Espar Heater Resources and Information

Vanlife Customs sells, installs, and services Espar and Webasto heaters.

Overview

The Espar Airtronic heaters are an internal combustion system. The system pumps fuel from you vehicle’s tank to the heater where it is ignited using a glow pin. Combustion air and exhaust fumes are routed in and out through the floor of your van. Cabin air is circulated over the heating element using an integrated blower motor.

Espar heaters require a 12v power source capable of providing up to 18amps (start up draw). We recommend that your heater be wired into a battery bank separate from the vehicle starter battery and with a capacity of at least 100ah lithium or 200ah agm.

Pros and Cons

An Espar Airtronic heater could be a great addition to your van, but it is important for you to understand the pros and cons.

PROS

• Low power consumption

• Runs off your vehicle’s fuel

• Dry heat, which lowers humidity in your van

• No risk for carbon monoxide poisoning (if installed, used, and maintained properly)

CONS

• High cost with expert install recommended

• Functionality inconsistent above 8,000’

• Not intended for use above 9,400’
  
  

Use at High Altitude

Espar’s air heaters need three things to run: electricity, fuel, and oxygen. Additionally, for the burner chamber to be able to ignite, the heater needs the appropriate ratio of fuel to oxygen. As your altitude changes the amount of oxygen in the air changes, which means that the heater must change the amount of fuel it is pumping to compensate.

If fuel is burned at the perfect theoretical air-fuel ratio, referred to as the “stoichiometric combustion reaction” (Google it!), there is only one byprobroduct, carbon monoxide gas. But if the ratio is not perfect, a secondary byproduct is produced, carbon soot. The further you get from the perfect ratio the more soot is produced. This soot builds up inside the burner chamber of your heater, and too much soot can clog the heater and cause a failure to ignite.

Espar’s heaters are designed and manufactured at a facility below 1,000’, and therefore work best at lower altitudes because the oxygen to fuel ratio is closer to the ratio set originally by the manufacturer. Their original models (D2 and B4) worked up to 4,500’, but with so many people wanting to use the heaters in higher places, they came out with a new model which they claim works up to 9500’ (D2L and B4L). They also have a kit that can be installed on older models to increase the operating altitude to 7,500’.

The heater automatically adjusts the amount of fuel to compensate for the change in oxygen, but it is not perfect. This means that the higher you use your heater the more likely you are to build up soot inside your heater, or find that your heater does not always ignite on the first try. Due to the properties of gasoline, the B4L models tend to have more problems than the D2L models.

Heater Maintenance

Espar has two recommendations for maintaining their airtronic heaters:

• Turn on your heater at least once a month year round

• Have the heater serviced once a year

  • Having your heater serviced involves the heater being removed from the van and disassembled so that the burner chamber can be cleared of any soot build up (and possibly dirt?!, see WARNINGS section). The glow pin screen, gaskets, and the fuel filter are all replaced as well.

We have a few added recommendations for using your heater above 6,500’:

• Run the heater on "high" and avoid idling. Whenever you are using your heater at higher altitudes it is going to build up more carbon soot inside the burner chamber. Too much carbon build up will cause problems. To help mitigate this, turn your heater on for at least 30-45 min with a temperature setting of at least 20 deg warmer than the current ambient temperature. This will essentially turn your heater on "high" and make it work hard for a good chunk of time. During this time, you may see some smoke coming out of your exhaust, which is okay as long as it stops or lessens about half way through the cycle. By doing this, you are hopefully burning/blowing out some of the soot build up in your heater, pushing off any subsequent problems. "Idling" would be when your heater is on at the thermostat controller, but it is barely blowing any heat because it's so close to the desired temperature you set.

• Ensure that you are NOT using "Low Heat Mode." If you see "low" on the home screen of your controller, then this is on. Go into settings and scroll to turn this off. 

• Run your heater at least once a month, year round, ideally at an altitude below 6,500ft. This is just part of the proper care and maintenance recommendations from Espar.
  
  

Installation Notes

All heaters must be installed directly to the metal van floor and do require holes to be cut through the floor. If you have a finished floor where you would like your heater installed, the flooring must be cut away where the heater will sit.For this reason we recommend installation under the passenger seat if possible, or inside of a cabinet/storage box with ducting run to vents at desired locations. 

Mercedes Sprinter

The typical installation location in a Mercedes Sprinter is under the passenger seat. This configuration works with or without factory swivels. If the factory auxiliary batteries are installed in that location, the heater can be installed in any place where there is clear access to the floor of the van from under the van.

Mercedes provides a factory installed auxiliary fuel tap that works well for the installation of a heater.

Ford Transit

The typical installation location in a Ford Transit is under the passenger seat. This configuration works with or without factory swivels. If the factory auxiliary batteries or auxiliary AC blower is installed in that location, the heater can be installed in any place where there is clear access to the floor of the van from under the van.

Ford provides a factory auxiliary fuel tap on models equipped with gasoline engines. The diesel equipped models require the installation of a pickup tube. Both instances require draining and removing the fuel tank for access.

Ram ProMaster

Ram stopped offering diesel vans in 2018. Most of the heaters we install are Gasoline. Both the diesel and gasoline heaters can be installed under the passenger seat except when equipped with factory seat swivels. The heater can be installed in any place where there is clear access to the floor of the van from under the van.

Ram provides an auxiliary fuel tap on top of the fuel tank. Access is between the driver and passenger seat under the floor. The factory tap needs to be drilled out and the Espar provided fuel line should be fed down into the tank and secured.

Late Model Espar Heaters

The AS3-D2L Diesel heater and M2-B4L gasoline heaters are the latest version of Espar’s Airtronic heaters. Both are typically installed with the EasyStart Pro Timer/Controller and feature integrated high altitude adjustment which allows operation up to 9800’ in altitude. The new heaters also feature a quieter fuel pump, better diagnostics features, and a 5000hr life expectancy.

Early Model Espar Heaters

The early model Espar Airtronic D2 diesel and Airtronic B4 gasoline heaters are typically installed with Espar’s High Altitude kit and the Digi-Max D-1000 controller. The addition of the High Altitude kit increased the max operating altitude from 4,500’ to 7,800’.

Download: Manuals, Installation, and Troubleshooting guides