[Dave Colley]

We have just bought an ex british gas van to convert into a mini camper and after stripping the interior rack we noticed a diesel tank?!?
Looking under the bonnet the second pic is the best guess as to what it connects to?!?!
What does it do?
Thanks in advance

 

[Trish]

I believe those British gas vans have a diesel powered heater.

 

[Dave Colley]

under the bonnet?
What purpose does that have?
also, thank you

 

[farmergiles]

I believe those British gas vans have a diesel powered heater.

Yes, Webasto make diesel heaters.
It preheats the coolant to reduce emisisons and means the heater works immediately. They are often operated by a remote timer. Often found on up market cars.

 

[Dave Colley]

Yes, Webasto make diesel heaters.
It preheats the coolant to reduce emisisons and means the heater works immediately. They are often operated by a remote timer. Often found on up market cars.

ooh fancy

shame about its placement, that is going to cause problems with a rock and roll bed

 

[Trish]

JP explains it a bit in this video

 

[farmergiles]

ooh fancy

shame about its placement, that is going to cause problems with a rock and roll bed

Is that a filler cap on the top right? If so, it may be a separate fuel tank for the heater so could probably be relocated but the feed to the heater will be by gravity. of course you could just remove the tank and not use the heater,

 

[Dave Colley]

thank you all, there is nothing better than finding a helpful community

 

[cyclingaviator]

I use my camper all year round and a hot air heater is a must so don't knock it . Normally you'd feed it from the main diesel tank but clearly it needs to be a diesel van for that

 

[Eddie49]

It looks like the fuel tank is a long way from the Webasto heater, so I doubt if the feed is gravity. However, if it is gravity-fed, and you want to retain the heater but relocate the fuel tank, a 12v pump is readily available:

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The British Gas E-NV200 fleet was mothballed in 2015:

Airfield EV's : UPDATE

Some of you may remember a few months ago I reported on this forum (and published a few photos taken from several hundred yards away) that I'd spotted quite a few British Gas liveried 15 plate Nissan E-NV's sitting with their batteries rotting on an airfield in the Midlands. My guess at that...

www.speakev.com

Has the battery in your van degraded?

 

[cyclingaviator]

There is a chance it’s a different model, but generally these diesel heaters are not gravity fed, they have an internal pump as you would normally take a feed from the main tank.

 

[Dave Colley]

It looks like the fuel tank is a long way from the Webasto heater, so I doubt if the feed is gravity. However, if it is gravity-fed, and you want to retain the heater but relocate the fuel tank, a 12v pump is readily available:

Boat Parts & Maintenance for sale | eBay

Buy Boat Parts & Maintenance and get the best deals at the lowest prices on eBay! Great Savings & Free Delivery / Collection on many items

www.ebay.co.uk

The British Gas E-NV200 fleet was mothballed in 2015:

Airfield EV's : UPDATE

Some of you may remember a few months ago I reported on this forum (and published a few photos taken from several hundred yards away) that I'd spotted quite a few British Gas liveried 15 plate Nissan E-NV's sitting with their batteries rotting on an airfield in the Midlands. My guess at that...

www.speakev.com

Has the battery in your van degraded?

How do I check sorry?

 

[Eddie49]

Have you already tried to use the diesel-fuelled heater? I believe it is recommended that both petrol and diesel Webasto-type heaters should be fired up once a month. As your van may have been in long-term storage, I would suggest first confirming that this heater is functional.
Forum member cyclingaviator suggested that these heaters usually do have an internal fuel pump, since when fitted to a non-EV they draw fuel from the vehicle's main tank, which would be under the floor, rather than mounted up on a bulkhead.
You may be able to confirm the action of the pump by temporarily detaching the fuel tank from the bulkhead and lowering it to below the level of the main Webasto heater unit, whilst running the heater.
Alternatively, put some fuel in a glass jar and connect it to the heater inlet using transparent plastic pipe, so you can observe the flow.

 

[AtTheVan]

The diesel heaters have a "dosing pump" they never run as a gravity feed. It'll make a ticking noise as it's an electromagnet type pump. Make sure to have the van switched on as the heater will draw quite a lot of current on startup as it has glow plugs just like a Diesel engine.
These were fitted to the British Gas vans as the e-NV200 has a resistive cabin heater that uses a lot of energy from the motive battery, and British Gas wanted to get the most range from the vans in winter.
I did consider fitting a diesel heater to my e-NV200 24kWh van for the same reason.