I am having a composite truck camper built that I use for work year round, and I live in the Tetons so it’s really cold 6 months of the year. The recommendation is an Espar DH15 hydronic heater/water heater for my setup. I have some reservations about hydronic as it is much more complex than forced air. However, in terms of heating in a very cold place, there do seem to be some benefits. We don’t live in an area where getting work done on the system would be easy, so are shooting to have a relatively modular build that wouldn’t be that difficult for us to trouble shoot on our own. We do have PTSD from trying to trouble shoot our previous campers, but they were all commercially built, so there’s that. From what I am told, the DH15 system is less complex than other hydronic heating systems. Anyone have any experience with it or any thoughts on hydronic vs forced air diesel heat? I would love any thoughts or opinions!
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Anyone Used an Espar DH15 Hydronic System?
- Thread starter kdawnz
- Start date
Peter_n_Margaret
Adventurer
I have had a Webasto hydronic style diesel heater in our motorhome for 9 years. It has been totally problem free. Best thing since sliced bread. It is connected to the engine cooling system which provides exceptional benefits.
Drive 20 minutes and the HWS is hot, and you can heat the living area without running the diesel heater.
We have a seperate radiator and fan for the bathroom which we can use for cloths drying without heating the rest. The bathroom has a small sliding window that can be left slightly open while driving to facilitate this.
I did make my own radiator/fan assemblies because I wanted something quiet. You could also plumb it for under floor heating.
I am now building another vehicle and have purchased a Eberspacher-D5E-HS3 for that. I chose it because the heat output will go lower and reduce cycling.
ps, I can also use the Webasto to pre-heat the engine in cold conditions.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
Drive 20 minutes and the HWS is hot, and you can heat the living area without running the diesel heater.
We have a seperate radiator and fan for the bathroom which we can use for cloths drying without heating the rest. The bathroom has a small sliding window that can be left slightly open while driving to facilitate this.
I did make my own radiator/fan assemblies because I wanted something quiet. You could also plumb it for under floor heating.
I am now building another vehicle and have purchased a Eberspacher-D5E-HS3 for that. I chose it because the heat output will go lower and reduce cycling.
ps, I can also use the Webasto to pre-heat the engine in cold conditions.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
Peter&margaret. Do you have a build thread going?
Question for kdanz. Is your truck diesel or gas? I've had a hard time starting a diesel in Wyoming when it gets really cold so if you can use it to preheat your engine that would be a benefit.
Peter_n_Margaret
Adventurer
No, but I have pics of most things if there is a specific question.
My vehicle(s) are diesel. They have no glow plugs and can be very difficult to start if cold. Heating them with the Webasto takes a while (45+ minutes), but is always effective.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
Truck is gas for that reason, haha. The camper heater will have a diesel tank for me to fill.
Peter_n_Margaret
Adventurer
I have a seperate diesel tank for the heater too because that lets me add 10% kerosene to reduce gelling in cold conditions.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
Trail Talk
Well-known member
There are gasoline hydronic systems, we’re using the Webasto version tapping into our main tank.
GR8ADV
Explorer
Consider Rixon, for the more modern Garmin interface alone.
2 bikes 2 brown dogs
Active member
I second the Rixen recommendation. I used an Elwell (Timberline) system for three years and had a lot of problems. The Elwell system used a Planar brand furnace. In October '25 I replaced it with a Rixen based system. The DH15 you ask about and Rixen both use an Espar D5 furnace. Much quiter. Rixen replaces the Espar control board and interface with their own board and a touch screen that is wifi. You can connect to it from a phone as well. That's convenient because you can change or check on things while your in the truck cab.
The rixen control board I have is pretty sensitive to voltage fluctuations/spikes as my water pump has created some error codes in the room temperature sensor. I won't go into specifics here but I have a build thread that goes into detail. My problem isnt common but others have encountered it. Short story is Rixen customer service is awesome and I'de still highly recommend it.
I havent used a system with the Espar factory controler so i cant speak to that specifically.
On a different note, I looked up the DH 15 kit on Heatso's site. The installation instructions for that "all in one" kit have the furnace mounted to the interior box with a cowl around the exhaust.
Both systems I have installed had the furnace mounted outside and the glycol supply and return lines penetrate the floor of the camper habitat.
Ide be a little sketched out about the potential for exhaust gas inside your habitat but that's just a personal level of concern.
The downside of the furnace being inside, besides the exhaust thing,is that even a quite furnace is going to be LOUD inside.
The upside of the furnace being inside is you'd have no heat loss from any of the coolant lines or furnace being on the exterior. Taking heat from the engine while driving is a huge benefit of hydronic so some lines would still be exterior but you could put a solenoid in the engine heat loop that would prevent that from happpening when the engine is off.
On the solenoid note, some kits have a 'summer' mode that closes off the water heat exchanger when you demand only hot air and not hot water. I found this pretty useless and just one more thing to leak. If all of your components are installed in tight quarters....like an all in one "drop in" kit the heat loss of summer mode seems extremely moot.
Our truck is diesle and we do use the hydronic for preheat. A cold weather necessity for us. Again, if you don't need preheating because your vehicle is gasoline Ide think using a gasoline fueled furnace that taps into your existing gas tank would be a huge advantage over introducing a new fuel source.
In addition to our hydronic system I also have a webasto evo airtop for redundancy.
Very happy with it but it can't steal engine heat or make warm water.
Hope that helps.
The rixen control board I have is pretty sensitive to voltage fluctuations/spikes as my water pump has created some error codes in the room temperature sensor. I won't go into specifics here but I have a build thread that goes into detail. My problem isnt common but others have encountered it. Short story is Rixen customer service is awesome and I'de still highly recommend it.
I havent used a system with the Espar factory controler so i cant speak to that specifically.
On a different note, I looked up the DH 15 kit on Heatso's site. The installation instructions for that "all in one" kit have the furnace mounted to the interior box with a cowl around the exhaust.
Both systems I have installed had the furnace mounted outside and the glycol supply and return lines penetrate the floor of the camper habitat.
Ide be a little sketched out about the potential for exhaust gas inside your habitat but that's just a personal level of concern.
The downside of the furnace being inside, besides the exhaust thing,is that even a quite furnace is going to be LOUD inside.
The upside of the furnace being inside is you'd have no heat loss from any of the coolant lines or furnace being on the exterior. Taking heat from the engine while driving is a huge benefit of hydronic so some lines would still be exterior but you could put a solenoid in the engine heat loop that would prevent that from happpening when the engine is off.
On the solenoid note, some kits have a 'summer' mode that closes off the water heat exchanger when you demand only hot air and not hot water. I found this pretty useless and just one more thing to leak. If all of your components are installed in tight quarters....like an all in one "drop in" kit the heat loss of summer mode seems extremely moot.
Our truck is diesle and we do use the hydronic for preheat. A cold weather necessity for us. Again, if you don't need preheating because your vehicle is gasoline Ide think using a gasoline fueled furnace that taps into your existing gas tank would be a huge advantage over introducing a new fuel source.
In addition to our hydronic system I also have a webasto evo airtop for redundancy.
Very happy with it but it can't steal engine heat or make warm water.
Hope that helps.
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