Sukiesmom
Sunny California
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Joined: 10/07/2009
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Coalminer,
I do mean grey and fresh water tanks. And I know that I should not leave the water hookup out through the night. Appreciate your help.
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chain
Pecos
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Joined: 08/27/2009
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SandeesAR wrote:What type of B do you have? I have a 91 Roadtrek. I use to do the craft show all the time. I always used my built in propane heater when at a show. I just left the front passenger window cracked about a 1/4 ". Just enough for air to come in and not big enough for anyone to get in.
It' a chevy 20 Merry Miller hightop
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DannyG
Vail, Colorado
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Joined: 07/11/2004
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Sukiesmom wrote:Sorry to be slightly off topic here but we are thinking of taking a Pleasure-Way to the Arches National Park in December. We will have full hook-up but will be propane furnace last us through the night? And will the tank freeze up because of the cold? (we do not have heat tape and all that stuff to protect the van from low temperature)
If you do not find the answers you are hoping, send me a personal message. I should be able to help as I live close to Arches and have an RV.. Have fun!
Danny
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Salianron
Lake Livingston, Texas
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Joined: 02/17/2003
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I recommend a sleeping bag to keep you warm during the night. Set an alarm for 30 minutes to an hour before you need to be up. Hop up and light the catalytic heater and crawl back into the sleeping bag until the van is warm.
Salianron --Sally and Ron
2003 Roadtrek 200 Popular
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Gene in NE
Omaha
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Joined: 09/15/2003
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chain wrote:...What do you do to keep the van warm when you are in the rocky mountains in january ? I don't want to bring my generator to supply power. It's really only for the night and sleep time...
Thanks , Chain My choice would be exactly as "Salianron" suggests. The inside of our short Class C maintains a temperature about 5 degrees above the outdoor temperature likely because of body heat. Or...the thermometer's we use are wrong. A good sleeping bag will keep you warm down to the lower 20's. The reason you should be skeptical of a propane heater, it uses up oxygen you need to breath. But because of the volume of air in your van, it will take some time. The size of the heater (BTU's) can be roughly sized by multiplying the volume LxWxH by 4.
The propane tank is usually not the limiting factor, it is the battery that powers a fan forced unit. You don't mention why you "don't want to bring my generator"? Is it cumbersome, loud, afraid of theft? A generator and an electric ceramic heater would keep you warm all night.
2002 Trail-Lite Model 211-S w/5.7 Chevy
Gene
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mumkin
Minot ND USA
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Joined: 07/16/2004
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In my little B minus... with no propane... if I have nowhere to run my handy/dandy extension cord, I use my battery bank to provide the power to use the 12v mattress pad that I found on a trucker's website. It worked like a charm last year the first time I used it when it was really cold. (I have two batteries and about 155 amp hours)
http://www.12volt-travel.com/12-volt-60-........30-twin-size-bunk-warmer-pad-p-6680.html
Mumkin
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Handbasket
Asheville, NC
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Joined: 01/17/2003
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The biggest heat loser in a B van is probably the front window area. Curtain the cab off at night. Until you decide what heater you're going to use, maybe rig a curtain around just the bed. With good house batteries, consider a 12V mattress pad or 12V electric blanket (I haven't used either, but truck stops sometimes carry such things). Sleep in a ski cap... it helps a lot. Make thermal covers for the windows in the living-sleeping area out of Reflectix insulation. One winter, I even put some spare Reflectix against the wall next to my bunk, going up about a foot; probably didn't make the van warmer, but I sure slept better.
Jim, "We do precision guesswork."
'06 Tiger CX 'C Minus' on a Silverado 2500HD 4x4, 8.1 & Allison ('Loafer's Glory'); '07 Forester 2.5 ( the 'HANDBSKT'); '95 Toyota SR5 V-6 4x4 pickup, ARB locker, Bilsteins, Warn hubs & M8000, etc;
'94 968, M030 swaybars ('DOPPLER')
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lzasitko
Regina, SK Canada
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Joined: 11/30/2005
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We just got home from a 2 week run out to BC and back and we used a big buddy heater the whole trip. During the day it was nice enough out that heat was not needed but first thing in the morning, evenings and overnight you need heat of some sort.
With propane you have to make sure that you have adequate fresh air. We used ours with a 20lb propane tank and it lasted the whole trip. We did leave it going over night a couple nights when temperatures fell to around -10c (20f) and did not have any problems. They all have a low oxygen sensor and will shut off by themselves. We have a propane/fire/co2 detector and it never went over the time we used it. It cost us $11.00 to fill a 20lb tank so it was cheap heat for the two weeks. We thought of running our little generator but it would use a lot more fuel as well as the added noise. All the places we did visit had electric which we did use for lights and microwave but we used propane as much as possible. Our MH is a 29' Triple E and heater kept us warm enough most of the time on the low setting (4000 btu) and only a few times med or high. The Big Buddy heater also has a fan built in and it was quiet and could run on either batteries or adapter but it didn't really move enough air to be really effective.
Today we stopped by the local xs cargo and they had a clearance table and we heard them talking about putting it on for 1/2 the marked price. They had a couple ceramic heaters on there marked at $35.00 each. Didn't know when they were going to run this in store special but they had talked about for 8 minutes only but did not give a time or anything. We alked around for about 1/2 hr looking and still nothing so I asked and the gal said yes the manager had talked about it but had not given a time. In any case she said she would do it for us seeing how we had heard them. Heaters are Noma and I bought the two they had for $14.00 each which is a steal. Work great or did when I plugged them in. They have various settings including a 'do not freeze' which will let temperatures far to around +5c and maintain it. Has two heat settings as well as a rotary thermostat so once it is a warm as you want it will cycle on high to maintain it. Also has a timer if you want to use it One will find a home in the MH and other in our stick home in the basement where it is always cooler. Also found if we hung a blanket at the bottom of the stairs it helps a lot and we rigged up the same thing in the motorhome with two blankets hung from the ceiling that made a 3x3 box around the stairwell and door and then we don;t loose as much heat when the door is open.
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Chirpnchicks
Summerfield, NC
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Joined: 01/15/2006
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Chain said, "What do you do to keep the van warm when you are in the rocky mountains in january ?"
Chain, you are one tough dude. We bailed out on camping at Bryce and Zion when the temps went down to 15-20F the past two nights and stayed in Kanab.
I think we burned 2 gal of propane last night just keeping our rig at minimum thermostatic setting for safety. That's about four days of supply. As mentioned in an earlier post I believe most of the heat loss is thru the glass too.
This is a difficult situation... Rockies in January... wow.
Jay
Warming in Las Vegas for a few days.
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juliev
SE Minnesota
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Joined: 07/29/2004
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We've camped in the mountains of Idaho in late fall - with temps down in the low teens and never had a problem with the water lines freezing. As long as the daytime temps are above freezing you should be OK. We also leave the water heater running to make sure that doesn't freeze up.
As far as staying warm inside, we've found that the inside temp stays 10 - 15 degrees above the outside temp (maybe more) We have Reflectivix covers made for all of the windows and we too close off the cab area at night.
We only run the propane furnace for a few minutes before bed just to take the chill off so we can get changed and into the sleeping bag. With a double sleeping bag filled with 2 human bodies and a couple of small dogs - we're toasty warm all night long (unless someone has to get up and pee.....) Sometimes I will wear a hat or a hooded sweatshirt to keep my head and ears warm. The only problem is that one of us has to stick a head and arm out in the morning to crank up the furnace again, and let it run about 20 minutes before we get up. We've found that the furance will increase the temp by about 1 degree per minute - it warms up fast. I would run the furnace all night, but the darn thing is way too noisy!
If we're camping with an electrical hook up, then we have a small ceramic heater that we place on an insulated cookie sheet and set on the floor between the cab seats. If we set it up on the counter top we've found that the heat all goes right to the ceiling and we don't feel it. If the heater is on the floor then it seems to spread around the area more evenly. That little toaster sized ceramic heater was plenty to keep us warm, even camping on the Canadian border in November.
Julie
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A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~ Lao Tzu
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