Installing diesel parking heater in Leaf's trunk

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Goran

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2018
Messages
11
I looked at the trink area of my 2012 leaf and noticed there is a hole, plugged by a rubber plug. It should perfectly fit an exhaust pipe, from a diesel heater, that I am planning on securing in the trunk. I was going to sell my leaf with the thought of upcoming winter, and dreading being cold. Temp in St louis ,mo frequent single digits F, which make for a miserable, almost impossible commute. I have used two Marne deep cycle batteries, a 800watt inverter, with 2 200w personal space heaters, which work great when the temp are 20-30, degrees but it does not help with condensation on windows. I believe the diesel heater would dry out the air minimizing condensation. I plan to have it mounted in th trunk, withexhaust going out th e already mentioned hole, and securing it to the tow hook on the pass side of the rear, kinda like real exhaust. It will be portable for removal in the spring. Any thoughts from those who have attempted this feat or are family with the heater. Thanks.
 
If this is what you are thinking of doing, then the 2012 LEAF is not appropriate for you. You really should go back to considering selling it.
 
The biggest "bang for the buck" with heating comes from preheating while plugged-in at home and at work. (if work doesn't have any outlets for you, you can ask... even a 120v outlet helps). Second is probably parking the car in an attached garage at home. Those are sufficient for most people (even the Canadians in Winnipeg or Thunder Bay).

If you need more than that:
- upgrade to a newer SL/SV Leaf with heat-pump, heated steering wheel and four heated seats
- use a heated 12v lap blanket (I use a "Car Cozy 2"... when I can wrestle it away from the family)
- wear a DeWalt/Milwaukee heated vest (Milwaukee has a 12v version that can plug into the cigarette lighter).
- there was a thread somewhere on MNL for putting "heated seat" filament panels under the floor mats
 
The notion of a diesel-powered anything in the back of an electrically-powered hatchback reminds me of that Top Gear episode where Clarkson/May/Hammond decide to build a hybrid using a diesel-powered generator, with predictably disastrous results.
 
Most people here have very little EV experience so if you want practical advice then do this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdCfZQsZEHQ
 
With winter upcoming, I've been thinking the same thoughts of possibly installing a fuel heater as well.

Although it's for an iMiEV, this video series I thought was very helpful in understanding the issues involved with integrating one of these types of heaters into an EV:

https://youtu.be/3RHiDYGPZlY

I'll add that the earlier suggestions of pre-heating, an electric blanket/jacket or other device to bring the heat to you instead of heating the air in general is a good idea if you haven't already tried them.

Our Leaf has the cold weather option - the heated steering wheel and seats really are nice. From a comfort perspective, I find that I don't have to run the cabin heater until the outdoor temps are down into the low 20's (F). However, from a safety perspective, there are also plenty of days where the combination of cold air and humidity make heating the air a requirement just to maintain clear windows inside the cabin too.

If you haven't already seen these, another idea to improve range in cold weather might be to look at the various heater mods that allow you to run the blower (helping keep the windows clear) without the heater draining the battery:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=11412

If you do take on this project, it would be great to see some pictures!

Good Luck!
 
I was considering using my Leaf for Lyft/Uber in Minnesota (with my NoCharge2Charge card!). I was thinking that it would be hard to get good customer ratings without installing an Eberspacher heater, or else running the car heater full-blast and tanking my range. That would be a problem, since there is no way to tell a passenger to only "pick me" for rides less than X miles.

Similarly, there are now electric buses running in Duluth and Minneapolis MN, and they all have auxiliary kerosene heaters. Buses, which have frequent extended door openings, require massive amounts of heat in below-zero temps, and you'd need an extra $500k in batteries to use electric heat. Burning fuel is inefficient for locomotion, because most of the energy is lost as heat, but if you just need heat, then it's not so bad. If desired, biofuel could be used (though it's hard to buy aqueous E90 or B100 diesel).
 
specialgreen said:
I was considering using my Leaf for Lyft/Uber in Minnesota (with my NoCharge2Charge card!). I was thinking that it would be hard to get good customer ratings without installing an Eberspacher heater, or else running the car heater full-blast and tanking my range. That would be a problem, since there is no way to tell a passenger to only "pick me" for rides less than X miles.

Similarly, there are now electric buses running in Duluth and Minneapolis MN, and they all have auxiliary kerosene heaters. Buses, which have frequent extended door openings, require massive amounts of heat in below-zero temps, and you'd need an extra $500k in batteries to use electric heat. Burning fuel is inefficient for locomotion, because most of the energy is lost as heat, but if you just need heat, then it's not so bad. If desired, biofuel could be used (though it's hard to buy aqueous E90 or B100 diesel).
Curious as to which heat-A/C system is in your LEAF? Reason I ask is that the '18 SV that I test drove last week had the base model resistance system (non-heat pump) that lacks heat ducts to the rear seat. It also did not have the seat or steering wheel heaters. It was a miserable cold 20 minute drive compared to the '14 SV I had prior. It just felt cold & drafty in the cabin with heat blasting in my face as if nothing is circulating into the rear. That was on a 35-degree night with blowing rain/snow, would hate to have that system on a 0-degree night.
 
rogersleaf said:
Curious as to which heat-A/C system is in your LEAF? Reason I ask is that the '18 SV that I test drove last week had the base model resistance system (non-heat pump) that lacks heat ducts to the rear seat. It also did not have the seat or steering wheel heaters.

I have the '17 Leaf-S. I've been told that the inductive heat comes-on faster than the heat-pump, which I guess is a plus. It doesn't have a heated steering wheel (I wear gloves) or heated mirrors (I keep a mini-ice scraper handy for frozen rain, mini-squeegee for mist, and an old library card for frost).

According to this:
https://nissannews.com/media_storage/downloads/2017-Nissan-LEAF-Specs-FINAL.pdf
...it has heated ducts to the rear, but I still felt the need to add Wagan heated seat covers in back, plus a Cozy-2 heated blanket... definitely not something you can force onto a rideshare customer!
 
I've been told that the inductive heat comes-on faster than the heat-pump, which I guess is a plus.

What you've probably read is that the direct to air resistance heater heats much faster than the old liquid to air heaters in the pre '13 cars. The resistance heater is probably a little faster than the heat pump, especially since they are programmed to complement each other, but the difference isn't huge. What is relatively huge is the amount of heat the direct to air resistance heater produces in cold weather.
 
specialgreen said:
rogersleaf said:
Curious as to which heat-A/C system is in your LEAF? Reason I ask is that the '18 SV that I test drove last week had the base model resistance system (non-heat pump) that lacks heat ducts to the rear seat. It also did not have the seat or steering wheel heaters.

I have the '17 Leaf-S. I've been told that the inductive heat comes-on faster than the heat-pump, which I guess is a plus. It doesn't have a heated steering wheel (I wear gloves) or heated mirrors (I keep a mini-ice scraper handy for frozen rain, mini-squeegee for mist, and an old library card for frost).

According to this:
https://nissannews.com/media_storage/downloads/2017-Nissan-LEAF-Specs-FINAL.pdf
...it has heated ducts to the rear, but I still felt the need to add Wagan heated seat covers in back, plus a Cozy-2 heated blanket... definitely not something you can force onto a rideshare customer!
Using a LEAF for a commercial ride share in a cold climate will be a challenge given the range constraints. Don’t take this the wrong way, it’s a wonderful car in many ways. However the reality of very limited range in cold weather, charging time recovery vs. amount of revenue driving, and not having total control over pre-planning for charging events would make this type of use too frustrating for me.
 
The project is completed. I'm currently driving around testing it. I purchased a Chinese clone, 5kw diesel heater. I've been driving so far for about 45 minutes, and the heater works AMAZING. It is very quiet, odor free and puts out a TON of heat. Maybe even too much, it gets pretty hot on lowest setting. This project will serve me well in the upcoming months. I have a secondary job where at times I sit in my vehicle for 6-8 hours overnight. Before this, i have used two large marine deep cycle batteries, connected to a 750 watt power inverter, with two lasko 200 watt space heaters, depending on the need I would turn one or both on. Both would last approximately 3 hours, one 6 hours. But when the temperature drops down to teens, they were inadequate, plus the fogging of windows was a big issue when driving. This diesel heater removes any moisture from the air in the cabine, it is that hot. Feel free to hate, or compliment, ask questions etc. But keep in mind, that even though I am no longer 100 percent green for 3 months out of 12, it is still better than using fosil fuel to propel a car and waste most of it to heat. This thing barely sips any diesel on low setting . I'm gonna try to upload a few photos.
 
Wow lots of results by searching Amazon for 5kw Diesel heater. In fact all I had to do was type "5kw D" and up popped diesel air heater :)
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_4?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=5kw+air+diesel+heater&sprefix=5kw+%2Caps%2C169&crid=11PL056X2DE4K
 
specialgreen said:
I have the '17 Leaf-S. According to this:
https://nissannews.com/media_storage/downloads/2017-Nissan-LEAF-Specs-FINAL.pdf
...it has heated ducts to the rear

I sat in the back seat, and stuck my hand down under the driver's seat. With the heat+fan on full blast, I did not feel any warm air moving under the drivers seat, regardless of whether the Mode was set to windshielf vent, face vent or foot vent. If the 2017 Leaf-S has a vent to the back (as claimed in the Nissan document), I don't know where it is.

On the bright side, the Sojoy SJ145A heated seat cover I added in back seem to be as warm as the front seats, even though they are only 3A.
 
Goran said:
The project is completed. I'm currently driving around testing it. I purchased a Chinese clone, 5kw diesel heater. I've been driving so far for about 45 minutes, and the heater works AMAZING. It is very quiet, odor free and puts out a TON of heat. Maybe even too much, it gets pretty hot on lowest setting. This project will serve me well in the upcoming months. I have a secondary job where at times I sit in my vehicle for 6-8 hours overnight. Before this, i have used two large marine deep cycle batteries, connected to a 750 watt power inverter, with two lasko 200 watt space heaters, depending on the need I would turn one or both on. Both would last approximately 3 hours, one 6 hours. But when the temperature drops down to teens, they were inadequate, plus the fogging of windows was a big issue when driving. This diesel heater removes any moisture from the air in the cabine, it is that hot. Feel free to hate, or compliment, ask questions etc. But keep in mind, that even though I am no longer 100 percent green for 3 months out of 12, it is still better than using fosil fuel to propel a car and waste most of it to heat. This thing barely sips any diesel on low setting . I'm gonna try to upload a few photos.



Hi im going to do the same! ordered a 2kw heater from china, currently awaiting delivery.

i plan to place it in the far right or in the right-aft part of the trunk with a heating duct to the top. I intend to box it in as well so I dont have to be that carefull dumping stuff in the trunk.

Do you have any pics of how you placed yours?
 
I can understand this choice in the kind of situation mentioned above, although I'd probably choose propane, or use bio-diesel. I hate diesel/home heating fuel.
 
Paulsp,
I have never used this website before and am not really sure how to upload the photos to it. It seems that the link has to be posted , they can't be uploaded. If you send me your email , I can email you the photos.

I placed it directly over the hole in the trunk, you will see the rubber plug once you remove all of the items covering the trunk area. The heater and all its components are mounted on a decorative, wire basked I purchased at lowes for ten bucks. This way, all the hoses, exhaust csn be routed through the basket without the need for any cutting and it makes it easy to zip tie to the basket. The fuel container is also zip tied to the back of the basket, making the removal easy in the spring as it is all one piece now. I had to add a 90 degree pipe from hardware store to extend the exhaust out back and at a slight angle down. The heat output hose is placed over the rear seat, underneath the headrest. It faces the windshield which eliminates any condensation while driving. So far I haven't even used a half gallon of diesel, but the heater works flawlessly and puts out a ton of heat. I'm working overnight tonight and it should be abut 20°F, so I will run it for about 6 hrs consistently. I am not really familiar with diesel and kerosine all that much, but have been researching if I can substitute kerosine which you can burn indoors as it burns clean.
 
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