mumkin wrote: 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)
Mumkin, do you know how many amps your 30 inch wide 12v mattress pad uses an hour? Checked their web site, no help I guess since they sell mostly to truckers which may run their engine all night or have a much larger battery bank than I do.
mumkin wrote: 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)
Mumkin, do you know how many amps your 30 inch wide 12v mattress pad uses an hour? Checked their web site, no help I guess since they sell mostly to truckers which may run their engine all night or have a much larger battery bank than I do.
Quote: Also, I am sure you will try to find a place to plug in... Ya never know where you may find a place... Parking garages, on the sides of buildings.... As long as you are ok with doing that..
Be advised that's called theft, if you haven't the owner's permission. And yes, I'm faliliar with a case a man eas convicted for plugging in a lamp in their landlord's wall socket *sigh*. I had to call the power company for an estimate of how much electricity a 60W bulb would burn in 30 minutes, and how much that power cost.
Get permission or work out an agreement before you plug into someone else's power.
My wife and I spent 6 weeks touring through Alaska last spring. We used propane for the furnace almost every night, the water heater every day, and the propane setting on the frig occasionally. We used less than one tank of propane during the entire trip. The concern I would have would be the capacity of the battery rather than the capacity of the propane tank. If you drive each day, the battery should recharge enough to run the blower on the furnace all night, unless you use other appliances which require battery power. I am not sure why some of the responders have a negative response to using the propane furnace because I thought that it was installed to use it when it is needed.
ron4adams wrote: My wife and I spent 6 weeks touring through Alaska last spring. We used propane for the furnace almost every night, the water heater every day, and the propane setting on the frig occasionally. We used less than one tank of propane during the entire trip. The concern I would have would be the capacity of the battery rather than the capacity of the propane tank. If you drive each day, the battery should recharge enough to run the blower on the furnace all night, unless you use other appliances which require battery power. I am not sure why some of the responders have a negative response to using the propane furnace because I thought that it was installed to use it when it is needed.
I feel exactly the same way. We set the thermostat on the propane furnace to around 50 degrees and off to sleep we go. In the morning, SO takes the dogs out and I set the thermostat up to 65 or 70. We warm up quickly.
Also, I notice that when running the propane furnace, there is plenty of moisture in the van...mostly on the windows. When running on an electric space heater, for example while plugged in, the moisture is not present.
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.
just the hassle of having to deal with a generator
propane is a very moist heat, and most people that have tried baking will tell you it makes for nice meat etc, We had a lot of condensation on all the windows so we bought a squeegee and it now stays in the MH. Once I start the engine I will squeegee the windows and after that the moving air generally keeps them clear. Has not been too much of an issue. Most of the condensation on ours is metal and glass, the walls don't seem to have the same problem.
hi, you do not have to use the furnace all night. once in the sleeping bag or under the blankets. it does not really matter if the furnace is on. 15 minutes before you get up - turn the furnace on again. you can also purchase electric heating pads to put under your blankets on low. they will last all night on a single house battery and charge up during the day. put your bottle water in the sleeping bag and have baby wipes and a roll of hand towels and you have it made. emergency bathroom use use - the some of the pink stuff. 1 or two - little electric heat - during hook up - and have a great time. this is the fun or camping / rving in winter. you can - get a bigger unit and all the comforts of home. with the extra increase in cost - you may as well just stay at a hotel!
Living in Idaho and extending my camping as far as I can, I find the solution is knowing how to dress for cold weather while you're out of bed and a proper sleeping bag while in bed. For cold weather camping I use a Coleman -5 degree rectangular bag that's 40" wide and quite toasty. During warmer weather, I use my Marmot semi-rectangular summer weight bag unzipped as a comforter. While I have a propane furnace built into my rig, I'd thing one of the Coleman or, better yet, Mr. Buddy heaters would be fine for before bed and when you first get up. I would not run them all night, vent window open or not.
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