O/T heating a caravan etc

[dombanks]

how do you guys with a motorhome/caravan etc heat them?

i know you can get nice little gas heater things but swmbo has a massive fear of gas after a childhood accident where a camping bottle exploded next to her so is there a viable alternative?

she thinks we can just get an electric heater but surely this would kill the batteries?

[XTR2Turbo]

Cheapest is probably a diesel heater especially if using frequently.

If you want all year round benefits consider a heat pump. Cooling in summer and heating in the winter.

Most will run off a 5 amp hook up or even a generator.

Possible from12v and invertor but not to be recommended.

[V8grunt]

Most Caravans from 2000 on, have a duel Electric and Gas heater.

The idea on that is, on a large site you will have all the hook up facilities Electric/TV ariel/water, and No need for the gas if you have a modern van with a  Gas/electric cooker,

If you intend stopping in more remote areas you will have to use the Gas.....

The Gas heaters in Caravans are quiet safe I believe.  

Mine never caught fire anyway!    

[s2rrr]

As mentioned earlier most vans these days have both electric warm air and gas heater systems which use the electric hook or your own gas bottles. I have only used my gas system once when we had a total power failure and it is a higher heat output than the electric ( with the fan using the battery power ) but as you have a concern about the gas go for the electric. If your van is older use a convector blower or I have seen people use oil filled rads which are a bit safer. Whichever used you must be careful of your electrical power useage as if you are above the supply amperage you will trip out probably a good portion of the site and be mister unpopular for a while. If you van is properly serviced the gas appliances would be checked anyway but I wouldn't leave it on constantly or run with unchecked vents. If you only have battery power then thats a different ball game suggest you approach the caravan web sites for more info. The diesel heaters are an option but will cost more. An alternative if you have no inbuilt power kit would be to use a tenters power supply and heater. You can keep a decent sized van pretty warm with between 0.5 and 1 kw of power, subject to ambient temp that is.

Bob

[KerryS]

The narrowboat has a diesel heater and it ticks all the time, dunno what it is, relay or pump... But since it's right alongside the bedroom it's annoying at night time.

Caravan is as others have said electric/gas radiant/blown air on a thermostat. See Truma

[pistonbroke]

these are quite popular , have one fitted on me boat and available as a DIY kit

clicky

[Captain Colonial]

Best way to heat a caravan:

[Jumpy07]

Eberspacher from an OLD BT Van.. you can get them on ebay cheap.. easy to fit and cheap to run..  0.5L of Diesel an hour and will run off a 12v battery happilly for for 24hours or more without re-charging... boaties swear by them

CJ

[JeffC]

we were away at the weekend in my converted van, was b****y freezing! I left the hob on for a while to take the chill off but sharp cooled down, run a 2kw electric heater which worked well but genny is heavy on petrol when run under that sort of load, will have to do something for next time, I was thinking of a gas heater are they called carver heaters?

[pistonbroke]

problem with gas heaters is they produce loads of water in the form of condensation and need ventilation for Co2 extraction .

The Erberschpacher (fkhtsi) type draws cold air in from outside and blows heated warm dry air into the van . So not only is the air warm and dry , its also fresh and Co2 free .

The unit is small ,it can be fitted inside or outside ,though the fan can be noisy on full blast ,so better fitted outside if you like quiet nights .

I personally wouldnt use anything else  

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

I was thinking of a gas heater are they called carver heaters?

They were called Carver, but now they are Truma, they have a balanced flue (just like your central heating boiler) they draw cold air from outside and exhaust directly outside, so perfectly safe if installed properly, otherwise there would be lots of dead caravanners around  

They give off luverly warm dry air inside, and you can have a blown air option to circulate warm air around the van, so if you want to walk about in your trolleys in winter you can  

[Jenko]

I have a 2.5kW oil filled heater in my caravan - I live in it for two days per week (and have been over the last 3 years) - Even with the recent -9'C it was OK.

Paul.

[dombanks]

thanks for the responce ive been looking at the eberspacher ones today and they look like the ticket as i can mount it in a locker in the skirting, tap into the the main tank or put a second one in and vent up into the living area.

Also they can run direct from the 24V eletric supply on the lorry.

I also agree on the braniac method of heating as this will be in a lorry not a caravan shame they dont run off horse crap!

an electric one would be ok but witout a power hook up i could see it running the batterys down too much and most events will not allow a generator.

[david matthias]

Hi

As its going in a lorry an Eberspacher unit is the way to go either air or water.

If you are looking for a new unit drop me a line. I fit water units in our narrow boats but can supply any of the Eberspacher kit.

As Kerry mentioned they do tick its the fuel pump. The noise is only an issue in the dead of night & can be improved with a bit of thought & in a lorry they can be installed using flexible fuel hose which helps a lot.

If I can help I will.

David

[dombanks]

thanks dave ive sent u a pm