Heating Van

[Riverlander]

Hi. Have decided to install a diesel cabin heater in the van at a cost of somewhere around $800 but was wondering if it would be possible to put that money into extra battery/solar storage and use a small electric heater instead. This van is only 18ft and we have found that after a van warms up it dosn't take much to keep them warm. I know I saw someone on the other forum that is all electric but he has heaps of solar and lithium batteries.
Cheers John

[Dot]

Put on your flannette pj's, beanie, bed sox, on and hit the flannelette sheets and don't forget the hot water bottle.

[SteveW]

Diesel heaters are just the best!

[T1 Terry]

A 5 column oil heater can be run from solar/battery/inverter, so can reverse cycle air con as long as the outside temp stays above around 1*C, the outside unit ices up below that even though they claim down to -7*C in the newer units.
Diesel heaters are not electrically free either, that start up current is quite high so if you have one of those units that turn on/off/on rather than just slowing down to very low output, the high start up can eat a lot of battery storage resulting in voltage drop and eventually a non start up resulting in lots of smoke on the next start up. If you only need a small amount of heating, what about the gas equivalent of the diesel heater, much cleaner running, bugga all noise outside or inside and goesn't require regular services to keep it running properly.

T1 Terry

[supersparky]

After freezing for years in several different vehicles with no heating I am more than pleased with our Webasto Diesel heater. Never had a gas one to compare it with.

[Greynomad]

T1,
Would have thought LPG heating would produce some exhaust fumes.
We once had a bloque squeeze in between us and neighbour, only to discover that he'd positioned his door right alongside the exhaust outlet from our diesel heater. Came rushing around banging on our door & demanding we turn that &%^$ thing off. I suggested that it was he who squeezed in so neighbour couldn't put out his awning, and maybe another site might suit him better. Turned the heating off at 0600 next day.
Funny thing... he wasn't there to appreciate my kindness.

[T1 Terry]

The gas heater exhaust is through a side cover, much like the gas water heater, no fumes inside and not much noise as there isn't a jet engine winding up for take-off each time it starts up, and no diesel smell or smoke. The first customer we had in the workshop that fired up their diesel heater with the door shut wiped out the entire spider population in one night, even the red backs were staggering out from behind signs etc I offered to open the door just in case the thing wound up enough for take off but they said they couldn't hear it inside so the noise didn't exist

[Dot]

If I had to choose I would have the gas heater, been in vans with both and the gas one won hands down. (got the right 1 ) Terry how much power would those oil heaters use?

[BernieQ2]

Depends on what you call noise my daughter complained about the gas hot water roaring when on , I was doing experiment left it on all night so when temp dropped it would turn on and off again as required . I wanted to see how much the unit consumed gas .(heaps)
We couldn't hear it inside . She was camped just off from us in a tent .
Bernie .

[Riverlander]

I agree that gas would probably be the best but I would prefer not to use gas as it is always a hassle to refill bottles and they are not getting any cheaper. Looks like plan one with the diesel is the way to go.
John