When we configured our Grand California, it never occurred to us to order a parking heater for the cab. Why should you? We have the superstructure heating, we thought…
Then we set off for Sweden in the first winter and immediately missed the parking heater. Not only is it cool when sitting in the front, but especially when starting the engine in the morning at -20 degrees. The Crafter sounded very tortured and took a correspondingly long time until the engine was finally up to operating temperature.
There’s not much we can do about this, except that if we were to order a camper again, it would have a parking heater fitted at the front ex works.
By chance we became aware of the company Danhag, which offers conversions from an auxiliary heater to a parking heater, with the promise that the installation works in a plug and play manner. The topic of the auxiliary heater naturally rang a bell, because if you have a Grand California and a diesel body heater, the auxiliary heater is automatically installed. So there is still a way to get our parking heater after all…
Of course, your Grand California can also have an auxiliary heater installed if you have a gas body heater. You can easily check whether you have an auxiliary heater by simply taking a look at the “B pillar” when you open the driver’s door. If there is a small sticker with Webasto printed on it, congratulations, you have an auxiliary heater and can upgrade it to a parking heater as you wish.
But how does it actually work? – The conversion kit
An auxiliary heater is actually nothing more than a parking heater. As soon as you start the vehicle, the auxiliary heater helps the engine to heat the coolant more quickly and thus reduce wear. The auxiliary heater is simply operated via diesel and runs until the vehicle has reached the water temperature specified by the manufacturer.
The auxiliary heater can be upgraded to a parking heater with a small module that is connected to the gateway control unit (don’t panic, it sounds worse than it is).
The parking heater can be started or programmed via an external timer (we opted for the Webasto MultiControl SW). The great thing about the conversion kit from Danhag is that you can choose from a wide range of preselection clocks. In addition to the MultiControl, for example, an app-controlled version is also available. You can find the complete list – HERE –
The best thing about the whole thing is that it can be easily dismantled and removed from the vehicle without leaving any residue. You don’t need to worry about the auxiliary heater either, Webasto has approved its use when the engine is not running.
Once the new module and the preselection timer have been installed and you start the parking heater, not only is the cooling water heated, but you can also set the desired temperature for the interior using the normal climate control elements. So you have a win-win situation 😊
The heating runs for a maximum of one hour and then switches itself off, but a direct restart is possible.
Costs and installation
The set is available with the preselection clock we selected for 600 euros, but this does not include any installation costs. We carried out the installation ourselves, so if you have a little technical experience, installation is no problem.
We will not provide detailed installation instructions here, as these are supplied with the set. You can see from the pictures where the journey is going… 🫣 If you have any questions about the installation, you can find a discussion in our forum – HERE.
