Demountable tied into vehicle coolant system

[chris_the_wrench]

Has anyone seen a demountable camper that was tied into the vehicles coolant system(heating the unit, heating the water, etc). There are a lot of examples of non-demountable(Rixen in sprinters for example), but I haven't seen a demountable. I've thought about this for years and now is the time for some heating upgrades to our unit. I have a few scenarios in my head for handling the connection/disconnection from the vehicles system and bleeding the system. I would like to see some actual real world if possible.

Thanks
-Chris

 

[vintageracer]

No I have not seen a demountable camper heating unit.

It's that "Bleeding the system" part of this idea that may be a problem.

I could see how it might be very easy to add an air bubble to the tow vehicle cooling system which may not be such a good idea.

 

[tanuki.himself]

i have thought about this myself. I would think about maybe adding a secondary electric pump to ensure coolant actually circulates into the camper when you want it to, and look at hydraulic hoses and quick release fittings for the connections to the camper - the sort that they use for quick connect/release of things like breaker attachments without losing hydraulic fluid and needing to bleed the system each time they swap attachments

 

[javajoe79]

A couple of dry break fittings should be all you need. Nothing else would change.

 

[vintageracer]

Hydraulic systems to not have the potential of "Steam" in the system.

How if at all would quick connects be effected by the potential of "Steam" in the system?

 

[java]

Hydraulic dry break connectors should have no issues at all with engine coolant and or steam. They are rated for much higher pressures than the 15psi that's generally in a cooling system and hydraulics get very hot under load.

 

[tanuki.himself]

Never knew what they were called until this discussion....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AN3-3-Al...057.m570.l1313.TR2.TRC0.A0.H0.Xdry+break.TRS0

 

[nathane]

I'm planing to do this on my build. However my plan is to mount the webasto water heater and calorifier on the chassis and run the hab unit underfloor heating from a second coil so my breaks on demount will be to my ufh and domestic hot water circuits not to the engine loop which will remain permanently plumbed.

 

[tanuki.himself]

Personally i'm more interested in whether you could use them to plumb a delivery van type cooler matrix into the vehicle air conditioning circuit so you can cool the camper as you drive, or even run the engine in the evening while parked to cool your sleeping accommodation for a short time rather than using a mains powered aircon unit and having to carry a generator to run it off grid. As an alternative to adding even more solar and battery for a 12v compressor system...

 

[Fatboyz]

Here in the frozen north its very common for heavy equipment operators to use the system described above with hydraulic quick connects to pre-warm the engines on heavy equipment. when your equipment has been outside in frigid temps like -30 it won't start, and when out in the woods you can't plug in a block heater. You use quick connects to hook your pickup to the heavy equipment's cooling system and circulate your hot coolant to warm the other engine so it can start. You could use a rear auxiliary heater in the camper with outside quick connects. Just disconnect when not using, easy peasy. Done all the time up here!

 

[chris_the_wrench]

Where do they tap into the coolant system of the truck? Just off the main hose from the block to radiator? Valves?? I thought I saw this happening when I was up near the bc/yukon border one winter when it was -30 something and a guy was trying to warm up some big Cat.

Thanks
Chris

Here in the frozen north its very common for heavy equipment operators to use the system described above with hydraulic quick connects to pre-warm the engines on heavy equipment. when your equipment has been outside in frigid temps like -30 it won't start, and when out in the woods you can't plug in a block heater. You use quick connects to hook your pickup to the heavy equipment's cooling system and circulate your hot coolant to warm the other engine so it can start. You could use a rear auxiliary heater in the camper with outside quick connects. Just disconnect when not using, easy peasy. Done all the time up here!

 

[Fatboyz]

They tap into the lines that go to the heater core. They keep them rolled up under the hood and then just park beside the crawler or hoe and leave the hood open and drink coffee inside while waiting for the equipment to warm up.

 

[Fatboyz]

The truck I'm building right now had an auxiliary rear heater in the uhal box. They were hauling food to oilfield camps. The lines were run the same way but didn't have the quick connects. Heater was crap so I removed everything and plugged the lines where they tapped in.

 

[tanuki.himself]

Do you mean quick connecting the refrigerant pipes ? Interesting idea. Maybe we have a HVAC Engineer here ??
But assuming its seals are compatible and gas tight, and you might have to include valves to switch from one evaporator to another, I dont see why it cant work...

Exactly - like to see if anyone knows about the refrigerant gas and compatible connectors here, and i'll start another thread on it one day when I'm ready to try it - its just a back of the mind thing for now

 

[thebigblue]

I would put a heat exchanger in the truck side coolant system - and the just hook the demountable to it with a shut-off vale and you would just need to bleed the demountable system - quick and easy.