Club 80-90 Forums

Yes, it has 1Kw and 2Kw output settings. Is made in China and sold under different names. Ours is Connect-it Model ES-140. NIcky picked it up at Pound Stretcher for 8 quid. She says other similar stores sell them.

lloyd wrote:Yes, it has 1Kw and 2Kw output settings. Is made in China and sold under different names. Ours is Connect-it Model ES-140. NIcky picked it up at Pound Stretcher for 8 quid. She says other similar stores sell them.

Ours is a "Blackspur". Pretty much the same thing. They're cheap and kick out a lot of heat.

Sounds great Angelo, thanks for that

TravellingChick wrote:quartz halogen 400/800w thingy

complete waste of time and energy. Most of the energy is used to produce light (take yer sunglasses) and it acts like an electric bar heater as in it radiates heat so you have to be in front of it to get any benefit. Much better to get either a fan or convector heater, or possibly a small radiator jobbie to actually heat the air in the van. My tuppence.........

Nope you just can't beat a hot fanny Alice..

But a convector heater is a quieter option..

1664 wrote:

TravellingChick wrote:quartz halogen 400/800w thingy

complete waste of time and energy. Most of the energy is used to produce light (take yer sunglasses) and it acts like an electric bar heater as in it radiates heat so you have to be in front of it to get any benefit. Much better to get either a fan or convector heater, or possibly a small radiator jobbie to actually heat the air in the van. My tuppence.........

Fair enuff, I've not used it yet coz it was a gift. Will keep an eye out for something else.

Mind you, as the interior lights run off the main battery an extra light source could be useful lol!

We have one of the halogen heaters and a fan heater...the halogen looks nice and the heat / light combi makes it cosy, but the wee fan heater is much more effective. try and get one with a thermostat, as you cant leave it on all night, even on a low setting the inside of a van soon gets uncomfortable, no matter how cold it is

I bring an electric blanket for under the Kids Sleeping bags if we are going out in hard weather, have used in in a pop top with snow outside, very effective then switch on a small (750 watt oil filled, b&q) electric heater when you are up & about, Heater on all night would shrivel your brain!!!

wee bugger wrote:We have one of the halogen heaters and a fan heater...the halogen looks nice and the heat / light combi makes it cosy, but the wee fan heater is much more effective. try and get one with a thermostat, as you cant leave it on all night, even on a low setting the inside of a van soon gets uncomfortable, no matter how cold it is

When temperatures plummet to freezing or below I use both and find that the quartz is a great addition for directing heat where I need it and it really does give a nice warm glow. The cab area of the van is very difficult to insulate and I have found that you really need two heaters during the winter and a quartz with a fan heater gave the best result.

We've camped at -19 with no hookup using our gas heater. Heater ran almost constantly set at 15.
Haven't used electric heater below 0, but found on low setting it only ran 1/4 of time at night.
We have thermo mats and curtains and find closing off part of cab makes a huge difference. We often close off the front (Pass seat turned around with curtain between it and dash, then between hob and driver's seat).

Like winter Camping? Buy a Westy! Double glazed windows, gas heating and superior insulation I would imagine. I tried the curtain idea Lloyd and it worked really well.....untill I got up to drive the van into work and all the cab windows were bliddy frozen on the inside and outside even though they had thermo mats on them. I don't think my campsite make much profit from me during the winter with 3Kw of heating on the go....... I am deffo a winter wimp and should have bought a 'westy'!

lloyd wrote:We've camped at -19 with no hookup using our gas heater. Heater ran almost constantly set at 15.
Haven't used electric heater below 0, but found on low setting it only ran 1/4 of time at night.
We have thermo mats and curtains and find closing off part of cab makes a huge difference. We often close off the front (Pass seat turned around with curtain between it and dash, then between hob and driver's seat).

Crikey! I don't think we'll be getting down to -19 altho I am getting prepared with a new 13.5 tog duvet and thermals!

I'll be on the look for a fan heater with thermostat but will use the quartz thing as suppliment .

Really not sure how feasible winter camping is with a nearly 4yr old coz once the nights draw in there's not much running around she can do and she's not old enough to read a book etc........

We'll give it a shot tho!

TravellingChick wrote:

lloyd wrote:We've camped at -19 with no hookup using our gas heater. Heater ran almost constantly set at 15.
Haven't used electric heater below 0, but found on low setting it only ran 1/4 of time at night.
We have thermo mats and curtains and find closing off part of cab makes a huge difference. We often close off the front (Pass seat turned around with curtain between it and dash, then between hob and driver's seat).

Crikey! I don't think we'll be getting down to -19 altho I am getting prepared with a new 13.5 tog duvet and thermals!

I'll be on the look for a fan heater with thermostat but will use the quartz thing as suppliment .

Really not sure how feasible winter camping is with a nearly 4yr old coz once the nights draw in there's not much running around she can do and she's not old enough to read a book etc........

We'll give it a shot tho!

she likes to play snap but mummy doesn't have any cards in the van

fan heaters are good i use it all the time on hook up , even got a normal fan that works well in summer

Was -9, not -19 But it was bloody cold! Had frost on rear hatch pillars!.. as heater air didn't circulate that far back. Still we slept toasty warm and had a great weekend.