LFGSS Camper Van owners?

Where you at and what do you want? I’m in Somerset.. have bought a few vans round here and do some time at Xplore campers

Thanks for the steer!

Will sling you a pm 👍🏽

Deepest Cornwall but buying around Bristol wouldn’t be too much hassle. Aiming for SWB and standard height for getting under height barriers. Would love to go bigger but want to be able to take it anywhere.

if you want smaller, renault trafic / vivaro would be my go to; half the price of a t5 and bigger many have said they drive better.

Kinda miss our trafic, but the sprinter is infinitely better; really dont feel limited as most spots where its got a height barrier means its busy af..

I have a LWB Vito Dualiner, great vehicle, big but easy to manoeuvre (rear wheel drive so really tight turning circle) and will get into most car parks. I think I have only seen two car parks in about 6 years that had height barriers that were too low.

The rear seat are removeable (reasonably easy, they unclip but are bloody heavy to lump about) and that leaves a great space for weekend trips to festivals etc. Can fit a double bed and portaloo plus general crap in easily.

Seeing a vivaro this weekend, lot more bang for the buck as you say. That Sprinter is the stuff of dreams though. Aye and if there’s a height barrier you’re probably getting moved on if you try to stay overnight.

Low and long. Currently have a Honda jazz with flat fold seats so appreciate a versatile motor. Interesting hearing what works for everyone.

Another vote for a TVP (we have a Trafic LWB) - goes in most places and normal car parks which is great for general use, and the square shape gives good internal volume. It's obviously not going to have space for a sink/cooker etc but we're fine with that, as it's also our (infrequently used) only vehicle.

I’ve stayed overnight quite a few places with height barriers. No one has the staff to move people on overnight.

Height barriers on rural car parks are largely a British thing. Can’t remember seeing them much on the continent, if that’s relevant to the decision.

Hey guys,
I’m converting a day van and want a cheap heating solution.
I’m not keeping the van for very long so don’t want to spend too much. Any options that people can recommend?

Heating?

How comfortable are you with DIY?

There are any number of cheap Chinese made clones of the (for example) Eberspacher (sp) diesel heater, which would probably be fine for a short period of ownership- but the installation costs would be probably more than the heater.

Personally as they take fuel from the main tank I’d probably get a professional to do the install- but that’s because I am a chicken.

You’d need to sort out both insulation and ventilation if it’s a commercial vehicle.

as they take fuel from the main tank

May want to fact-check this but I'm sure I've seen ones with their own little tanks. Idk if that changes safety concerns.

Yeah, they usually come with their own tank as standard and plumbing into the vehicle is optional. You will need to make a hole for the exhaust and probably the intake too.

Diesel is pretty hard to ignite accidentally, so they're about as safe as anything burning stuff can be. The combustion is isolated from the air flow, so unless the casting fails it can't really poison you. But make sure you have a CO detector anyway.

They also consume a chunk of amps for the glow plug, so you'll need a healthy leisure battery.

I’ve been looking at gas heaters as I’m installing the stove and I’m fairly confident with that.

I’m happy to do moof the fitting myself.

Chinese diesel heater.. I have a brand new one to move on, fitted but not going to use it ..

Sub £20 IKEA spend.. also added a hidden draw to our unit to clear things up a bit.

This week; fuel filter, air filter, tie rod ends / inners, front shock, backing plate and shoes!

Then to find the limp mode cause!!

2 Attachments

I installed a Chinese diesel heater, first I had the 5 liter tank that came with it inside my van, worked fine but I didn't really like the idea too much. Now it's connected to the tank of the van, it's awesome, it always works and I never have to worry about it. I did all the work myself, not too difficult but takes quite some time.
The glow plug for starting uses quite some electricity so you need an extra battery.
There are gas heaters available that use small gas cannisters, i would have a look into that if I were you.

The problem with gas heaters is that the cheap ones don't have a proper thermostat and the lowest setting on the tap is too high for a small space. Even the cheapest diesel ones have some sort of control electronics.

I bought the smallest Chinese diesel heater there is, 2kw.
It's still too powerful for the relatively small space of my van(l2h2).
It does have a thermostate but when it reaches the set temperature it goes to the lowest mode, but still keeps on heating... The thermostat doesn't turn it off because it would cost too much electricity to use the glow plug every time.
When it's freezing outside (literally) I set the timer of the heater so it turns on and off once in the middle of the night, and runs for an hour or so, problem is that the ramping up of the fan and the ticking of the pump wakes you up.

Edit: I still love it though, it's great to heat up the van just before going asleep and before getting out of bed in the morning and it's useful to the get some of the moisture out in the winter too.

Where are you guys buying these Chinese heaters from?

AliExpress but you can also get them on eBay I believe

Any recommendations for a drive away awning? Currently using the 1982 Raleigh original awning with my T25 and it's on its last legs. Something lightweight would be ideal.

Vango faros low was great on our trafic