small butane heater search

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landyrubbertramp

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Hi all I hope everyone had a good holiday over new year . I hope some one could help in this. In looking for a very small anything around 1 kW butane heater for Landrover that I can connect to my 7kg butane bottle all I have seen is the cartridge type which long term is going to be too expensive . Thier us one called a me buddy heater in the USA that can do this but with post n packaging it way too exoensive hope sum one can help . Also ppl have mentioned a small electric greenhouse heater but I've not seen one anywhere
 
Thanks Richard for your speedy reply it mentions 2 kW . Do I know how low u can turn it down . If it does not have a marker can you guess how much kW it uses . Many thanks lee
 
you could also keep an eye on ebay,I see small heaters for sale a lot.
 
landyrubbertramp said:
Thanks Richard for your speedy reply it mentions 2 kW . Do I know how low u can turn it down . If it does not have a marker can you guess how much kW it uses . Many thanks lee
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Not used it much of late but from memory, it would go down below a KW.

They do a single as well but never used that.

Richard
 
I've looked for something similar to you for my van but haven't found anything yet, the Sunngas parabolic heater seemed to be the best option but at the moment I am still using a camping gas cooker with butane cartridges, and though probably more expensive to run, it's perhaps not as bad as you think and it makes me be more economical and thrifty about putting it on and I put a wool jumper on instead and only switch the cooker on when desperate.

You can get the butane cartridges for round about £1 if you buy in bulk on ebay - I've just bought £28 at £1 each. In the summer they are easier to find - B&M Bargains and Poundstretcher do 4 for £3.99 but don't stock them over the winter.

I estimate that each canister lasts about 3 hours, longer if turned down low, so that will give you some sort of comparison if you know how many hours a butane gas bottle will last.

I use one of these on the gas cooker and can definitely recommend it, it sends the heat out sideways instead of just rising straight up and it makes it safer, so that the naked flame of the cooking ring is not exposed to a dangling sleeve etc http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bright-Spar...74&sr=8-74&keywords=Heater+butane+camping+Gas

Just make sure that when it's really cold, you take the butane gas cartridge to bed with you at night, as it needs to be kept above 5C to work properly. That's where the cartridges have the advantage over the bigger bottles!

Keep us posted in what you eventually settle for, I'm still pondering getting the sunn gas heater and may do if the weather turns very cold but at the moment I'm managing with the butane cooker and also a bio ethanol heater (a stainless steel sugar bowl from charity shop inside a small cast iron chimenea which you would usually have a candle in but which acts like a radiator and remains warm long after the fuel has burned out).
 
whitevanwoman said:
I've looked for something similar to you for my van but haven't found anything yet, the Sunngas parabolic heater seemed to be the best option but at the moment I am still using a camping gas cooker with butane cartridges, and though probably more expensive to run, it's perhaps not as bad as you think and it makes me be more economical and thrifty about putting it on and I put a wool jumper on instead and only switch the cooker on when desperate.

You can get the butane cartridges for round about £1 if you buy in bulk on ebay - I've just bought £28 at £1 each. In the summer they are easier to find - B&M Bargains and Poundstretcher do 4 for £3.99 but don't stock them over the winter.

I estimate that each canister lasts about 3 hours, longer if turned down low, so that will give you some sort of comparison if you know how many hours a butane gas bottle will last.

I use one of these on the gas cooker and can definitely recommend it, it sends the heat out sideways instead of just rising straight up and it makes it safer, so that the naked flame of the cooking ring is not exposed to a dangling sleeve etc http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bright-Spar...74&sr=8-74&keywords=Heater+butane+camping+Gas

Just make sure that when it's really cold, you take the butane gas cartridge to bed with you at night, as it needs to be kept above 5C to work properly. That's where the cartridges have the advantage over the bigger bottles!

Keep us posted in what you eventually settle for, I'm still pondering getting the sunn gas heater and may do if the weather turns very cold but at the moment I'm managing with the butane cooker and also a bio ethanol heater (a stainless steel sugar bowl from charity shop inside a small cast iron chimenea which you would usually have a candle in but which acts like a radiator and remains warm long after the fuel has burned out).
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thanks for taking the time to writ this up for me whitevan woamn, i to have a heater like use i use for cooking at thats what im usng at the moment but looking for an option to have a heater to connect to a bigger butane bottle. Will look in t cat heaters as mentioned, your right about the little bottles too so thanks for that also will keep you posted on my progress. sorting these type of thing is one moe step towards full timing or more longterming in my case, regards lee
 
Tbear said:
Not used it much of late but from memory, it would go down below a KW.

They do a single as well but never used that.

Richard
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thansk richard do you know if they connect to the calour bigger bottles?
 
Tezza said:
We used one of these in our transit self build...and wow after 10 minutes van was like a sauna. I know its powerfull but...just turn it off after a few minutes. And the lovely thing...it took only seconds in the morning to get the van toasty. Portable Calor LPG Gas Infa Red Propane Site and Workshop Heater | eBay
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I wondered about one of these on another thread on here about this same subject and got slammed by some other members for even thinking of it. Also it's propane not butane, so will it run on butane or are the pressures different?
 
whitevanwoman said:
I wondered about one of these on another thread on here about this same subject and got slammed by some other members for even thinking of it. Also it's propane not butane, so will it run on butane or are the pressures different?
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It's usually just a matter of fitting a different regulator Jess. But check!
 
whitevanwoman said:
I wondered about one of these on another thread on here about this same subject and got slammed by some other members for even thinking of it. Also it's propane not butane, so will it run on butane or are the pressures different?
Click to expand...
Found this on a caravanning forum


Which gas should I use, Propane or Butane?

The physical properties of the two gases are very similar, and when regulated to the correct pressure, they will perform almost identically. However there are some important differences.

Of the two gases, Butane has the most advantages.

It is less toxic and so can legally be used and stored indoors. Litre for litre, it contains around 12% more energy than Propane and so you can squeeze more running time into the same sized bottle. (Butane is heavier than Propane though, so weight for weight it's a pretty close call.)
Butane also burns cleaner than Propane (although this isn't normally a serious issue in caravanning.)
Finally, while it's not strictly a property of the gas, Butane canisters generally use clip-on type connections. These are far more convenient than the Propane screw type connections, especially if you swap bottles around regularly (as you might if you also use your caravan bottle to run a barbecue.)
Conversely, Propane has only one advantage over Butane - but it's a big one!

In order to be usable, the liquid in the bottle must be able to boil into a gas. In the case of Butane, this will happen at any temperature above -2C, whereas with Propane, this figure is much lower, at -42C. In the real world, it's not so clear cut. Whenever some of the liquid boils into gas, the remaining liquid cools. It is therefore possible for the temperature of the liquid to drop to several degrees below ambient. This can easily prevent a Butane canister from producing a useful gas supply, even when the outside temperature is several degrees above 0C. A compromise can be reached by mixing Propane with Butane, but as far as I'm aware, none of the UK 'big bottle' suppliers actually do this. The small gas cartridges that are produced for camping stoves and gas lamps are often Propane/Butane mixes. So choosing the right gas pretty much boils down to whether you need to use it in freezing (or near freezing) conditions. If this is likely, then Propane is a must. If not, then Butane has the edge.
 
whitevanwoman said:
I wondered about one of these on another thread on here about this same subject and got slammed by some other members for even thinking of it. Also it's propane not butane, so will it run on butane or are the pressures different?
Click to expand...

hi again white van woman forget what other ppl think, it wasnt me by the way but i have one of thease already but as mentioned it was great to warm van up then switch off but im looking for sumthing that i can leave on for hours that produces a very small heat so i can keep a constant temp. ive looked into a small electric greenhouse type the best ive seen is 100 watt or there about but ts not 12 v and by the tie you have put it threw an inverter it will go through too much electric on battery power.and being in the uk esp when u neeed more heat in the winter you have less solar sun to recoup. low sun etc so solar a non option i think if you are like me whitewoman in a slef build the best long term option is to insulate the vehicle as much a spossible that roll of slver dtuff from bbq ok is not great but you had layer fter layer ad cover the draft im sure it soon starts to get warm also you can take it un tape it and use it in a nother vehivle if or when you want to . regards lee but good to hook up one time and swap notes on this whitevan woman i l get to one of those meets soon
 
I wondered about converting these to run from a bigger supply, shouldn't be difficult. Although that one is rather expensive, you can get them for £5-10.
 
hi david good to hear from you. yes thought about this option but the plubing got in the way, its a shame they dont do a kind of adapter for it to fit on larger butane bottles.
 
Robmac said:
I wondered about converting these to run from a bigger supply, shouldn't be difficult. Although that one is rather expensive, you can get them for £5-10.
Click to expand...

Apologies, the one I saw earlier at £5.99 was a used item. They generally go for £15-30 these days.
 
I've got a Gelert one from Amazon. Very efficient in my small van but as everyone says, cartridges are expensive to run in comparison with cylinders. Still, needs must!
 
whitevanwoman said:
I've looked for something similar to you for my van but haven't found anything yet, the Sunngas parabolic heater seemed to be the best option but at the moment I am still using a camping gas cooker with butane cartridges, and though probably more expensive to run, it's perhaps not as bad as you think and it makes me be more economical and thrifty about putting it on and I put a wool jumper on instead and only switch the cooker on when desperate.

You can get the butane cartridges for round about £1 if you buy in bulk on ebay - I've just bought £28 at £1 each. In the summer they are easier to find - B&M Bargains and Poundstretcher do 4 for £3.99 but don't stock them over the winter.

I estimate that each canister lasts about 3 hours, longer if turned down low, so that will give you some sort of comparison if you know how many hours a butane gas bottle will last.

I use one of these on the gas cooker and can definitely recommend it, it sends the heat out sideways instead of just rising straight up and it makes it safer, so that the naked flame of the cooking ring is not exposed to a dangling sleeve etc http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bright-Spar...74&sr=8-74&keywords=Heater+butane+camping+Gas

Just make sure that when it's really cold, you take the butane gas cartridge to bed with you at night, as it needs to be kept above 5C to work properly. That's where the cartridges have the advantage over the bigger bottles!

Keep us posted in what you eventually settle for, I'm still pondering getting the sunn gas heater and may do if the weather turns very cold but at the moment I'm managing with the butane cooker and also a bio ethanol heater (a stainless steel sugar bowl from charity shop inside a small cast iron chimenea which you would usually have a candle in but which acts like a radiator and remains warm long after the fuel has burned out).
Click to expand...

Hate to say anything but this is a recipe for disaster unless of course you also have a carbon monoxide alarm fitted as well. It's nice to keep warm and have a nice jumper on a glass of wine or two and your off to sleep. Several hours later you probably won't be breathing air but CO .... Bit like sticking a hose pipe over the exhaust and bringing it in through a window. The ceramic heaters work because they burn the gas completely. Read the instructions they are for cooking ....

..
 
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whitevanwoman said:
.................I use one of these on the gas cooker and can definitely recommend it, it sends the heat out sideways instead of just rising straight up and it makes it safer, so that the naked flame of the cooking ring is not exposed to a dangling sleeve etc http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bright-Spar...74&sr=8-74&keywords=Heater+butane+camping+Gas....................
Click to expand...

How strange Jess. I made one of these this morning out of an old Dog food can. I'm gonna try it out later on my woodgas stove and see if it is any good for when I'm tarp camping.
 
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