Fan Heaters

[DevonMark]

Our electric hook up is finally fixed and working and as such I'm looking forward to a few trips away over the winter to campsites with hookup, keeping warm by plugging in a trusty fan heater (no room in the budget for Propex yet...).

The question is, how long does it take for your standard little cheapo fan heater to heat a T25 (something similar to this: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... 150963.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)?

Obviously we wouldn't keep it on overnight, but would like to know how long we can expect it take for us to thaw out in the morning once it's turned back on!

[Ralf85]

This heating question keeps cropping up, but not normally in the Summer. The inside of a T25 camper is about the same as a bathroom (if you include the height to the ceiling of a bathroom).

The option I now use is an oiled filled radiator. You can plug it in, leave it on while you are out and come back to a toasty camper. Enough heat and you can turn the heat down and leave it on overnight and unlike alternatives, there is no noise.

[Dazco]

Small fan heater will warm your van up in no time .

[DevonMark]

This heating question keeps cropping up, but not normally in the Summer.

Yep, the only reason I'm thinking about it now is because our hook up has his been fixed, so it's working for the first time since we owned the van.

Not wanting to wish the warm weather away, but I am quite excited about having a nice toasty van in the winter while its cold outside.

[Ralf85]

This heating question keeps cropping up, but not normally in the Summer.

Yep, the only reason I'm thinking about it now is because our hook up has his been fixed, so it's working for the first time since we owned the van.

Not wanting to wish the warm weather away, but I am quite excited about having a nice toasty van in the winter while its cold outside.

An oil filled rad is the quietest option. I promise!

[weimarbus]

oil filled makes alot of sense, no noise and why burn gas when you are paying for a hook up, propex is only worth it if you wild camp. best of both worlds is oil filled rad plus a fan heater to boost, but don't plug them in at the same time as you will trip most campsite breakers, same as elec kettle etc

[weimarbus]

I would add that having the dogs in bed with you keeps you warm ,but if it's too cold they complain and it is good being warm when you eat breakfast

[Sleedale]

We have a royal 2kw fan heater, bought for tents, which we have used in the van and it takes no time at all to be swelteringly hot in the van, and I have left it on overnight using the thermostat setting and low heat to keep cutting in and out to maintain a nice temp. Only problem with us is where to put the darn thing so the dogs don't get fried. Between the front seats worked but so does on top of the cooker lid, and then we have used and extension lead to warm up the awning, and that was in June THIS year works a treat though, packs fairly small, and is fairly quiet too - I made them run it in the camping shop before I bought it
Do check site power though, a fan heater or kettle might trip it if it's too powerful

[MattBW]

My experience of an oil filled rad blizzards was that it added about 10-15degrees C to the ambient temperature. In our case the temp of the van upto about 11c to 12c region, which was far more bareable than the -2 outside.

I've been told the halogen heaters offer a higher temperature or a less subtle ouput but I liked that I could just leave the oil filled rad on (it was only 22quid too). Only downside was when the power went out, no heat at all.

[California Dreamin]

If you want an idea of how much heat is needed then look no further than the original camper conversions such as Westfalia. They obviously worked things out pretty accurately before fitting blow heating and felt that a 1600watt Ebberspacher was appropriate for the space.

A 3K electric blow heater is well over the top and in my experience (having tried all sorts of heating in my Poptop westy) is that electric blow heaters are noisy and dry out the air to an uncomfortable level where you just turn them off.
A 1800/2000 watt oil filled radiator is spot on for the space and can be put on half power for comfortable 'All Night' back heating. If you absolutely want an electric blow heater then all you need is 2K.

And yes we are ALL YEAR campers and have had regular minus 6 - 8's including a couple of nights at minus 12

Martin

[Oldiebut goodie]

^^^^^WHS
I use 3.2 Kw Webastos in my vans, my Merc has over twice the volume of my VW but both I heat up quickly on full blast and then they are run at 1.6Kw to keep the temp stable.
The Webasto Airtop 2000 is the ideal size as you start up at 2Kw and are controllable in heat output down to around 900w or so which is ideal for background heat.