Truck heat..

[mary and bob]

Mike; that's thinking in a different direction for heat. You may not be old enough, but back in the 30's and 40's most of the vehicle heaters were separate add on units. Similar to some modern electric cube heaters in size, they used coolant from the engine, had a small fan, and a switch either on the unit or remotely mounted. Usually had a manually operated flapper or "door" to regulate air flow. But if you have electric to operate an engine block heater then why not just use a cube heater. If no electric available a propane furnace from a pop-up camper would work as they operate on battery power.

[Shadow Catcher]

No reason you can't. Mine is powered by the water heater. I used a solar hot water pump.

[Modstock]

I installed this in my 32 but could work in this application.
It would probably work better if the tow vehicle heater was off when using this to give more hot water to the rear heater.
Also a 190° thermostat is a must, any cooler than that and not much heat.


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[kmack67.km]

So back to the truck with heater hoses hooked by tractor hydraulic hose quick couplers to da teardrop....new thoughts...add car heater core in camper add 12 volt fan....or skip lines to truck and find new heat source to heat and re circulate the anti- freeze...one thoughts is a tank radiator heater 120 volts and heat pump for tractors...or some sorta portable heat source..just new thoughts on a old idea that never got built..slow.

I have thought about something like this connected to a fireplace outside the trailer. Haven't tried it yet but you should be able to move heat from your outdoor fire to inside the trailer. The only downside would be going outside to add a log to the fire in the middle of the night.

Kevin

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[tony.latham]

The only downside would be going outside to add a log to the fire in the middle of the night.

That's one reason I have this little black box above the headboard:



It tells these black things to spit out 180º heat. Or at least the one on the right.





Tony

[troubleScottie]

still the issue of the heater line to the TD. The above heat exchanges are not designed to transfer heat very far ie a few feet. So there must be line to carry the warm/hot water back to the teardrop.

In addition, there might be issues with coupling/uncoupling the system. Either adding air to the system or the need for extra fluid. Most likely you might not be able to uncouple the TD and TV.

Also you are limited to a specific vehicle. Granted most people do not own multiple cars or switch what is used to tow. However, at some point in time, that vehicle is going to be replaced. Much like adding towing package or additional DC changing.

Finally, the TV has to be on. Granted idle does not burn great quantities of fuel, but still wear and tear.

[Tyrtill]

I had a couple of thoughts on this myself and decided that the diesel heater would be easier and hopefully less likely to break. However....


My two thoughts
You could use your breakaway line idea with a small "heater core" with a 12 v fan but I highly recommend if you pursue this you have a seperate loop that way if your system fails and starts to leak your tow vehicle won't be compromised. Here is a video for a shower setup but it's a similar idea.




The other is a little out there. Use an air to air intercooler made out of stainless steel to use exhaust to heat the camper.

Once again I didn't think they were great ideas but they were options as both would theoretically work and the antifreeze version I thought I could have a couple valves and have a shower tapped into it as well. Make sure you are careful about carbon monoxide and use a detector if you have a possible source of it.

You could also do a version where you have a 12v pump circulating water through a reservoir in a fire to the heat exchanger.

None of these are very good options for sleeping and staying warm.