Sucessfully installing hydronic heating in our full time campervan

We install a hydronic heating system in our DIY van conversion. By installing a diesel water espar heater in our van build, we will have a diesel hot water and air heater - espar hydronic system allowing us for hydronic underfloor heating in our van thanks to our eberspacher hydronic diesel heater! Does our diesel hydronic heating work?

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[TheMajictech]

I’d recommend doing away with the “H” as you call it entirely. It’s bypassing everything through that.

[wanderingzythophile]

I've got a question for you two, related to the air matrix and the associated controller. (FYI I have all the same gear, I'm currently in the process of puzzling out how everything gets connected up wiring-wise.)

The Webasto controller obviously connects to the PWM gadget via the yellow wire - both of those get their own power via those pairs of wires - and the PWM gadget connects to the air matrix with the black and either red or orange wires. And the Webasto controller has the temperature sensor connected as well, and on "auto" will very the fan speeds on the air matrix based on the measured room temp.

But - does the Webasto controller have any connection to the main furnace? If you have the air matrix set to try and maintain a certain temperature, can that controller keep the furnace on and heating the coolant to maintain hot coolant flowing through the air matrix?

I'm seeing absolutely zero connection between the two systems in my research. My worry is on a cold night, when I'd want the warm air flowing, that the furnace controller will shut down the furnace and hence, disable air heating.

Thanks!

[trimportersvanconversions]

We installed the system for a customer and like you, it was our first time and a real learning experience not without its first time startup problems. well done for getting it sorted as I can absolutely appreciate whats involved guys!!!!
You can see photos on our socials of the small footprint install we completed. #Trimporters

[cmmaddux]

Did you forego an inlet back into the glycol tank? The plastic one looked like it had two ports, whereas the metal one appears to only have an outlet. Trying to plan my system, and I'm having a hard time finding an affordable tank with a properly sized inlet and outlet to have the glycol return to the tank.

[mysticmountains]

hi there has the underfloor circuit actually given you satisfaction with the heat not taking the matrix heater in account just the underfloor pipes :)

[LESMNMSFAMILY]

Hello, un grand merci pour vos explications ! j'ai un hydronic aussi à installer ! pas facile !!! ;-) merci à vous !
Xav LES MNMS FAMILY

[drewbradford]

Troubleshooting your own van is priceless. Congrats on your hot floor!!

[JohnWatkinsUK]

You need to add valves on the heat exchanger and the heat matrix as they have less flow restriction than the underfloor loop, the water will just take the path of least resistance.
That will allow you to balance the flow between each of the 3 heat outputs. This is the same way it is done on domestic radiators (in the UK at least).

[VanlifeWonder]

Hey There! Loving the tutorial series you both have created. We are curious have you tried the hot water with just the heat exchanger? Do you feel that the water is hot enough with out a holding tank?

[theoteam]

Well done, glad to see its now fixed :-)

[Moonboy]

Do you use this plate heat exchanger for your shower without an additional boiler? Does this work for you? I'd love to make this system too. But am worried the capacity is not sufficient to run the hot water for several minutes

[omjaye]

Your system both the fan and the heater sound incredibly noisy. How can it be comfortable in your van with all that loudness?

[sbj]

Good you out the blue valve in. You should also not close it all the way as it will strain the pump. You want to keep piping size and amount of solution approx the same throughout so if you reduce down to half inch like I did for my radiant, have the bypass valve open enough for a little of the extra solution to flow so it doesn’t creat back pressure on pump.

[austinmabry]

You don't even need the "H" with the valve in it; your heat exchanger already completes the loop, even without the under-floor heat being on.

[sbj]

Yeah you are having this issue as the solution is taking path of least resistance and you will get uneven heating and air pockets. Heatso has in one of their diagrams I saw somewhere that each unit should be in series and not parallel as you have it. Like you have to go into heat exchanger then out and into heater and then out and into radiant system (which needs another valve) and then back to res tank. This is streamlined and makes it easy for the pump to know where to direct the flow.

[fabienguillet]

hey! great videos and super explanations thanks! little question though, did you do that video you talked about in a previous video concerning how to wire the air matrix to the furnace so that both control units could communicate and make it possible to control the fan speed with the easystart pro if i understand correctly...
i'm currently doing my research to install a similar system but much more simple as i won't have the underfloor heater but only an air matrix and a heat exchanger for my shower, and in option later maybe a hot water ballon.
the only thing holding me is that i wanna be sure to be able to control the installation with the easy start, by that i mean: use the external temperature sensor from the easystart pro and set a room temperatur to reach on it, and have the easystart monitoring air matrix fan as you can do it if you have an airtronic heater in combination to the hydronic s3.
do you know if that's doable?
thanks

[drewhodge]

When you cut the pipe it looked like a movie clips from Area 59, when they are operating on an Alien. LOL

[RicardoFortunas]

Hi, I believe all circuits should be connected in series, not parallel like you have, because the water will flow the way it finds less resistance all those Ts you have, do not ensure the water will flow both ways.. in my opinion you should remove all those Ts, and bring the water from the boiler to the plate exchanger 1st, because you want really hot water for shower, then the fan because it's the fast way to heat the van and then the underfloor. You can keep the T before the underfloor heating because in summer you may want hot water but not hot floor, and with those valves you can divert the circuit.
You could also improve the layout by getting the reservoir higher, getting the pump just right under the reservoir and the plate exchanger vertical, all these tips would remove air from the circuit immediately.

[ToddlerVan]

hey guys, great work so far on the system really coming together. I installed underfloor heating via a manifold with a mixing valve in our home around a year or so ago. Is the mixing valve something that you could incorporate into your system rather than the straight ball valve at the 'H' position, that way you could set the temperature you want the floor to be at without affecting your other points in the system. you may also need another pump after the mixing valve on the ufh loop just to solve the issue you guys had for the glycol not wanting to go into the smaller pipe.

Just thinking that you may want to have the ufh on but just not at 100% all the time? Usually the idea with ufh is that its on for more time at a lesser temperature. No doubt you guys have thought about this anyways yous seem to be one of the most through guys when it come to research etc!

All the best,
Scott

[andycrafter]

Well done and had no doubt you would sort it 👍😁