merl
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While I had our Webasto out and stripped down for cleaning I thought I'd explore the possibility of fitting an immersion element to the hot water tank, unfortunately Webasto don't have an option for a heater so I looked into doing the job with available parts. What follows is a brief description of how it can be done relatively easily.
Fortunately Webasto leave an inspection/access cover at one end of the tank, it's not very big and any heater needs to be installed via this hole.
After searching the inter web I found this heater on AliExpress, similar ones are available on Amazon but not the 1.5 KW version which I wanted.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExA712O ,
Unfortunately when it arrived it turned out to be slightly too wide, also the fixings centres were wider than ideal too so I set about bending it. I drilled 2 holes in a piece of wood at the required narrower centres and pushed the threaded ends into the holes and squeezed the sides together narrowing the curve by about 6mm, enough to allow the heater to pass through the access hole. A copper/Incaloy element would bend easily but this stainless one was really tough, fortunately I had some hydraulics handy to do the pushing/bending but I reckon it could be done in a decent vice.
Mounting holes drilled in the opposite end of the tank. Note the deliberate error holes blanked off with screws. (More on these later)
Element inserted with sealing washers and bolts tightened then the mains wiring to the element.
10A 60deg thermo cut out switch fixed to the opposite end of the tank.
There's a handy gap between case and insulation where the connecting cable can be routed.
Finally the mains cable is pushed through a hole drilled in the grommet carrying the hot and cold feed pipes, the mains cable can then be bought into the van with the pipes via the cold air inlet duct.
Needless to say, pressure test the tank before fitting it back under the van. I used a smear of Sikaflex on the access plate rubber sealing washer too and those pesky error screws
.
Pleased to say it works great and around 12 mins gets the water up to temperature and the thermo switch cuts off nicely. I think only the top half of the tank gets up to temp initially because the element is unfortunately quite high, I wanted to get the element lower but couldn't because the blower fan fouled on the connections, remember those damn error holes
.
I can't be the only person that wished their dual top had an electric element, hopefully someone else will find this useful and maybe inspired to do the same.
Fortunately Webasto leave an inspection/access cover at one end of the tank, it's not very big and any heater needs to be installed via this hole.
After searching the inter web I found this heater on AliExpress, similar ones are available on Amazon but not the 1.5 KW version which I wanted.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExA712O ,
Unfortunately when it arrived it turned out to be slightly too wide, also the fixings centres were wider than ideal too so I set about bending it. I drilled 2 holes in a piece of wood at the required narrower centres and pushed the threaded ends into the holes and squeezed the sides together narrowing the curve by about 6mm, enough to allow the heater to pass through the access hole. A copper/Incaloy element would bend easily but this stainless one was really tough, fortunately I had some hydraulics handy to do the pushing/bending but I reckon it could be done in a decent vice.
Mounting holes drilled in the opposite end of the tank. Note the deliberate error holes blanked off with screws. (More on these later)
Element inserted with sealing washers and bolts tightened then the mains wiring to the element.
10A 60deg thermo cut out switch fixed to the opposite end of the tank.
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There's a handy gap between case and insulation where the connecting cable can be routed.
Finally the mains cable is pushed through a hole drilled in the grommet carrying the hot and cold feed pipes, the mains cable can then be bought into the van with the pipes via the cold air inlet duct.
Needless to say, pressure test the tank before fitting it back under the van. I used a smear of Sikaflex on the access plate rubber sealing washer too and those pesky error screws
.Pleased to say it works great and around 12 mins gets the water up to temperature and the thermo switch cuts off nicely. I think only the top half of the tank gets up to temp initially because the element is unfortunately quite high, I wanted to get the element lower but couldn't because the blower fan fouled on the connections, remember those damn error holes
.I can't be the only person that wished their dual top had an electric element, hopefully someone else will find this useful and maybe inspired to do the same.
