Diesel Air Heater in 1st Gen Tacoma for OVRLND Top

Shapeshifter

Restless Adventurer
I have an OVRLND pop top on order so I decided to get serious about a heater. It's a cheap knockoff heater from amazon (). There are too many knockoffs to choose from and I chose this one based on reviews and the fact that the temp readout is in fahrenheit.

Once you get over the fact that you need to cut holes in your truck, the rest is easy. A challenge was the corrugated structural "ridges" typical on the floor of pickup beds. I wanted a flat surface to mount the heater plate to so I used a flanged ring I had leftover from the solar vent fan.

This is a 5kw heater and is frankly too much heat for my current camper shell, but should be perfect once my OVRLND top is ready and installed.

These heater installations are well documented throughout the web, so I'll just post some pics of my install. I'm happy to answer any questions.


Current topper on truck while waiting for new OVRLND top




Flanged ring (leftover part from different project) was my choice because I had it laying around. This allowed me to locate the heater where I wanted it regardless of the high or low ridges of the bed.




The unit came with a 10liter fuel tank witch is too big ti fit in a Taco. I wanted a way to remove the fuel tank for filling outside the truck in case of spills while filling so I'm using a 3 liter removable tank. This is the finished location of everything in the bed of the truck. The unit is powered by a Jackery 240. The control panel will be mounted via velcro for now...




To keep the heater plate level, I just made some aluminum spacer blocks to fit between the ridges. The plate fits flush on top of the flange ring which you can see from the underside in the picture below.




The fuel line runs through a hole in to the hollow space between the bed sides.




..and here is all the plumbing. There is just enough slack in the fuel line for me to remove the tank above for filling. The intake air filter is behind the license plate. I will likely re-rout the exhaust and put the included silencer on later but for now this works great! I also plan on wrapping the fuel pump in foam to make it a bit quieter.



I was using a Mr. Heater Little Buddy but this is by far a better solution for a camper shell IMO. Now I have to wait for my OVRLND to be built.......
 

Shapeshifter

Restless Adventurer
Very nice. Where is the combustion intake routed? Are you going to go with no muffler?

"The intake air filter is behind the license plate. I will likely re-rout the exhaust and put the included silencer on later but for now this works great"
 

RDinNHand AZ

Active member
I had a 2KW Espar in my insulated high top van and it proved up to the task down to about 0º. Of course I paid 6 times as much for it as the China parking heaters available now.
 

jbohar47

Member
(Thread back from the dead!)

@Shapeshifter

Question for you! How is your Jackery 240 battery working with the heater still? No problems on ignition? Are you connecting the heater via 12v output directly? My jackery 12v is hooked to a fuse box, but my Jackery 500 12v (cig lighter) maxes out at 10a; I understand these diesel heaters sometimes draw up to 13a at start up so curious how yours works! Thank you!
 

Shapeshifter

Restless Adventurer
So far it starts every time. I just put a cig lighter end on the factory power wires that came with the heater (14 gage probably?). But you are correct, some of these heaters suck a lot of current at startup. I just installed another similar heater on this rig, and had to upgrade it to 10gage wire because it failed to start until I figugred out the factory wires it came with had too much resistance.
 

dstefan

Well-known member
Nice job with the heater! Have a Wave 3 in my Ovrlnd and wondering how long I’ll be happy with it. I sure miss the easy to outside the bed, but inside the fenders from my 09 Tacoma’s composite bed. Been considering a diesel heater, but the way I built out the inside makes siting it a challenge.

I think you’ll like your Ovrlnd! Whens it due?
 

Shapeshifter

Restless Adventurer
Nice job with the heater! Have a Wave 3 in my Ovrlnd and wondering how long I’ll be happy with it. I sure miss the easy to outside the bed, but inside the fenders from my 09 Tacoma’s composite bed. Been considering a diesel heater, but the way I built out the inside makes siting it a challenge.

I think you’ll like your Ovrlnd! Whens it due?

Yes, well the plans changed and I never got the OVRLND. I still have the Tacoma but I'm building out a different rig now....

I like these chyna diesel heaters. I have three of them now - One in the Tacoma, one in the adventure rig, and one in my workshop.
 

shays4me

Willing Wanderer
Where did you get the fuel tank that you used? That's a great setup and I'm trying to shoehorn one in my Jeep right now.
 

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