Keeping Warm

[Gladys & co.]

The thermo blinds help to I think. You lose a lot of heat through the windows.

I would like to make a new set of curtains, when i do i was thinking of lining them with thermal curtain liner, i guess that'll do the trick for the windows.

[Gladys & co.]

.

[kevtherev]

i wasn't planning on sleeping with it on,

OK well then it would never heat up the inside of the van, it's just not powerfull enough
1.5kw is what you need

it was just to take the chill out of the air before bed. A quick, cheap and temporary option really.

Right.. there are lots of camping heaters at camping shops. All of them are designed for draughty tents.
These heaters give off carbon monoxide, a killer even in a tent. I would hate it if you got one of these killing machines, save up and come to a VW show with 80-90, there are propex's for sale at around £250 at these events very easy to fit, great safe heat.. designed for campers.
plus you and your family will have a ton of fun.

[pocolow]

I find the quickesst way to warm the van is to make a cuppa on a gas stove, also great for the morning to.

[Gladys & co.]

I find the quickesst way to warm the van is to make a cuppa on a gas stove, also great for the morning to.

Hehe! This is what i've been doing so far! Looks like i'll stick with this until i can afford a propex!

[Gladys & co.]

i wasn't planning on sleeping with it on,

OK well then it would never heat up the inside of the van, it's just not powerfull enough
1.5kw is what you need

it was just to take the chill out of the air before bed. A quick, cheap and temporary option really.

Right.. there are lots of camping heaters at camping shops. All of them are designed for draughty tents.
These heaters give off carbon monoxide, a killer even in a tent. I would hate it if you got one of these killing machines, save up and come to a VW show with 80-90, there are propex's for sale at around £250 at these events very easy to fit, great safe heat.. designed for campers.
plus you and your family will have a ton of fun.

Thanks for all the info, very interesting to know about the carbon monoxide problem. It looks like it'll be insulation, cuppa before bed, hot water bottle, good duvet and ensuring my man is with me to keep me warm! Long term - Propex when i can afford one!

[Ian Hulley]

Buy a carbon monoxide alarm, like this ... NOT one of the paper discs that basically tells the emergency services what has killed you and your family in the van. CO is a product of combustion and is a hot gas, once it cools however it falls and because it's heavier than air it pools. The instructions will tell you to mount it above appliances ..... others will have their's mounted low to detect a build up of CO. You need a smoke alarm too of course

You can just about see our's here ...

Welcome to the forum too

Ian

[windysurfer]

Buy a carbon monoxide alarm, like this ... NOT one of the paper discs that basically tells the emergency services what has killed you and your family in the van. CO is a product of combustion and is a hot gas, once it cools however it falls and because it's heavier than air it pools. The instructions will tell you to mount it above appliances ..... others will have their's mounted low to detect a build up of CO. You need a smoke alarm too of course

You can just about see our's here ...

Welcome to the forum too

Ian

That's interesting info on where to mount your co detector.
The instructions that came with ours said to mount it high up

[Ian Hulley]

Interesting story ... Mother has coal fires and I pestered her and the old man to get a CO alarm, which they did. Anyway 3 weeks ago she was feeling drousy and unwell so she went outside for a breath of fresh air, while she was out there the CO alarm (mounted on the wall) went off, she reset it but it kept going off. She left the door open for 10 minutes and eventually it cleared enough for the alarm to reset. Now she is 5 foot nothing and the alarm was about 5'6" from the ground ... the CO had reached her but not the alarm. The chimney needed sweeping as it turned out.

From personal experience if you want to find CO in a mine you sweep around the floor, the hot gas will be rise up until it's cooled down and pooled. Now I'm not going to tell anyone to ignore their alarm instructions but you can see where our's is.

[Gandalf]

We've got an oil filled radiator that works well off the hook up but will have a propex fitted next week.

Going to be march before I fit mine as there's no point until I change the rock and roll bed

Aye but I'll be using mine to camp all over Xmas and New year - starting with the Winter Solstic at Stonehenge on the night of 21st December (and no I'm not a hippy ).

[Gandalf]

i wasn't planning on sleeping with it on,

OK well then it would never heat up the inside of the van, it's just not powerfull enough
1.5kw is what you need

it was just to take the chill out of the air before bed. A quick, cheap and temporary option really.

Right.. there are lots of camping heaters at camping shops. All of them are designed for draughty tents.
These heaters give off carbon monoxide, a killer even in a tent. I would hate it if you got one of these killing machines, save up and come to a VW show with 80-90, there are propex's for sale at around £250 at these events very easy to fit, great safe heat.. designed for campers.
plus you and your family will have a ton of fun.

Thanks for all the info, very interesting to know about the carbon monoxide problem. It looks like it'll be insulation, cuppa before bed, hot water bottle, good duvet and ensuring my man is with me to keep me warm! Long term - Propex when i can afford one!

Oil filled radiators (off of hook up) don't cost the earth - I think we got ours from Argos for about £20.

[roberts-t25]

i wasn't planning on sleeping with it on,

OK well then it would never heat up the inside of the van, it's just not powerfull enough
1.5kw is what you need

it was just to take the chill out of the air before bed. A quick, cheap and temporary option really.

Right.. there are lots of camping heaters at camping shops. All of them are designed for draughty tents.
These heaters give off carbon monoxide, a killer even in a tent. I would hate it if you got one of these killing machines, save up and come to a VW show with 80-90, there are propex's for sale at around £250 at these events very easy to fit, great safe heat.. designed for campers.
plus you and your family will have a ton of fun.

Thanks for all the info, very interesting to know about the carbon monoxide problem. It looks like it'll be insulation, cuppa before bed, hot water bottle, good duvet and ensuring my man is with me to keep me warm! Long term - Propex when i can afford one!

Please can someone explain how/ why a gas heater is a killing machine but it's fine to have the hob on and brew up as a way of warming up?
Surely as long as your not silly with the heater ans just have it on for 20-30 mins to take off the chill at bed time, it would be just the same as having the gas burning on the stove??

[kevtherev]

Gas heater ... and a drink.. nice.. warm.. into bed.. read.. sleepy.. good bye
it's not "fine" to use a stove to warm the van up, even camper manuals state that very clearly.
One mistake that's all it takes.
When my stove is on I generaly open a window to let the cooking smell/steam out.

Hey it's your choice Robert, I'm just giving out the safe stuff.

[Pepperami]

Thin quilt under and big quilt over.

[lloydy]

jiggy jiggy