Espar/webasto/Planar style air heaters?

barefooter · Feb 24, 2017

I have seen a few posts talk about these, but nothing concrete on a search.

I just picked up a little 7 x 14 insulated aluminum trailer. No heat. So I decided to go with a 18,800 BTO planar air diesel heater. I have used them in trucks and equipment for years, The Planar's seem to be just durable at about 1/2 the price.

Anyone else use these in a trailer? I have talked to a couple of guys that have these in 28 foot trailers, and that they are not quite enough when compared to the 40K BTU units. But this is a small trailer, and will likely always be in BC. Just enough to dry out bikes and gear I am thinking, without the hassles of propane.

Greg

the_real_wild1 · Feb 24, 2017

Never thought about using one in an enclosed before but makes sense. What did you pay for it?

MK4TDI · Feb 24, 2017

GT Performance in Saskatoon does Espar heaters in their Neo Enclosed trailers, claims that it works way better than propane due to the lack of humidity from the diesel heat.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

LBZ · Feb 24, 2017

I'd go with a sealed burning unit like an air top 5000 Webasto. Pricey but worth the money.

MP Kid · Mar 5, 2017

This thread interests me......
Please keep it going and updated.
Don't be afraid to post pics and details of installs.

cattechsummitrider · Mar 5, 2017

Just a couple of points
I diesel and propane heat have the SAME amount of humidity! It is just circulating inside air ( not adding to it ) All the moisture in propane is in the exhaust ( the guy at gt is full of sh##
I have a 39 ft enclosed I got it spray foam insulated walls roof and undercarriage and have a 40000 btu propane in it I think a 35000 would have been enough though (mine will stay nice and toasty in -35 with a wind)
Heating a smaller trailer would depend on how good of insulation you have in it,,, most trailers I have seen have crappy insulation jobs,,, that's why I went to spray foam
You will have to be concerned about battery life short trips ( from hotel to hill ) are not enough to fully charge the battery,,,, might need a small generator,,
You will also want a small fan to circulate the air in there, the furnace alone will not circulate the air enough
A roof vent and a lower side vent are great too,,, Get rid of all the moist air in the trailer,,, Mine is a sauna when the sleds are melting off and the clothes are drying ( LOL) a roof vent and a low side vent (sucks in fresh air) helps get rid of most of that
Now that you got your trailer nice and toasty the water will pool at the doors and freeze the doors shut ( or the seals will freeze ) so you might need heat tape at the bottoms,,,Got some custom made (length and width)
Amost forgot ,, make sure your trailer can take the extra weight you put on it without being overloaded
I could go on for pages and pages if you want more Ideas

LBZ · Mar 6, 2017

cattechsummitrider said:
Just a couple of points
I diesel and propane heat have the SAME amount of humidity! It is just circulating inside air ( not adding to it ) All the moisture in propane is in the exhaust ( the guy at gt is full of sh##
I have a 39 ft enclosed I got it spray foam insulated walls roof and undercarriage and have a 40000 btu propane in it I think a 35000 would have been enough though (mine will stay nice and toasty in -35 with a wind)
Heating a smaller trailer would depend on how good of insulation you have in it,,, most trailers I have seen have crappy insulation jobs,,, that's why I went to spray foam
You will have to be concerned about battery life short trips ( from hotel to hill ) are not enough to fully charge the battery,,,, might need a small generator,,
You will also want a small fan to circulate the air in there, the furnace alone will not circulate the air enough
A roof vent and a lower side vent are great too,,, Get rid of all the moist air in the trailer,,, Mine is a sauna when the sleds are melting off and the clothes are drying ( LOL) a roof vent and a low side vent (sucks in fresh air) helps get rid of most of that
Now that you got your trailer nice and toasty the water will pool at the doors and freeze the doors shut ( or the seals will freeze ) so you might need heat tape at the bottoms,,,Got some custom made (length and width)
Amost forgot ,, make sure your trailer can take the extra weight you put on it without being overloaded
I could go on for pages and pages if you want more Ideas

What kind of heater are you talking about?
It doesn't matter what the fuel is if it's like an rv furnace heater. Fresh air goes into the burner chamber from outside and the exhaust goes back outside. A heat medium with a fan blowing across it is your heat source circulating the air in the trailer. If it's this style the fuel is of no consequence to the humidity inside the trailer.
As previously said an air exchange and circulation are key to keeping humidity down allowing things to dry well.

If it exhausts into the trailer a la Mr. Heater style heaters then yes all the moisture in the exhaust gets put into the air inside the trailer. Not a good way to do it and I doubt anyone does this.

cattechsummitrider · Mar 6, 2017

That is basically what I was saying
Sorry if it was misunderstood

Bnorth · Mar 6, 2017

Check out romheat they make a cell phone controller for espar and soon wabasto heaters. Western Canadian company run by a couple buddies.

barefooter · Mar 6, 2017

the_real_wild1 said:
Never thought about using one in an enclosed before but makes sense. What did you pay for it?

Planar came out to $1,000 total. Includes the diesel tank too!

barefooter · Mar 6, 2017

cattechsummitrider said:
Just a couple of points
I diesel and propane heat have the SAME amount of humidity! It is just circulating inside air ( not adding to it ) All the moisture in propane is in the exhaust ( the guy at gt is full of sh##
I have a 39 ft enclosed I got it spray foam insulated walls roof and undercarriage and have a 40000 btu propane in it I think a 35000 would have been enough though (mine will stay nice and toasty in -35 with a wind)
Heating a smaller trailer would depend on how good of insulation you have in it,,, most trailers I have seen have crappy insulation jobs,,, that's why I went to spray foam
You will have to be concerned about battery life short trips ( from hotel to hill ) are not enough to fully charge the battery,,,, might need a small generator,,
You will also want a small fan to circulate the air in there, the furnace alone will not circulate the air enough
A roof vent and a lower side vent are great too,,, Get rid of all the moist air in the trailer,,, Mine is a sauna when the sleds are melting off and the clothes are drying ( LOL) a roof vent and a low side vent (sucks in fresh air) helps get rid of most of that
Now that you got your trailer nice and toasty the water will pool at the doors and freeze the doors shut ( or the seals will freeze ) so you might need heat tape at the bottoms,,,Got some custom made (length and width)
Amost forgot ,, make sure your trailer can take the extra weight you put on it without being overloaded
I could go on for pages and pages if you want more Ideas

THanks for all the suggestions. Been through 3 trailers myself. Since I have sold the sleds, this is a dedicated snowbike trailer. And after years of "just making do", this one is going to be done right.

Going to have a generator box on one side of the nose, and a diesel tank, battery box on the other (no front ramp - don't need them with the bikes). All self contained to take three bikes

cattechsummitrider · Mar 6, 2017

Once your in one that's done right you will wonder why you you only "Just made do" for so long! (other than money)
It is so nice just to hook up and go, all your crap is in the trailer

Doo2015 · Mar 6, 2017

I have a Neo 30ft insulated trailer with the airtronic D7 diesel heater in it. It's something like 18,000 BTU. It's OK. For your length though I think it would be great. On mine though I had to get the floor insulated otherwise it would turn into a skating rink and the heater couldn't keep up when driving down highway as the heat would get sucked out through the floor. The guys with 30,000+ BTU in trailers around the same size as mine are more effective for sure and then they run glove/boot dryers etc off them which is nice. I do let mine run all night to dry sleds out. The airtronic D8LC is almost 10,000 BTU more, I'm looking into swapping mine out but like I said, the D7 does do the job for sure, it just takes more time and insulate your floor to help it! The diesel aspect of it is also very handy compared to propane. Mine has a battery that gets charged off of the truck when it's running. I can also plug the trailer into a regular outlet with an extension chord and it charges the battery as well.

Espar/webasto/Planar style air heaters?

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