to your next video.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thanks a lot and good luck with yours! 😀

@pdx650 7 месяцев назад

I wanted to ask: Should there be a check valve (one-way valve) after the pump and before the accumulator so water pressure doesn't leave the accumulator and head back to the pump? I am new to this so, correct my thinking since I am probably wrong about this.

@SelfBuiltStories 7 месяцев назад

It shouldn't be necessary for a diaphragm pump as they have a check valve built in by their design and water can only flow one way through them 👍🏻

@UserNamedNone Год назад

This is really great

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thanks! 🙂

@AMGMANIAC Год назад

I use the same kit which I bought almost 2 years ago and recently upgraded the pump and added the dual controller. I had problems getting the pump to kick in until I moved the positive pump lead to position 8 from position 7. Did yours work as per the diagram?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cool, yeah we had ours kicking around for a while! In fact they've upgraded the design a bit since we bought ours too 😛 We did find there were a few small mistakes on the paper instructions we had (like the temperature sensors were the wrong way around) but we found the instructions on the website up-to-date and matching our controller so didn't have any issues after that 👍

@AMGMANIAC Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories I'm glad it wasn't just me. I figured it out in the end though and I have to say, the dual heat exchanger we both have is very resilient. I've just uploaded a video to my channel showing a service of the exchanger as well as a pump upgrade, it was a journey for sure.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@AMGMANIAC Cool, nice one. Yeah we're pretty impressed with it so far👍

@mr.matiss Год назад

Nice job. Very well explained. I think the circulating pump could switch on a bit quicker. Whenever the heat exchanger temp passes the water temp. it could switch on to start extracting the heat as soon as possible. That obviously dos not guarantee for water to reach target temp (if the heat exchanger never reaches target temp), but still could decrease the heat time. Also the alternative heating would be from van engine itself. I mean when you almost finish the driving you could potentially start heating the water to extract engine heat and convert it in to a hot shower. :)

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers! Yeah it is configurable, so you could set it lower if you want no problem. They just recommend setting it to come on around 40C so it only starts circulating when the diesel heater is definitely on, and not just from ambient hot temperature. In practice it's barely anytime once the heater is ramping up to hit that temperature so the gains would be quite marginal, but every little helps! And we actually have something like that already using the element, it works great. So if we're driving, it's heating up the water via that and the DC-DC charger on the way, so by the time we park up somewhere if the drive is long enough we can already have a hot tank ready to go, which is very nice 😀

@mr.matiss Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories Ahh nice. Sure if we start to look in to details heating with DC might put a little more stress on alternator, but i guess that's way more easier than taking the heat out of coolant and putting additional heat exchanger pipes and valves. 🙂 I really enjoy your channel with all the details and technical stuff. Keep them coming! Cheers. 🙂

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@mr.matiss Yeah it'll work a bit harder and use a little more diesel too, but we're happy with that, worth it for nice hot water when you arrive! Cheers, we will 😀

@alexj383 14 дней назад

Hello. Loving your videos and currently at the plumbing stage on ours. I can't find a link to the jg brass and plastic connector to 12mm pipe. I've spent all day trying to find somehwere that does a 12mm one and i cannot find one anywhere. I'm wondering where you purchased yours from? Thanks :)

@SelfBuiltStories 14 дней назад

Hey, glad you're enjoying them 🙂 And do you mean this one? www.bes.co.uk/12-mm-x-1-2in-bsp-taper-brass-male-coupler-jg-speedfit-push-fit-12780/ If so then I feel your pain, I spent all day looking for it before too! It's the only one I've ever found anywhere 😎

@SaSaaVirus Год назад

@15:56 the intake Splitter is turned to its side so you will block it off now or take air from the cab.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers yeah don't worry it's the correct way now, we realised after and swapped it round but didn't get it on film 🙂👍

@slashnburndotcodotuk Год назад

If you buy an EGR heat exchanger. Run the heater exhaust through it. Loop the water circuit into the pipes from the Bobilvans, and you'll harvest waste heat from the heater exhaust too. Have seen David McLuckie's channel..? An absolute goldmine of info around diesel heaters. and ingenious ways to harvest heat from them. www.youtube.com/@DavidMcLuckie/videos

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Hey, yeah we've watched a few of his videos actually! His teardown on the Lavaner Pro was one of the reasons we went for that heater. Haven't seen that one though... food for thought 😛

@slashnburndotcodotuk Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories Not sure if that idea came from Davids channel, but I have seen it around, also running the exhaust through a standard household radiator, and using a diesel heater with a tumble dryer. It’s a wacky world lol. Personally I intend to use 2 separate diesel heaters for heating (which will be forced air, and underfloor) and hot water, giving me redundancy. (If one fails, the other can be repurposed) I think it would be a simpler solution for me, and showering in the summer, where you want hot water but no heating is a plus. I will also be installing a calorifier coil in the tank, hooked into the heater hoses coming from the engine. Utilising heat that would be dissipated to atmosphere through the radiator, for instant hot water when travelling. Good luck mate, will be following this build…

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Yeah redundancy is never a bad thing, when we take the van up to Norway and we're quite dependent on the heater we think we might just take a spare diesel heater and parts. We don't find it a problem actually to have the heater runner for the hot water and not warming the van, as so much of the heat energy is taken out by the exchanger that with the shower door closed the van doesn't really warm up if we don't want it to. And yeah lots of wacky things for sure, could definitely get lost down the rabbit hole of modifications... 😛 cheers!

@randomcol1378 Год назад

I want a shower in My van and this system looks good 😊

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

We're really happy with it! We've used it quite a bit now and having a hot shower in the van is really nice 🙂

@SnowboardersThatVanlife 11 месяцев назад

Hi! The bobil kit is on preorder and we are building a van that needs to be done asap. Do you recommend any other heat exchangers? We have a webasto heater we want to turn into warm water for the van.

@SelfBuiltStories 11 месяцев назад

Hey! The bobil kit is the only one we have experience with so can't really comment on others I'm afraid, good luck! 👍

@timhaywood2282 Год назад

It’s looking fantastic looking forward to the next video

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers! Hopefully there won't be such a big gap this time before the next one 😅

@ttseroga1986 9 месяцев назад

You guys are awesome! Love your channel.

@SelfBuiltStories 9 месяцев назад

Thank you very much! 😊

@lc10w Год назад

So complicated - you could have just had a calorifier and hydronic diesel heater.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

We don't find it that complicated to be honest and wanted to prioritise the air heating and be able to use the afterburner. The hydronic heaters look nice too but having used this setup for a few months we're really happy it and wouldn't change it. Being able to have fine grained control and heat up the van super quickly is great

@juuhnii.updown Год назад

Is your bubble heater lower than your hot water tank? I’ve been watching a lot of thermosiphon videos and I’m wondering if you turn off the pump and will it begin to continue to circulate hot water? I’m thinking of hitting the junkyard and picking up a car radiator and mounting it close to my exhaust pipe. Aiming to get hot water while driving?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

The pump sits lower than the tank as it can't run dry, but there is no circulating through the exchanger without the pump running. We do get hot water while driving if we want though from the excess charge from the alternator that powers the 300W element in the tank 👍

@SteveSalisbury Год назад

Another great video and really informative. Love seeing the progress

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thank you very much! 🙂

@davidhughes7041 7 месяцев назад

TC too close to 300w imm element should be on the other side . Temp in tank 60 Deg C to eliminate risk of Legionnaire bacteria. Good job in all other respects.

@SelfBuiltStories 7 месяцев назад

Yeah we couldn't get it any further back in the tank unfortunately because the wire for it was so skimpy, so it could only reach that corner 😛 But as the water is generally circulating throughout the tank anyway it hasn't been an issue. If heating up with only the element there is a slight temperature lag but that's fine. And yeah we take it up towards 70C from time to time which is high enough to kill legionella instantly, and the whole hot tank is dumped and refreshed after every few showers too to keep it nice and clean 👍 And thanks! 🙂

@kieran4241 Год назад

Another amazing video Tim & Abi! A little off topic - how are you getting the water from the shower drain into the recirculating system? Can those 12v pumps run dry when no water is running through?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers! And we're using another one of the same pumps we have for the hot and cold, which are okay to run dry. Although we imagine there should actually be a pretty consistent flow, will take a bit of experimentation to work out the right amount of water in the loop to keep it running 😛

@kieransudbury1 Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStoriesexcited to see the next video! Keep it up 😊

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@kieransudbury1 Thanks! :)

@RichardChandler-v8i 9 месяцев назад

You have got and used some great ides but like most Van conversions i have seen here on youtube a major flaw has been spotted.... You have not insulated your hot or cold water pipes... When i built my van all my water pipes were insulated firstly to stop them from freezing and bursting secondly the hot water why heat the water to only lose all that heat before you use it...

@SelfBuiltStories 9 месяцев назад

Cheers :) We're not worried about the cold pipes though. They're all inside the van so if they're freezing we will be too which wouldn't be ideal 🥶 If we're in the van we have the heater running, and if we're out for the day it's unlikely it'll drop inside cold enough to freeze before we get back, and worse case the frost mode on our heater would fire it up for a bit. Only other time would be if we left the van in storage somewhere if we're not using it, but for that we'd drain down all the systems anyway. For the hot pipes inside for a normal shower it wouldn't make much difference for us to be honest. The tank is insulated and the run to the shower is so short it barely spends any time in there. It would keep the remaining water still in the pipe a bit warmer between showers, but even then most lagging only keeps it a few degrees higher than otherwise so we'd still have to run it for a few seconds to get the nice hot shower water coming from the tank. Where it will make a difference for us in for the recirculating loop, particularly the pipes under the van. We've used it now in summer and highlands winter and the latter we had -7C outside at some points. We've been carrying all the pipe wrap for a while but haven't got round to doing it yet 😛 We'll probably wrap some of the hot pipes inside too because why not, but yeah unlike most van conversions for us it's the recirculating part that will be the most worthwhile doing. Merry Christmas! 🎄

@Platformcamb0621 5 месяцев назад

Do you have any plans to reclaim the waste heat from the exhaust and integrate that into the build? Either to heat the air, the water or the engine block if you’re somewhere cold. Also - did you consider getting a calorifier to use waste engine heat to heat the van/water? Could get a twin coil so you could use the diesel and the electric element too. If not why didn’t you fancy that route?

@SelfBuiltStories 5 месяцев назад

We've thought briefly about adding an EGR cooler on the exhaust but if we ever did it we'd want to be able to use it in combination with the existing heat exchanger, and the extra complexity isn't something we've needed up to now. It would be cool to be making use of the wasted energy but at the moment we find the setup efficient enough. We didn't go down the calorifier route as we often parkup somewhere for a few days so again the extra complexity we didn't think was worth it for us as a lot of the time when we want hot water we haven't been driving. Bobil does make a hybrid kit now that work with a calorifier, but instead we have the 12V element so we can generate some hot water while driving indirectly if we want to, with any excess power from the DC charger. And with that we can also benefit when parked up stationary if there's plenty of excess solar too 👍

@minthos4045 Год назад

if there is a way you could get water to flow through the actual combustion block without actually water going into the combustion chamber, this whole setup could be far more simpler and far more effective.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

What you're talking about sounds like a hydronic diesel heater? That's another nice option, pro's and con's with each. We went with this one as we prioritise our air heating with hot water the secondary, and with this setup we can have a controller with really fine grained control on that. But we find it pretty simple to use too, just took a few uses to figure out what settings work best for us. More than one way to do it but so far we're really happy with this setup 👍

@boatingmanchester Год назад

You my friend are a genius good to see a young man knowing his stuff well done lad

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers, definitely a team effort though, we do every project together 🙂

@llamedosr7843 Год назад

It's all getting a bit complicated

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

A little bit! But as we've built it all ourselves we have a really good understanding of how it all works so we're quite comfortable with it and like techie projects too 🙂

@lkradventures Год назад

How does the hot water tank know when to stop filling itself?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

It's a manual fill so we just turn it off when it's at the level we want 👍

@justtraveltogether Год назад

We constantly keep coming back to this heater 😮 can’t wait to hear what it’s like!

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

We've put it through its paces quite a bit now and are really happy with it 😃

@justtraveltogether Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories haha we just finished watching, really thought you were going for that 88 🤣

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha I did want to, but sadly 70C is the maximum the tank is rated for! ...maybe a quick test above can't hurt 😛

@justtraveltogether Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories who knows when you might end up 😂

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@justtraveltogether Where we're going, we just need roads 😁

@windstylebe Год назад

Just one thing I don't really get. Why does the pomp only start working when the air temperature is more than 40 degrees? Wouldn't it be smarter to already start pumping once it warmer then the water temperature?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

You can set the activation temperature to anything you like with the controller so you could have it lower so it starts pumping straight away if you wanted. The reason for having it higher at 40C is so that it is only pumping when the heater is actually running. If you had it lower below ambient temperature then the pump would be cycling non-stop when not in use, unless you turned off the whole system. We want to leave it on though so that the element can heat the water when the conditions allow it, so yeah personal preference really 👍

@Bawsyyrs 5 месяцев назад

hi guys, how do you get on with the heat exchanger? do you wish you'd gone for a 12v water heater instead or are you perfectly happy with the diesel heater needing to be on for hot water? thanks all the best

@SelfBuiltStories 5 месяцев назад

Hey, yeah it works really well, we use it all the time 👍 Wouldn't want only a 12V heater as it'd rinse our batteries and take a long time, but we do have a 12V element in the tank as well so we can heat up purely electric if we want or using both, if we have excess power. In practice we use the diesel heater 95% of the time, nice and quick to heat the tank and cheap to run too 😎

@Colin6712 9 месяцев назад

If youve got a carbon monoxide meter check it works put it near the exhaust and see if the alarm goes off i had to get a new one i had a leak and at 200 ppm it still didn't set the alarm offi woke up to find smoke everywhere it could of been a different result if i hadn't of woken up to go to the toilet

@SelfBuiltStories 9 месяцев назад

Cheers, yeah we have a combined CO and smoke alarm. We read that it's not advised to test them with exhaust though as the combined heat and humidity can damage the sensor. But thanks for reminding us we need to test it again! Yeah CO can be scary, glad you're ok!

@TheJonnyGMusic Год назад

Great video! Curious though, had you thought about using a float valve for the hot water tank instead of a manual on / off switch?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers! And there is a float sensor in there so that the element can't turn on if there isn't enough water to avoid it running dry, so we can leave the element switch always on. But if you mean for filling the tank then yeah we do that manually, we quite like it that way as we vary how we put in at the moment depending on how much water we have and how full the grey tank is 😛

@TheJonnyGMusic Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories ahh interesting about the sensor, guessing that’s because you have the heating element in particular, not so necessary on the standard Xchange I’d guess. But yeah I meant to fill the tank! I think that’s what I may do, but the only pitfall I keep thinking of is the temperate drop if you have a big valve that fills the tank too quickly….

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@TheJonnyGMusic Ah yeah, that's part of the element upgrade kit not standard with the XChange. Yeah you could have an automatic valve for that, we don't have a problem with a manual fill but the nice thing about a DIY setup is getting it just as you like it 😀

@MultiOutdoorman 10 месяцев назад

Never use a sharp cutting tool across your thighs. Femoral artery region. Not safe.

@SelfBuiltStories 10 месяцев назад

Fair point, thanks for the concern 👍

@Nicholas2011ist Год назад

Did you consider leaving the water outlet above the heating element?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

We did but for us we need it lower down for our recirculating shower, as if it was too high then there might not have been enough water to sustain a continuous loop. But with the bobil pump on the water is constantly mixed so it's all near enough the same temperature anyway 👍

@jaredspooley9273 Год назад

Your back! Great video as always 👍 do you have any way of heating the water without having the heater heating the van also? 🤔

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers :) and the van doesn't actually get hot when it's running, by the time the air comes out the other side of the heat exchanger a lot of the heat has been taken out of it so it's only warm. And then it just warms up the shower which is shut off from the rest of the van with a sliding door 👍 nice to get into a warm shower room too 😀

@jaredspooley9273 Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories Okay very interesting. Would you say its more efficient to heat that way over other more conventional methods? :)

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

It will be more efficient that electric heating which requires a lot of energy, not sure how it would compare to gas lpg heating though. But from what we've tested it's plenty efficient enough for us, we can heat the tank in 10-15 minutes and if we did it every day for a month would only be around a fiver in diesel. There's pros and cons to each type of system, we're quite happy with this one for our setup 👍🙂

@BeardieD Год назад

So what if its a hot day and you just want to was your hands with some hot water?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

The van doesn't really heat up if we're passing the air through the heat exchanger as a lot of the energy is taken out of it, and then the luke warm air that's left goes into our shower room which is closed off from the living space. So it's not a problem to heat water even on a hot summer day. Having said that we don't actually have hot water in the sink, only the shower, so we wash our hands with cold water anyway 😛

@piotrzabocki1232 Год назад

What a great job, can't wait to see next video.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thank you very much! 🙂👍

@jonathanokocha4614 7 месяцев назад

So you have to wait 5-10 minutes to use hot water. Not very optimum but works

@SelfBuiltStories 7 месяцев назад

Yep, well in the worst case when the water is cold. It might already be hot straight away if we've used the solar element while driving, and always has some retained heat anyway as the tank is insulated so in practice it doesn't usually start from cold unless we've just refilled the tank. But even in the worst case it's more than quick enough for us 👍

@markphillips8019 Год назад

"Not the fairest test with the door open ...." And you only had to heat half a a tank. normally you'd have a full tank and also it would be topped up with cold water as you run the shower. But what will you do in the summer when you do not need the heater on?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha yeah we only did a quick test for this one as we just wanted to check it was all working before getting it all in the cabinet. But we've tested it extensively since then and can heat up 12l to 40C in 12 minutes, starting from 10C water so pretty happy with that. We don't have any cold topping it up, to use we fill it, heat it, then just drain or recirculate that same hot water. We went for a non-mixer tap in the shower so the cold isn't really used for it, you just use the hot which is at a pre-set nice shower temperature (unless we actually want a cold shower). And no problem using it in the Summer for us, when the kit is running quite a bit of heat is taken out of the air so what comes out the ducting on the other end is only warm not hot, and it's also inside our shower room which is shut off with a sliding door so the rest of the van doesn't have to heat up if you don't want it too 👍

@eric35red Год назад

What’s the purpose of the accumulator?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

We talk about it a bit more in our cold water video, but essentially it's like a mini pressurised tank that is set to a PSI which works well with the pump. It smooths out the water flow, stops the pump cycling on and off all the time, and extends the life of the pump as its not running as often. You can see what happens when we set the pressure not quite right and then fixed here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s7GXPvPtOqw.html

@JeffZiegler76 11 месяцев назад

Why not use the heat from the exhaust being it is wasted?

@SelfBuiltStories 11 месяцев назад

The kit we got from Bobil Vans doesn't have an option for an exhaust gas recovery at the moment, although they did test it out with one of their kits here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NTyFdj4y-TU.html. It would be a nice setup though as like you say the exhaust heat is just going to waste otherwise. Others have built something using an EGR cooler which seems like a good approach, if we were going to play around and DIY it more we'd probably do something like this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cVT4bR5e7FI.html 👍

@allanjacobs3735 Год назад

Notification squad 😊✌🏻

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

😃

@ChristianBorrman 8 месяцев назад

would be way, way more efficient to use the exhaust of the diesel heater!

@SelfBuiltStories 8 месяцев назад

Yeah it would be nice to have the option to reclaim the exhaust heat too seeing as it's essentially wasted energy, but the bobil kit doesn't have an option for exhaust gas recovery at the moment. Although they did test it out with one of their kits here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NTyFdj4y-TU.html. Have seen people use an EGR cooler which seems like a good approach, which is probably the route we'd go down if we wanted to try it out at some point, but we're pretty happy with it at the moment. We've been in Scotland with in in the Winter and it's been plenty quick enough, but yeah combining the exhaust heat as well would be a cool mod 👍

@ChristianBorrman 8 месяцев назад

@@SelfBuiltStories a small water intercooler in the exhaust path maybe? or I was thinking having the silencer in a box with a coil of copper around it. The air option is neater and cleaner I suppose. How is the option for plugging into the car cooling, to heat the engine that the original webasto etc have? I was assuming they used exhaust but may well be air path too?

@SelfBuiltStories 8 месяцев назад

@@ChristianBorrman Yeah David McLuckie has played around with EGR coolers quite a bit on his channel, e.g. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cVT4bR5e7FI.html. The other thing to consider is if it was only using the exhaust heat then you still have the full air heat going into the van which might not be what you want all the time. With the setup we have if we're running the bobil kit so much energy is taken out of the hot air that it's only luke warm by the time it comes out the vents, so it doesn't heat up the van if we don't want it to. It'd be cool to be able to switch between them so in the winter use primarily exhaust heat and in the summer the air heat, or maybe two separate circulation pumps that can be controlled independently depending on the conditions... but whether it's worth the extra complexity over having all the pipes and setup just inside the van, not sure 😛You can use a calorifier system to heat water using the engine cooler, Bobil actually have a hybrid kit that can switch between using a diesel heater and the engine as well

@aerix12345 Год назад

A complete build hybrid ev motorhome only cost usd65k. All electric appliances, fridge, stove, and ac are of smart xiaomi. It charge while drive, while I station t auto recharge when power is low or with a press of button it recharge within an hour. No more power rationing or power shortage, no messy solar. They way of contemporary RV is definitely Hybrid Electric.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cool, for us though we prefer the project of building it all DIY but it's good there's lots of different options out there 👍

@aerix12345 Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories I bring this out so that somebody could look into these new viable solution. DIY would need some precedent study, it no harm to case study something out of the box for the better.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@aerix12345 No problem, thanks for the comment

@DAH-ss1nu 9 месяцев назад

Looking at your drawing, you could eliminate a pump by putting a heat exchange coil in your hot water tank (or 3 in parallel) and using the pressurized cold water from that pump to run through the coils and supply your hot water. You could even vastly increase your thermal store if you put a rack of phase change material in the tank like paraffin wax in copper pipe segments.

@SelfBuiltStories 9 месяцев назад

Thanks for the comment! We have it setup with the additional pump though as our hot water kit is not on demand and not pressurised, and we recirculate the water. So we don't want to use the cold fresh tank as we'd deplete it really quickly. We have thought about doing something similar to give us some hot water for the sink though, but for now just using a kettle has worked out great for washing up 🙂

@thomasrichter3585 Год назад

Hi, just as a note. Your forward air intake diverter is not correct installed (you have changed that already), as in the lever right position it will close the air intake towards the diesel heater and would overheat (possible fire). Keep up with your good work! 👍👍

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Yeah some how neither of us noticed the first time we tested it 😛 But don't worry all swapped around shortly after we filmed that bit and working great 😀 And thank you!

@petersimpson633 Год назад

So, you ruled out using a kettle then...

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

It's used extensively for making tea 😛

@fatchunk3678 Год назад

I haven’t seen you videos before, I’m about to buy a Bobil Kit, I just wanted to say how brilliant Abbey’s (sorry if wrong spelling) diagram is!

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Ah thanks so much! Hope the Bobil kit works out well for you!

@alexknightwrc Год назад

Guys, this is incredible.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha, cheers! 😀

@paulvuylsteke1073 11 месяцев назад

Why we don’t hear about only electricity production with a Tesla (or else) powerwall build in the floor? No more mess with all suply lines and systems or panels. Just one power wall accessible to quick charge loading points

@SelfBuiltStories 10 месяцев назад

Hmm would imagine it's just not practical to use in a small space/moving vehicle. I believe powerwalls can only be mounted vertically and also need adequate clearance and ventilation around them, plus access for maintenance etc, so you wouldn't be able to embed one in the floor. The more campervan alternative at the moment is probably an all-in-one powerbank, like the EcoFlow or Bluetti. That is similar in that everything is in one box, but can directly power all the 12V accessories out the box too, with the advantage of being portable to also take outside etc. Tech moves so fast though I wouldn't be surprised if there was a smaller mobile powerwall at some point 👍

@paulvuylsteke1073 10 месяцев назад

@@SelfBuiltStories to be continued. Thanks for reply . Hopefully new innovations coming soon.

@SelfBuiltStories 10 месяцев назад

@@paulvuylsteke1073 No problem 👍

@mrshoe9 Год назад

Good video 👍would have been so much less hassle to fit a truma D4E though. Less connections to leak and a more compact all inone unit.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Cheers 🙂 We did consider all the other options including the truma but decided against that one pretty early on to be honest. It's a nice bit of kit but because we're building a recirculating shower it wouldn't work that great for us, we wanted more of a DIY setup that we can get into to clean, and something that would fit nicely in our cupboard. We also wanted much more advanced control of the air heating with the afterburner. Having wifi and being able to control it remotely away from the van has been really nice. A fair bit cheaper than the £1800 for the truma too 😛

@chrisunderhill8853 10 месяцев назад

seems like a great idea, how ever i can imagine during the summer months its a bit of a pill to run the heated air unless you may have some kind of wye bypass valve that maybe inline just after the heat exchanger, and channel the hot air out of the van. Maybe out the bottom of the van, during the summer months. I wonder if you thought of instead of using the hot air from the diesel heater using a 2 channel radiator and tie into the engines water to loop though the first channel of the radiator and your running water on the second channel. it would take approx 3 mins to get to 110 degree water from the engine and it would be at a hot 210 in less then 6 mins. so you would need a diverter valve to mix both hot and cold at same time to keep you from burning in the extreme hot water but that would be nearly an insta hot water specially if you decide to take a shower after you had been driving a while. you could even mount the radiator in front of the current vans radiator so it would take up even less room in the van it self.

@SelfBuiltStories 10 месяцев назад

It's not a problem actually as most of the heat energy is taken out of the air by the exchanger, so it's luke warm at best when it comes out the other side. And we also have a diverter so we can have even that air go into the shower room and shut the sliding door, so it just gets pulled out the roof by the fan. We used it all Summer and during a heatwave and it was fine, the van never got too hot from it 👍 We've looked briefly at using a calorifier to do something similar to that which is an interesting option (and bobil have a kit for that too as well now) but we're pretty happy with our setup at the moment, has been working well in all seasons so far 🙂

@chrisunderhill8853 10 месяцев назад

@SelfBuiltStories awesome! I may have to give it a try. I am putting a diesel heater set up in my conversion trailer I am building.

@SelfBuiltStories 10 месяцев назад

@@chrisunderhill8853 Yeah it is a cool bit of kit, and they keep upgrading it. Seen they now have a smart controller that you can hook up to control the diverter itself. And also noticed the afterburner has support for the bobil kit in the latest firmware too, so might have to have a play around with that at some point 😛

@17bArawata 10 месяцев назад

Do you use 3 sensors. You have 1 sensor for the heat exchange air temperature, 1 sensor for the water temperature. And then do you have a 3rd sensor to check that water is in the tank for the heating element? Or does the water temperature sensor also do the water level check? Thanks.

@SelfBuiltStories 10 месяцев назад

Hiya, yep exactly there is a thermocouple to measure the tank water temperature and a float level sensor in the side of the tank, we put those in here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zgaRlmYyLpk.htmlsi=Txos1aIYDuiV4t1u&t=485. And then there is a second thermocouple that monitors the air temperature at the exchanger here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zgaRlmYyLpk.htmlsi=UwaKOIZSi1bth8oK&t=1484 👍

@17bArawata 10 месяцев назад

@@SelfBuiltStories thanks so much. I'm not sure how I missed that bit of your video. Thanks for confirming. I have the bobil kit and will be adding the solar heating to it. You guys are doing an amazing conversion.

@SelfBuiltStories 10 месяцев назад

@@17bArawata No problem 👍and thanks 🙂

@69uremum 6 месяцев назад

Is the o-ring supposed to go in the tank? I would think that the o-ring should go on the outside because there will be a spiral leak path because of the nut.

@SelfBuiltStories 6 месяцев назад

Hiya, if you mean for the brass bulkhead connectors then they had two rubber O rings, we used one on each side of the tank 👍

@69uremum 6 месяцев назад

gotcha @@SelfBuiltStories

@SelfBuiltStories 6 месяцев назад

👍

@Amiziras Год назад

What is the thinking behind the diverter for the air intake? I don't get why you would want to change where the air comes from?

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Yeah so we decided to put that in so we can choose whether to recirculate the air from inside the house part, or take it from the cab (or a mixture). The idea behind it was that recirculating the air is a lot more efficient as the same air is continually warming up so the van heats up faster, but might carry more moisture and potentially more condensation. Because our bulkhead is heavily insulated the cab air feels quite different (and noticeably different temperature). We figured it might be a bit fresher as some air can be pulled from the outside through the vents and seals so the diverter let's us decide depending on the conditions 👍

@Amiziras Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories ah okay! We have a mk8 transit we've converted as well and I've also fitted a bobil heater to a 2kw heater. Our intake is from behind the drivers seat (through our bulkhead). I don't think you'll find much appreciable difference between the cab air and the van air in practice but interesting to see your thoughts once you're using it. On a separate note, do you plan to insulate the tank? I put a 300w element in ours and while it works well as a solar dump/ when charging from the alternator it takes about 3-4 hours to get to 70degrees from room temp and you'll lose a lot of heat / it will take a lot longer if it's not insulated.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@Amiziras Ah cool :) Yeah we've actually found a noticeable difference in how quickly the van heats up between the two inlets, slower if drawing from the cab side. Haven't measured it more scientifically yet but probably will at some point! And if there is any difference in humidity etc. And yeah we have the tank insulated, we were able to heat up 18l to 40C in a little over 2 hours with the element. We tested everything out a lot more for the next video (though to 40C not 70C). We've been using it for a few months now and are really happy with how efficient the kit is, very cool

@LegendLength Год назад

Why bother recycling water though? You can just get more from a creek or a hose.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Yeah we can refill it easily at the back but we like to be off grid for a while and as our pump delivers 7.5l a minute we would drain our tank shower tank down completely in a little over 2 minutes, so having it recirculating we can both have a nice long shower if we want. Our hot water setup is also not on-demand so we'd only get a couple of minutes of hot before it'd all be cold otherwise 🥶

@md2320 Год назад

PERFECTION..................

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Haha cheers 👍

@davidm9643 Год назад

Do you have a vent in the shower roof to let out moisture especially if you are going to use it for drying

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

We have a sliding door which seals off the shower to the rest of the van with an air gap at the top which is right next to our maxxfan so the hot vapour rises and is pulled out through the roof. There's also a smaller fan on our toilet which extracts air out and down under the van 👍

@laurenceclarke7186 Год назад

What team work. Great to see this system. Great build cant wait to see more👍💯

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

Thank you! 🙂

@laurenceclarke7186 Год назад

Both definitely inspiring my 1st campervan build.

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@laurenceclarke7186 Awesome, what van are you going for? 🙂

@laurenceclarke7186 Год назад

@@SelfBuiltStories Renault master, after seeing the rust on crafters and sprinter. But keeping my eye out for a transit euro 6 after seeing your complex tutorials and how great your vans looking 💯

@SelfBuiltStories Год назад

@@laurenceclarke7186 Cool, good luck with the search then! It took us a while to find ours, and thanks :)