Temporary heating from small generator

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I will be meeting my brother at the weekend and he has a recently built campervan.
We will be wild camping in south Wales for one night and he has not yet got round to fitting a heating system into his conversion.
I intend to take my small generator with me to help him heat his van overnight, however, I have discovered that my generator has not got enough supply to power a halogen heater (it initally lights up, then switches off) or a small fan heater ( generator slows down when the fan heater is switched on. A bit of heat comes out but not enough), the question is do you think an oil filled radiator would consume less power as a temporary measure to heat his campervan?

Regards
Dave
 
Beemer said:
I will be meeting my brother at the weekend and he has a recently built campervan.
We will be wild camping in south Wales for one night and he has not yet got round to fitting a heating system into his conversion.
I intend to take my small generator with me to help him heat his van overnight, however, I have discovered that my generator has not got enough supply to power a halogen heater (it initally lights up, then switches off) or a small fan heater ( generator slows down when the fan heater is switched on. A bit of heat comes out but not enough), the question is do you think an oil filled radiator would consume less power as a temporary measure to heat his campervan?

Regards
Dave
Click to expand...
Dave
Might be quieter, cheaper and warmer to book into a CL site with hookup for the night. Not many small generators will run for long at full load. Do you really want to fill it up at -5 at 3am. Cost of the fuel may be more than cost of CL site plus you will have toilet, washing and water.
Richard
 
The only way to know is to compare the nameplate rating of the generator with the rating shown on the heater. Also may need to derate the generator rating if its rating is given as say 850VA. Multiply the VA rating by 0.8 to give (very roughly) the Watts rating. Some generators also have two ratings - peak and continuous - so it is the continuous rating you need to use.

The heater - assuming it does have a 2-heat selector switch, should have both ratings shown - at least on the instruction sheet even if not on the rating plate.

As other poster suggested, you are still going to need some warm bedding - or get up every few hours to refill the fuel tank.

In the morning - just get up and put the kettle on. That will warm the van up quite nicely.

BTW - it doesn't matter what sort of electric heater you use because they are all effectively 100% efficient so the maximum heat you are going to get out of the heater is whatever electrical power the generator puts out. If that happens to be 600W then that is the best you will be able to do. If the van isn't properly insulated and set up for camping in below freezing weather, then you are likely to be in for a cold night and all your water frozen next morning.

An alternative might be a catalytic heater - provided you know the risks and take appropriate precautions.
 
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Good sleeping bags and an upturned clay flower pot on a lit gas burner to warm up,then turn the gas off and the stored heat should last you until you drift into the arme of Morphious!!
 
Tbear said:
Dave
Might be quieter, cheaper and warmer to book into a CL site with hookup for the night. Not many small generators will run for long at full load. Do you really want to fill it up at -5 at 3am. Cost of the fuel may be more than cost of CL site plus you will have toilet, washing and water.
Richard
Click to expand...

Yes, understand that Tbear, however, we wanted to be within walking distance of my our parents house and use our self sufficiency facilities whilst wild camping.
Another reason for parking within walking distance is because our parents live at the end of a long narrow lane that has low tree branches, making driving to the house, not possible. we sometimes take bicycles with us to help with this problem.
 
Beemer said:
Yes, understand that Tbear, however, we wanted to be within walking distance of my our parents house and use our self sufficiency facilities whilst wild camping.
Another reason for parking within walking distance is because our parents live at the end of a long narrow lane that has low tree branches, making driving to the house, not possible. we sometimes take bicycles with us to help with this problem.
Click to expand...

Dave methinks a petrol chain saw and a bonfire might be the answer :D:D:D
Alf
 
Beemer said:
Yes, understand that Tbear, however, we wanted to be within walking distance of my our parents house and use our self sufficiency facilities whilst wild camping.
Another reason for parking within walking distance is because our parents live at the end of a long narrow lane that has low tree branches, making driving to the house, not possible. we sometimes take bicycles with us to help with this problem.
Click to expand...

You could try Sunnflair Twin Parabolic Heater but only as an emergency measure and you would need a carbon monoxide alarm as it is flu-less and some sort of fire guard. Plus the fact the price of campinggaz is a ripoff but thats the best I can come up with unless you want to spend some dosh.

Richard
 
last winter we used a calor cabinet heater like the superser,we found it ample for heating our van realy warm even in minus5 or 6 . of course you need a carbon monoxide detector for saftey, but then again no one should be without one in the van. the detector never sensed any fumes from the heater. untill we used the gas hob for cooking and then it could be pretty high but only with ally kettle or any ally pans
 
Tap the Genny

Just a thought - can you tap the heat given off by the Genny? Water cool the genny and pipe the water to a radiator - take a flue off the cooling fan and duct it inside.......................

Mmmm ........ getting carried away here........ what about tapping into the vehicle cooling system and pump that around with a pump after the vehicle has stopped.

Blimey .. I need some sleep now.
 
mandrake said:
last winter we used a calor cabinet heater like the superser,we found it ample for heating our van realy warm even in minus5 or 6 . of course you need a carbon monoxide detector for saftey, but then again no one should be without one in the van. the detector never sensed any fumes from the heater. untill we used the gas hob for cooking and then it could be pretty high but only with ally kettle or any ally pans
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Hi Mandrake,

Sorry if this is going off at a tangent from the original post but are you saying that the ally pans give off more fumes than s/steel and is this just with propane and or butane.

Richard
 
kmsbmw said:
Mmmm ........ getting carried away here........ what about tapping into the vehicle cooling system and pump that around with a pump after the vehicle has stopped.

Blimey .. I need some sleep now.
Click to expand...

No, don't think you are getting carried away at all.... why can't the vehicle cooling system be used?
We have found that during this cold weather, we have had to have the diesel habitation heating on whilst driving, to heat the habitation area as the vehicle cab heating system is definitely not enough.
Perhaps a modification could be a switched extension of the vehicle pipework to another vehicle heat exchanger (blown air) into the existing habitation ducting!!??
Something to look at when the better weather allows.
 
Beemer said:
No, don't think you are getting carried away at all.... why can't the vehicle cooling system be used?
We have found that during this cold weather, we have had to have the diesel habitation heating on whilst driving, to heat the habitation area as the vehicle cab heating system is definitely not enough.
Perhaps a modification could be a switched extension of the vehicle pipework to another vehicle heat exchanger (blown air) into the existing habitation ducting!!??
Something to look at when the better weather allows.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of heat exchangers kicking around, but to fit to existing ducting may be the down fall. You are better off having dedicated outlets from the heat exchanger, then a Summer/Winter valve can be fitted to it which will issolate the exchanger from the original engine's coolant ciruit. This is a popular add-on on a few European made vans such as Rapido/Chausson/Hymer/Burstner and a similar system is used to heat up the circuit in an Alde Wet System.
The trick is finding someone to do it. PM me your details and I can see if there is someone in your area that I would recommend.

Rgs

Nick
 
nickjvanbitz said:
There are plenty of heat exchangers kicking around, but to fit to existing ducting may be the down fall. You are better off having dedicated outlets from the heat exchanger, then a Summer/Winter valve can be fitted to it which will issolate the exchanger from the original engine's coolant ciruit. This is a popular add-on on a few European made vans such as Rapido/Chausson/Hymer/Burstner and a similar system is used to heat up the circuit in an Alde Wet System.
The trick is finding someone to do it. PM me your details and I can see if there is someone in your area that I would recommend.

Rgs

Nick
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer Nick, but I hope to do it myself during the warmer weather.
 
Cheap Hot Water Bottles.

I know this is not really an answer for your original query but we use 2 litre Coke or lemonade bottles filled with hot water. We also use them during BBQ's for extending the cool summer evenings in the UK, just keep on lap or behind your back. They work really well keeping the whole body warm and we have used them for around 10 years or so.
Also they work well in place of a normal hot water bottle, slide inside an old sock for comfort.
Just going to fill mine and off to bed!
Good Night!
 
Beemer said:
"do you think an oil filled radiator would consume less power as a temporary measure to heat his campervan?"

Regards
Dave
Click to expand...

Hi Dave, I don't know about that, but I've got a small, propane-fired heater that I bought from somewhere like Poundstretcher for about £12. That works a treat in our veedub, couple of minutes and we're toasty.

Have a great time in Wales :)

Elaine
 
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