From my blog . . .
This mod took me much longer than I had expected. I was over-whelmed by all the procedures involved including cutting a hole in the floor and having to follow wiring diagrams to connect wires to connectors.
The results are good though. It puts out enough heat to drive you out and is more quite than the Suburban – on the inside anyway. On the outside it sounds like a gas water heater on steroids.
The first problem was the fuel tap on the Sprinter. It was about 2 inches long. You can remove the cap by pressing a square shaped button on the side. You couldn’t get a grip on it except to hold it between 2 fingers and to top it off, the fuel tap was 7.89mm and the hose that came with the Espar was 5mm.
Back from the auto-parts store with a 2 feet piece of fuel line I was able to get it clamped and routed to the pump. I mounted the pump inside an existing compartment for water, propane, electric, etc.
Underneath the Sprinter almost all usable space has all ready been taken by fuel tank, grey water tank, AGM battery, propane tank, etc. I lucked out and found about a 6?x6? area that was just where I needed to put the heater above. The picture shows the hole for the heater just behind the battery container and just in front of the rear spring – not much room.
You can also see in the picture the silver exhaust pipe which goes through a hole in the chassis to the rear and the black air intake hose which just drops down about 6?. The clear line is from the fuel pump.
I wired the Espar into the existing fuse box using the connections the Suburban heater used. The mini-control unit is on the panel with a/c and d/c just above the refrigerator. I fished the wire through the wall and out near the other wires.
The completed install next to the power converter with the outline of where the old heater was so you can see how much space we picked up. We picked up verticle space as well because the old heater filled the space top to bottom and front to back.
The last photo is of the wiring before installation. The altitude sensor is on the top left. The circle part is the wiring I had to connect up. Not shown is the connector for the mini-controller which also has to be done.
I had to redo a couple of connections that I had done wrong while putting the wires together. Thank goodness I was still working on the kitchen table - those silver connectors that insert into the plastic "wha-cha-ma-call-its" are hard to get out! I was very happy when all was connected and I pressed the button and the red power light came on!
Also did not need to prime the Espar pump. On the 3rd cycle it found the fuel and fired up all the way. The Espar puts out like a $2 wh*** in Danang. And it doesn't smell or leave a bad taste in your mouth. A great way to stay warm!
Regards,
Keith
Sportsmobile (AKA Money Pit)
Linear Mode
