Squiffy
Forum Member
Last week during the cold spell here in Wales I fitted a Chinese heater under my sons T5.
Firstly I have to advise that running the front wheels up onto a set of standard ramps was not enough to lower the fuel tank and remove it from under the vehicle due to the filler neck not quite clearing its housing. So to remove the fuel sender unit to facilitate fitting of the pick up had to be done in a cramped position under neath the van with the tank resting on the ground. One other problem I came across is that the standard pickups supplied with these Chinese heaters will not fit through a T5 sender unit and so I had to order a pickup from Amazon that was specifically for a VW T5 that has a far smaller top end and 6mm thread fitting, luckily it was next day delivery so was not held back for long . Mean while I fitted the heater unit to the specific chassis mounting plate and attached it to the chassis under the drivers seat area by drilling a tapping 8mm bolts , then cut 60mm holes through the drivers door step for the inlet vent pipe and another 60mm through the floor under the drivers seat for the hot air outlet. There is a handy bung under the drivers seat that takes all the electrics through topside for various connections to battery and digital gauge etc. The pump and filter was mounted on the passenger side, there was plenty of length from this kit to reach the pump. fuel line was run from tank sender unit to filter, pump and across the underneath to the heater. Commissioning the heater took about ten minutes due to the pump taking time to draw fuel from the tank and then onto the heater. The sound of the heater starting up and then pushing hot air into the hab area made up for the cold fingers and frustration of the previous two days
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This particular heater was a 2KW and gave more than enough heat for a T5 volume area. I then fitted him a hookup and consumer unit plus sockets but that's for an electrical post. If anyone is thinking of fitting a Chinese diesel heater ( Espacher) to a T5 and would like more info please ask, its not rocket science but can be a bit daunting if your not used to doing such things.
Phil.
Firstly I have to advise that running the front wheels up onto a set of standard ramps was not enough to lower the fuel tank and remove it from under the vehicle due to the filler neck not quite clearing its housing. So to remove the fuel sender unit to facilitate fitting of the pick up had to be done in a cramped position under neath the van with the tank resting on the ground. One other problem I came across is that the standard pickups supplied with these Chinese heaters will not fit through a T5 sender unit and so I had to order a pickup from Amazon that was specifically for a VW T5 that has a far smaller top end and 6mm thread fitting, luckily it was next day delivery so was not held back for long . Mean while I fitted the heater unit to the specific chassis mounting plate and attached it to the chassis under the drivers seat area by drilling a tapping 8mm bolts , then cut 60mm holes through the drivers door step for the inlet vent pipe and another 60mm through the floor under the drivers seat for the hot air outlet. There is a handy bung under the drivers seat that takes all the electrics through topside for various connections to battery and digital gauge etc. The pump and filter was mounted on the passenger side, there was plenty of length from this kit to reach the pump. fuel line was run from tank sender unit to filter, pump and across the underneath to the heater. Commissioning the heater took about ten minutes due to the pump taking time to draw fuel from the tank and then onto the heater. The sound of the heater starting up and then pushing hot air into the hab area made up for the cold fingers and frustration of the previous two days
. This particular heater was a 2KW and gave more than enough heat for a T5 volume area. I then fitted him a hookup and consumer unit plus sockets but that's for an electrical post. If anyone is thinking of fitting a Chinese diesel heater ( Espacher) to a T5 and would like more info please ask, its not rocket science but can be a bit daunting if your not used to doing such things.
Phil.
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