Installing Propex Heaters In Vehicles With Insulated Floors
Posted by Propex North America on Mar 27th 2025
Note: This article applies to the internally mounted HS2000 and HS2800 heaters only.
Propex HS2000 and HS2800 heaters are designed to be mounted directly to a vehicle floor and the combustion inlets and outlets are positioned on the bottom of the unit. The 2" outlet pipes on the bottom of the unit allow for secure connection to the intake and exhaust piping.
Vehicles with thick, insulated floors can present a dilemma when trying to connect the combustion pipes to the heater. While minimizing vertical drop in combustion pipes is preferred, sometimes it's necessary that the pipes travel downward before they turn horizontally to get to the side of the vehicle.
In the case of insulated floors, you must protect the combustion exhaust pipe as it travels through the layers of insulation and flooring materials. Luckily, Propex sells insulated heat sleeves for this, or any application where you want to protect the vehicle from the heat of the combustion exhaust. This heat sleeve slides over the exhaust combustion pipe to protect the surrounding area. You may have to drill your hole slightly larger to accommodate the sleeve and also seal the gap between the sleeve and floor with high temp gasket maker.
During installation, you will also have to install your combustion pipes to the heater outlet stubs before mounting your heater in the vehicle. This is because the hose clamps on the connection will be covered by the thickness of the flooring. Having hidden hose clamps means that you will have to remove the pipes and heater together whenever removing or installing your heater.
Lastly, as in all installations, be sure to use a high temperature RTV gasket maker at the ends of the combustion exhaust silicone connector and where the pipe exits the floor of the vehicle.
Check out the heat sleeves at the links below: