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Bergger

Explorer
Yea I have the Comfort. I'm not sure the Eco is sold in America at this time? They are identical heaters, dimensions and weight wise. As mentioned above the Eco only has two heat levels vs the three of the Comfort. The international sites show the Eco at 1300W and 2800W which equate to about 4400BTU and 9500BTU. The comfort is listed with 3 levels of heat, 4700BTU, 8900BTU and 11500BTU. If the Eco is available and you do not need the higher heating capacity it may be a good option. Not sure what the price difference is between the two but if it is not much I'd go with the Comfort. Where I live it's really cold and at high elevations the more BTUs the better. Can't go wrong with a Vario heater in my opinion. The digital thermotat is nice along with the quieter night mode and the ability to program it to heat up the space at a set time in the morning. I'd be curious to hear some feedback on the Propex propane heater if anyone has ever used one. Much lower BTUs than the Truma unit but it looks nice as it also has a digital thermostat.
 

sea_weathered

New member
So that’s a screaming deal in many ways if you can get it shipped to the US at a reasonable price. I’d look at the installation manual before ordering — there’s a some specific requirements. A few things to keep in mind:

This appears to be a newer variant of the Vario — the Eco. What I have and I believe @Bergger has are the Vario Comforts. The Eco looks a bit smaller, which is good, weighs less, and has two vs 3 speeds rated at 1300/2800 BTUs [Edit: Correction — This should be Watts. See Bergger’s post below] vs 4700/8900/11,500 BTUs for the larger comfort. Weirdly the gas consumption my operating manual shows is actually lower per BTUs settings than the Eco, but I suspect that can’t be right.

For a comparison, I don’t run my heater at the higher levels except on start up where automatically goes to the high setting, which warms up my camper quickly. I always turn it to the night setting which is the 4700 BTUs, most effecient, and quiet right off. However, I haven’t used it yet in the 20’s either.

That said, this looks like a great unit at a great price. All told, if it had been available, I think I might have gone for this one vs the Comfort. I think the reason not to have the ECO could be if you’re gonna be in a fair amount of really cold conditions (eg, <25º) for longer periods. Not sure how well it would compensate for the tent fabric. That said, with a good bag, I’m sure it would make it much better at even low external temp unless you have to have shirtsleeve weather inside.
I've looked at the manual a bit and noted the EU propane fittings and regular pressure requirements, are there other special requirements than that? I'm also seriously considering the Propex, but it's going to come down to what is going to fit in my cabinet the best and make the most sense for exhaust routing Screenshot 2024-04-02 at 10.18.59.jpegImage 4-2-24 at 10.20.jpeg
 

dstefan

Well-known member
I've looked at the manual a bit and noted the EU propane fittings and regular pressure requirements, are there other special requirements than that? I'm also seriously considering the Propex, but it's going to come down to what is going to fit in my cabinet the best and make the most sense for exhaust routing View attachment 827484View attachment 827485
I don’t really think so. You can’t go buy some marine exhaust fitting or something like that the way you can with some other other heaters — you just need to use their specific fittings.

I think one compelling argument for the Trumas, especially if you can get the Eco at a reasonable price, is the one duct exhaust and intake combination, along with the ability to mount them in just about any horizontal position makes them easier to place.

I likely could’ve gone with a Propex heater instead if I could’ve figured out placement in my camper/truck bed with my already in place built ins, but it just wasn’t working.
 

sea_weathered

New member
A lot of detail on here. I've been nerding out hard on designing my interior. This sketchup page is super helpful for visualizing your design before diving in. This will be going in my 6.5' bed Tundra
I'm super curios if this link will work?
 

Pra4sno

Member
A lot of detail on here. I've been nerding out hard on designing my interior. This sketchup page is super helpful for visualizing your design before diving in. This will be going in my 6.5' bed Tundra
I'm super curios if this link will work?
Looks good - that's a clever idea on what looks to be the heater setup - you're going to have the hatch pop open to allow airflow? I like that idea a lot for reducing perforations in the shell, but curious how you'll deal with the rest of the hatch being open.
 

Phessor

Member
Did a little work on my camper, insulated it, carpeted it, made a little cubby cabinet with countertop, placed my water tank, and plastered it with patches.20240405_113148.jpg20240405_113154.jpg20240405_113203.jpg
I also added the switch panel in the rear. I still need to add inside and outside lights, then run the power.
 

sea_weathered

New member
Looks good - that's a clever idea on what looks to be the heater setup - you're going to have the hatch pop open to allow airflow? I like that idea a lot for reducing perforations in the shell, but curious how you'll deal with the rest of the hatch being open.
Thanks! I have a fair amount of time off watch at sea to mess around with this program. The blue box deep inside the cabinet is a mockup Propex heater. Inside the flip up hatch you're looking at a water fill port (round black speaker looking thing) and the square above that is a shower port. In the forward bench cabinet is a 300ah battery, an 20gal water tank, and a hot water heater.
 

Phessor

Member
Added another cubby and stiffened up the countertop. Also rerouted the refrigerator wiring, now it is out of the way.20240406_164758.jpg20240406_164655.jpg
 
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Fergie

Expedition Leader
For everyone asking about wind noise...it really isn't bad. A few years back in the White Mountains, the Hab was terrible, but with wind gusts at +40, working in the camper was mellow.


I had OvrLnd add the headliner a bit back, and it was incredibly easy to add the daisy chain loops in since I can't loop anything over the struts like before. Used the trusted Harbor Freight rivet installer, and called it good.
ac
 

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