Fan Heater advice in Motorhome (1 Viewer)

[Freestyle]

I need a new fan heater for my Calypso motorhome when using an electric hook up.
Can anyone recommend a very quiet heater that would do the job. The one I am using at the moment is too noisy when it switches on in the night.
Thanks a lot folks in advance!
Freestyle

 

[Hollyberry]

I've just bought a Challenge 2.4 from Argos, £20. Very quiet, various settings and the thermostat is cutting in during the night, keeping us all warm. So quiet I don't even hear it at night.

 

[DM14742]

I hope this doesn't sound condescending but please be careful with Fan Heaters in a small place like a Motorhome, especially if left on at night. They produce a fair amount of concentrated heat and if placed close to soft furnishings or the heater is accidentally covered with Bedding etc it could pose a Fire Risk.
Far safer to use an electric oil filled radiator. The disadvantage is that they are heavier & a little larger but don't dry your eyeballs out !
Probably a good time to mention about checking your smoke alarm batteries with the advent of colder weather & the associated increase in use of heaters. That's Van's as well as homes.

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[DP+JAY]

I've just bought a Challenge 2.4 from Argos, £20. Very quiet, various settings and the thermostat is cutting in during the night, keeping us all warm. So quiet I don't even hear it at night.

We've got the same one. No probs but would never leave one on when Out/Asleep.

 

[mikebeaches]

We carry a fan heater and in winter, two small oil-filled radiators as well (600 watts & 900 watts).

The fan heater is good for a quick warm up, but we find the background warmth from the oil radiators much more pleasant over an extended period in the relatively confined space of the MH.

Obviously, need to be careful about how much power is being drawn - normally wouldn't use a combination of heating that totalled more than 1600 watts (ie either both oil rads together, or the fan on 1kw and the small 600-watt rad).

Mike

 

[pappajohn]

I agree with Jez and Mike.....oil filled rad is far safer during the night than a fan heater.

and of course, completely silent.

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[durhamahoy]

Hi,
We use an oil filled radiator, quiet & warm

Steve

 

[FULL TIMER]

All these electric heaters being used in winter.....................no wonder site fee's keep rising














my three 120w tubular heaters make for a reasonable background heat, the two 400w frost protectors keep the bedroom and lounge nice and warm. but if it's really cold we stick with the eberspacher and for when no hookup and as a backup to the eberspacher we have a small bio ethanol fire.

 

[hilldweller]

I hope this doesn't sound condescending .

I had the fan heater from the MH in the garage all summer. I put it in the van before going to Jim's to air the place but luckily did not leave immediately.

Hisssss, crackle. I Looked inside and part of the heater was sparking white hot.

It may have just stopped or it may have set fire. Had it set fire the van would not have been insured - I checked a while ago.

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[HymerB544]

Winter heat

When the weather gets REALLY cold, we'd have the external and internal screens on early, then use a small rotating three element ceramic heater until we go to bed, then switch the lot off. Not keen on leaving anything on overnight. And we've camped all year round in all conditions and it works for us.:thumb:

 

[Minxy]

Some info here about the various types of electric heaters which is very interesting:

http://sufidreamer.hubpages.com/hub...een-Convection-Heaters-And-Conduction-Heaters

 

[grasscutter]

Oil filled radiator for us. If we are paying for a hook up then we take full advantage of it. No noise during the night.:thumb:

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[FULL TIMER]

Some info here about the various types of electric heaters which is very interesting:

http://sufidreamer.hubpages.com/hub...een-Convection-Heaters-And-Conduction-Heaters

interesting and more important for me is that I seem to have it right as regards the electric heating set up I have, it is all natural convection with a total wattage of 1220, easily heats and maintains the heating of the van to a very comfortable level and more importantly as it is spread throughout the van no cold spots

 

[DavidG58]

we use a Dyson bladeless fan, a bit of noise, but not much, put it on sink top so no issues with anything landing on it, very efficient.

Kin expensive to buy though!!

David

 

[Wombles]

We have just bought a Dimplex Eco Chico OFRB7 700w oil free baby column heater which has all the benefits of an oil filled radiator but no risk of oil leaking & lighter - speedy heat up too. Not cheap at £42-£55 online but hopefully worth the outlay as it has 3 year warranty.

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[Wildman]

I've never needed a device for heating up the fan... oops wrong forum

 

[dogman]

Taking advice (in another post on this site) I purchased this oil filled radiator from E bay Link Removed
Looks good, fairly small and light, no danger of fire, reasonable price, free delivery.
A friend lived in a 40 foot caravan for over a year while he built a house, after moving in he tried to sell the caravan but had no luck so decided to burn it as space was at a premium. Taking a handful of newspaper, he put it just inside the doorway, set light to it and closed the door, 15 minutes later there was very little left of it, he was horrified, living in it for a year using 2 bar electric heaters together with two children and a dog the potential for disaster was ever present.
Made of plastic, hardboard, upholstery and wood we then fill it up with other burnables like bedding and clothing, add to it a drop of petrol for the genny, the tank on said genny, 1 or two gas bottles and a tank full of diesel, a true recipe for tragedy. Although I have fitted a CO2 alarm I have not yet fitted a smoke alarm, something that will be put right today before our first venture out tomorrow for the weekend.
Cal

 

[Rapide561]

Heat

We have a DeLonghi cool heat - very quiet, two heat settings and as the name suggests, it can also blow unheated air if required.

Russell

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[Freestyle]

Heaters

Thanks . You have all given me food for thought, will look into all your advice. Like the sound of the oil filled radiators. No noise there! But being a small van space is at a premium. Thanks again!:thumb:

 

[Wildman]

using the EHU for heating is abusing the system. We have gas fires for cold weather. No wonder the costs of EHU on sites is escalating.
But then I don't use sites so who cares

 

[Fireman Sam]

Fan heaters are potentially very dangerous, particularly cheaper imports that are now a few years old. Some of the older models (often sold for £10-£15) have only one thermal cut-out device, usually a tiny thermal fuse, which cannot be relied on to fail safe. Or worse still, a push-in overheat resettable button that can easily become stuck. The very worst models incorporate a plastic fan, producing rapid flaming; following an internal overheat, if the fan blades become stuck. In a Motorhome or caravan you wouldn't stand much of a chance of escape, even with a smoke alarm.

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[DM14742]

using the EHU for heating is abusing the system. We have gas fires for cold weather. No wonder the costs of EHU on sites is escalating.
But then I don't use sites so who cares

Again a polite request, get a CO detector for your Van if you haven't already :thumb:

 

[Terry]

Hi tried oil filled but it always seemed to be in the way so back to a fan heater :thumb: After trying quite a few pifco etc I have settled on a digitally controlled one from lidl :thumb: under 20 quid remote control and only a couple of degrees between on and off unlike all the others that have about 10 degrees between on and off it comes with a knock over cut out switch and oscillates. We simply stand it in the kitchen area set it to 19 or 20 degrees and forget about it :thumb:turns itself on and off all night long and because its a very narrow band no hot or cold temperature difference, recomend it to anyone :thumb:
Terry

 

[joner8888]

I use the inbuilt carver electric blower with outlet pipes.
It has a cut out ,quiet, the elements are built into a sealed aluminium casing to stop any fire problems---- maybe that's why they fit them as standard:thumb:

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[hilldweller]

Some info here about the various types of electric heaters which is very interesting:

Interesting sloppy inaccurate writing if you'll pardon me saying so....

>> one of two processes to heat a room, namely convection and conduction.

Wrong, he describes convection and radiation. Conduction is transfer by contact, as in an electric hob.

>> it takes little extra electricity to maintain the temperature after the initial heating.

That is nothing to do with oil filled but a function of the insulation of your room.

>> The inbuilt fan means that they need a lot of electricity to operate,

Rubbish. A fan uses little electricity. A 1000W heater churns out 1000W of heat no matter how it turns that 1000W of electricity into 1000W of heat.

I hate sloppy writing like this. It makes any valid points less obvious.

Remember 1000W is 1000W and that's how much heat you get,

What is up for debate is safety and heat spread.

A real problem in our Luton design is so much heat drifts up into the bed area, OK at night ( well not in sunny hot countries ) and the edges of the room stay cold and pipes in cupboards freeze because cupboards are near the outside and heat does not penetrate from inside. Our van has hot air routed by the water pipes so the best heat for us is the inbuilt one and that is covered by insurance.

 

[brynric]

We've gone along the same line as the Wombles. We've just bought an Eco Chico by Dimplex. It looks like an oil filled radiator but is lighter, smaller, heats up more quickly and can't leak oil.
We've not tried it in the van yet but its pretty good in the house.
Bryn

 

[WillH]

Maybe I'm missing something here but our van, like all our caravans. has blown air heating which works off gas and/or electric. I can't see the need for any auxiliary heating devices. The Truma heater in our van is very quiet and heats the van adequately, only needed the gas on a couple of occasions when it was well below freezing.

Rgds
Bill

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[DavidG58]

Maybe I'm missing something here but our van, like all our caravans. has blown air heating which works off gas and/or electric. I can't see the need for any auxiliary heating devices. The Truma heater in our van is very quiet and heats the van adequately, only needed the gas on a couple of occasions when it was well below freezing.

Rgds
Bill

I like you am blessed with electric and or gas options for heating, I presume these questions are all from folk who have only got gas heating, our last MH did not have electric heating, except water, we did use a fan heater then but mainly so as not to risk running out of gas, more than the cost of the gas

If the owners of a MH with electric heating fitted are also carrying a fan or oil filled rad there really is no hope for them, other than I see a good few heating awnings with them, but that opens a new debate

David

 

[WillH]

Don't get me started on those halogen heaters in the awnings! Very recently on a site we were amazed to see a couple arrive back to their caravan in the early evening, the heater had been on in their awning all afternoon!

Having always had gas/electric heating in my various caravans and the motorhome I wasn't aware that some only have gas heating so I understand their predicament now. In a couple of weeks I shall be placing a thermostatically controlled convector heater in the van to keep it dry though we don't get much frost here.

Rgds
Bill

 

[DavidG58]

Don't get me started on those halogen heaters in the awnings! Very recently on a site we were amazed to see a couple arrive back to their caravan in the early evening, the heater had been on in their awning all afternoon!

Having always had gas/electric heating in my various caravans and the motorhome I wasn't aware that some only have gas heating so I understand their predicament now. In a couple of weeks I shall be placing a thermostatically controlled convector heater in the van to keep it dry though we don't get much frost here.

Rgds
Bill

I use my MH heater for this, just set it to 8C let the thermostat look after it, this also keeps the heater active and sends air all round, including garage. Is there a reason why you don't?

I am a bit worried for all users of non fitted heaters regarding insurance, see Hilldwellers comments earlier

David

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