Amazing Ambulance Conversion (US) - REALLY AMAZING

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Obviously the chap with the Ambo isn't short of a bob or two !! Victron everything and more...

Not to mention at 5:43 - water heater using engine coolant when driving with heat converter !! WOW what an amazing idea, that would not be too hard to set-up I think. Is anyone using anything like that now ?

 

[SquirrellCook]

Not to mention at 5:43 - water heater using engine coolant when driving with heat converter !! WOW what an amazing idea, that would not be too hard to set-up I think. Is anyone using anything like that now ?

It's only a calorifier, I have one in Murky. Betty is getting one too.

 

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It's only a calorifier, I have one in Murky. Betty is getting one too.

Dear @SquirrellCook - Do you have a link to any or any build notes ?
Also is Murky coming up for sale any time soon, will likely put Sylvia on the Market mid-Feb with a view to buy a replacement in March

Cheers
Robert

 

[SquirrellCook]

The Betty build is going slower than I'd like. I expect I'll be using it until the end of September. We have about 10 thousand miles of trips planned.
Your more than welcome to come and have a look if your in the area Robert. We have it back at work now. I'm planning on pulling the head of it next week as it's developed a little oil leak at the back. Whilst it's off I'll do the seats guides and injectors. It's never been apart from new!

 

[SquirrellCook]

Do you have a link to any or any build notes ?

Murky was more of an evolution rather than a planned build. We've tried to keep everything as simple as possible and trap anything that might need future attention. Even now, if we planned on keeping it we have some new ideas.

 

[RAW]

The Betty build is going slower than I'd like. I expect I'll be using it until the end of September. We have about 10 thousand miles of trips planned.

Ah right, OK. Maybe if you are near Hebden Bridge, West Yorks (google maps link) in your trips out you could come and see me, or be close and I could take a look at Betty. My other thoughts are to sell Sylvia in Spring and bank the Money with a view to getting a more suitable camper. Lots of folk like the old Talbots and Sylvia is a good runner and now has LPG so I am hoping she will raise £6000 in sales in Spring time.

I will look at Calorifiers in more detail as and when I have the time, bit snowed under with work, and getting the Lorry Theory Test out of the way

Cheers
Robert

 

[SquirrellCook]

Ah right, OK. Maybe if you are near Hebden Bridge, West Yorks (google maps link)

We are between Doncaster and Barnsley, unfortunately our trips are mostly in Europe and I'm sure all heading south. Plenty of time, these things are best not rushed. Best of luck with the test.

 

[Greggbear67]

Not a million miles away from me then. I'm near Pontefract, kettles usually on if you're ever passing....☺

 

[Nabsim]

Obviously the chap with the Ambo isn't short of a bob or two !! Victron everything and more...

Not to mention at 5:43 - water heater using engine coolant when driving with heat converter !! WOW what an amazing idea, that would not be too hard to set-up I think. Is anyone using anything like that now ?

Yes my van has a calorifier as well for hot water from engine coolant. Also heat exchanger in the back to scavenge hot air for heating interior off the coolant

 

[RAW]

What sort of calorifiers do you guys have ? (@Nabsim , @SquirrellCook ) I am looking on EBay and elsewhere and come up with these Surecal ones but they are a tad out of budget for me

 

[SquirrellCook]

What sort of calorifiers do you guys have ?

We have a 22 litre Surecal one. They come with all the gubbins, so may be better value than you think. When I first fitted one to Murky it was only engine coolant heated. The 1kw heating element supplied is to big. I fitted a 500 watt one and I could then use my little generator to heat it if I had too. Running an old 3kva generator was not the best way to make friends. Latter I fitted a 12kw ebespacher and was able to heat engine and or Calorifier and other heaters.
With the Betty build I will adopt Dave's idea about using surplus solar to heat the water when parked up rather than the eberspacher. Again this will be easier will a smaller heating element.
Because of the mixer valve you keep the calorifier as hot as you can and then just add cold water to taste. Easy to get two good showers out of 22 litres.

 

[Nabsim]

Mine is a 22 litre SureCal as well, has a 1Kw immersion element fitted but never been wired up yet

 

[ScoTTyBEEE]

I looked into doing this but was put off plumbing it into the engine, didn't trust my level of competence. What I did question was people describing their use on youtube, you needed to drive for quite a long time for it to heat up, well over an hour, perhaps others here can confirm this?
They're not bad value because they have an electric element too, but they are £300 odd (they were 2 something when I looked last year), whereas you can get an decent electric water heater for £75, then factoring in the plumbing cost you're probably £300 quids in which you can put towards lithium batteries instead and make use of a large heating element.
All boils down to how you use your van really, I like to stay put in sunny countries whereas touring in the UK a calorifier would make more sense.

 

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All boils down to how you use your van really, I like to stay put in sunny countries whereas touring in the UK a calorifier would make more sense.

Spot on, I agree with that statement.

I guess though with the Calorifier idea it would be quite a big draw on any batteries and only really useful when getting the hot water via the engine coolant warmth heating the hot water and then it would stay hot for 24 hrs or so at a guess, then after that you would need 240V from inverter drawing on batteries and I think that could be quite a big draw.

 

[ScoTTyBEEE]

Spot on, I agree with that statement.

I guess though with the Calorifier idea it would be quite a big draw on any batteries and only really useful when getting the hot water via the engine coolant warmth heating the hot water and then it would stay hot for 24 hrs or so at a guess, then after that you would need 240V from inverter drawing on batteries and I think that could be quite a big draw.

My electric heater is 1500w which pulls 130amps odd, put on for 1/2 hour it would use 35% of my battery capacity.This takes around 1 hour of driving to replenish, which is kind of the same as having a calorifier, the only difference being that 1 hour of driving is purely to put the power back, rather than both heating water and charging batteries.
But I saved £300, which I could spend on a b2b charger and other stuff which I think benefits me more. All swings and roundabouts really, be nice to just have everything
Also don't forget a calorifier is best suiting to an electric only van. If you have gas you may as well just use an instant gas water heater. Think how much gas £300 buys, then that 'free' hot water from a calorifier doesn't seem quite so free. Additionally modern vans are so efficient the engine coolant water doesn't even get that hot, which is why van dependent the calorifier takes so long to heat up.

 

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Ah well, the new Merc has only 270 AH of battery 3 x Bosch 90AH - Not the best set-up so will play with that for a while as it is better than what was in Sylvia as that was around 180 AH

 

[ScoTTyBEEE]

Ah well, the new Merc has only 270 AH of battery 3 x Bosch 90AH - Not the best set-up so will play with that for a while as it is better than what was in Sylvia as that was around 180 AH

Do you have gas though?

 

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Do you have gas though?

There is Gas yes, small bottle, Carver Water Heater (need to work it out), Decent cooker and Oven plus a Diesel Space Heater, cheap one, works OK but at the moment has separate diesel tank and wondering if it might be better using diesel direct from main tank. THEN AGAIN, having a separate tank means that I can use RED diesel for the Heater and that's only 70p per litre !!

 

[ScoTTyBEEE]

There is Gas yes, small bottle, Carver Water Heater (need to work it out), Decent cooker and Oven plus a Diesel Space Heater, cheap one, works OK but at the moment has separate diesel tank and wondering if it might be better using diesel direct from main tank. THEN AGAIN, having a separate tank means that I can use RED diesel for the Heater and that's only 70p per litre !!

You're sorted, that's plenty of battery life for everything and if you're in a area where you can buy red diesel I'd just leave it.

 

[Nabsim]

Mine was already done when I bought the van but I do have receipts from the fitting of the Eberspacher D4 and calorifier system and it comes to over two and a half grand. My van was set up to be moving every day which must be what that owner wanted. I don’t use my van that way though so not ideal for me.

I have had a tank of hot water with under an hours travel, at a guessi would say about 45 minutes will do it. I do have the other Eberspacher for heating up the engine quicker though so that may be why.