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Hoping to use the van for camping over winter on sites with electric hook up. Was thinking of getting a 450kw oil filled radiator or heater fan. Any experience of van camping with either?
Don't want to go down the permanent mod route at the moment as I'm trying to keep the van flexible and costs down.
It's a popular option on hook up.
Only thing to watch is often hook ups are 6amp draw breakers but a 450watt heater should be ok with that. Surely it's w and not Kw as 450Kw is a monster
I'd rather an oil heater than a fan heater due to the safety aspect.
Cheers. Yeah, w not kW 😂
We've tried both before we got a diesel heater. Fan is quick to warm the van, radiator slower. Not much in it longterm, the insulation of the van (especially the windows) is the key factor.
I bought a £20 fan heater, which puts out 2kW so heats up the van pretty quickly. This power rating would be above the 6A circuit breaker trail_rat mentions but you should be able to adjust the power down if you're unsure. Obviously smarter solutions exist but It's pretty small and cools down quickly so packs away in to a cupboard when not in use.
We've also got a hand-me-down butane gas cartridge heater but it was absolutely pathetic TBH.
We have a small blown air heater and an oil filled rad in our camper over winter. If we get in from the cold, then both get turned on, the fan heater takes the edge off and heats the van up super quick. Once up to temp, it get's turned off and the Oil rad takes over keeping the van up to temp.
This winter I am considering making a greenhouse / tubular heater more permanently mounted to be a bit neater.
"We’ve also got a hand-me-down butane gas cartridge heater but it was absolutely pathetic TBH"
Don't even go there. Non vented gas appliance in a small space is just a recipe for disaster.
I'd go for an oil filled rad. Permanent background heat would be more confortable, a fan heater turning on and off in a small space just means the heat goes up and down and is never 'just right' and the noise (especially at night) is annoying.
trail_rat
Member
“We’ve also got a hand-me-down butane gas cartridge heater but it was absolutely pathetic TBH”
Don’t even go there. Non vented gas appliance in a small space is just a recipe for disaster.
Gas appliance also creates a lot of condensation.
A none vented one as per the guy I quoted does but not all gas appliances are condensation generators .
Our truma vented heater releases no condensation into the interior of the van.
Likewise the fridge.
It will work, but you need something bigger than 450w.
I had a 650w oil filled radiator to heat a short wheel base, low top transit and it made pretty much no difference. The rad got hot, but was so pathetic you had to pretty much be touching it to get any benefit. I still woke up with frost on my sleeping bag and it was only just below freezing outside.
The new van has built in heating, but when on site I use a 1.5kw convector heater which is much better.
I've got a proper night heater, runs off the diesel.
I also have curtains and have insulated the whole thing. I have not needed the heater since completing the insulating, has made a massive difference, below freezing outside, sleeping bag and a T-shirt and I'm coay as anything, and that's with the roof vent whirling away.
Anyway, if you can insulate the van, do.