Winter Heater

[CloudMountain]

Here's my cheap plan for winter car camping.

Connnect this Interior Heater http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4 ... ?locale=en to this power source http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-J5C09-Jum ... roduct_top
Fire hazard?

[Rural]

I don't think that will work. For one, the jump starter can be charged on AC power, but it does't look like it can put out AC power. The heater wants AC power. If you used a 12-volt heater (easy), you would be in business... Well, sort of. With a 12-volt heater, you could just use an ordinary deep-cycle battery from Wal-Mart. This would last through many more discharges than a starting batter. (Starting batteries are meant to deliver a lot of amperage for a very short period of time and don't take anything other than shallow discharging very well.) An ordinary charger could be used to top up the battery. But even this isn't amazing.

It takes a massive amount of energy to heat a space that isn't very well insulated (ie. the inside of a Delica). A battery just isn't up to the task. Except for the fire hazard, you'd probably be better off with a few candles in tin cans. There is a good reason why RV units have a couple of propane tanks up front. Getting as much sun in the windows as possible might warm the interior up nicely as well.

And then there is the problem of condensation. You need to exchange the moist air (moisture provided by you) with outside air. This is hard to do without losing all of your heat.

In a winter pinch, I would bundle up and sleep in the van, but I wouldn't want to do it all that often and I wouldn't want to heat the space except for briefly while changing or eating. It would also be good to make sure that the van was dried out by a long drive with the heaters on after spending much time in it without venting all that moisture.

Sorry to be such a downer.

[foxycanuck]

Canadian Tire has those Eliminator Jump Start Packs on for half price (its the second most powerful model). They are glass mat batteries inside, and have 2 12V plugs that can work with inverters up to a pretty decent amount of wattage (can't remember specifically off the top of my head).

Not sure how long they last/how well they work, but it's a potential option for power.

[thedjjack]

Watts / Volts = Amps (assuming you switch to a 12 volt heater)

900 / 12 = 75 amps which is increasing as the voltage drops. You are going to run down the batteries quickly. You would need deep cells to draw down and then recharge without damage.

My money is on this not working so well. Search the site lots of talk about heaters. I have only seen a few that work well, safely, and reliably.

[TardisDeli]

We use the Cdn Tire home style oil heater, 550 watts AC. Link below. Check the box before buying, they come from various factories in china etc, some have 500 watts, some 550, some 750, get the lowest watts possible. At 550 watts we can plug inot to any household outlet or street christmas tree light extension cord. At 550 watts we can run it off the 1200 watt inverter while driving on weekend winter camping trips. Since there is no fan in it, it uses heaps less power than a fan plus heater. As there are no moving parts or fans or digital thermostats, it is safe even if tipped over or in contact with carpet. FYI, any 12 volt DC heater will not give much heat. Note that any digital display on a heater, ie thermostat or clock, often will not work properly with an inverter, as they often need true sine wave not the modified sine wave that the cheaper inverters provide (ie if your inverter costs less than a thousand dollars, it may not have true sine wave power output).

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/3 ... ?locale=en

As dj says, its the condensation that is the problem. I think I read that we each emit a pint (half a liter) of moist air by breathing while sleeping. So, last week, the windows in our van got totally frosted over inside while winter camping. And by the way, the window ice scraper we use for the windshields are too curved to scrape the inside of the windows, they just scrape lines at the the edge of the scraper. Will try my kitchen bamboo spatula this weekend, as it can also do double duty cooking dinner.

Oh, and we do run the electric blanket inside the sleeping bag while driving, it then stays warm until bedtime, I don't like to leave it on overnight, even with the isolator on second battery, don't want to risk not starting the next morning.

PS: if you run veg oil mixed into your diesel in the summer, as I do, without a heated system, make sure you get as much oil out of your system as possible beofre winter camping, that little layer of oil make it hard to start in the minus weather.

cheers, christine.

[CloudMountain]

So with the 550 watt oil heater and this http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4 ... ?locale=en
You think it would work?

[Jordan]

Might be better with something like this:


http://www.mrheater.com/product.aspx?catid=41&id=24
its the only heater I can find that is approved for use inside, it shuts off if oxygen is low or if it tips over.

That CT inverter is a Modified sine wave inverter, Here is some info on a sine wave inverter install: http://www.delica.ca/forum/new-power-in ... -8201.html

[CloudMountain]

Do you own one of those Little Buddys? Have you used it?

[Jordan]

Not yet but I think I'm going to pick one up as it looks like my best option for now.

[CloudMountain]

Well if and when you get it let me know how it works. Unless of course it gasses you in your sleep.