Off-grid heating question (1 Viewer)

[DBK]

What do others do when camping off-grid (no EHU) in weather conditions where it rarely gets above 0 degrees (like now) and need to use the heating system? If I don't use the frost stat protection feature the water could potentially freeze overnight or even during the day. If I use the frost stat, the diesel heater will fire up when needed to heat the water. Problem with this is that the heating system is under one of the lounge sofa's, which makes up half the bed, so I'm pretty sure the noise from the heater's exhaust and the constant trickling of water would keep me awake most of the night.
Do most of you use gas-fired heating systems, or just not bother going away in cold / freezing weather?

We use our diesel heater when necessary. You get used to the noise, such as it is. Check your heater has silencers on both air inlet and exhaust.

 

[Soycd]

A decent diesel heater is only really noisy at startup. We have had Webasto and Eberspacher in the past and if its winter tended to leave them on and just adjust the thermostat. Next van will have LPG heating so will be interesting to see the difference.

 

[Gromett]

My diesel heater is right under the head of my bed, the vent is right next to the corner of the head of the bed. Even last night with it on the 3rd settings from the the lowest I wasn't bothered by the noise.

Outside it is not that noisy even on 3rd setting. on lowest setting where it stays most of the time you can barely hear it. This is with the cheap included silencer. I have a £10 decent silencer to install when I get time and that halves the sound levels.

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[Raul]

I use two Chinese silencers in line with a 10” copper pipe joining them, 22mm fits snug on silencers. My Chinese diesel heater it is much quieter than the propex gas heater.

 

[Soycd]

I use two Chinese silencers

Sounds like members of the Chinese secret service!

 

[Billy192]

What do others do when camping off-grid (no EHU) in weather conditions where it rarely gets above 0 degrees (like now) and need to use the heating system? If I don't use the frost stat protection feature the water could potentially freeze overnight or even during the day. If I use the frost stat, the diesel heater will fire up when needed to heat the water. Problem with this is that the heating system is under one of the lounge sofa's, which makes up half the bed, so I'm pretty sure the noise from the heater's exhaust and the constant trickling of water would keep me awake most of the night.
Do most of you use gas-fired heating systems, or just not bother going away in cold / freezing weather?

when i an not on EHU i use an inverter to feed in to the van, truma water on lec1 and if need a bit of heat with gas. as we tend to move every 4-5 days leisure batt gets topped up along with the solar

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[greyowl989]

Off topic - but I can’t delete this - sorry

On the general question of how well insulated various vans are - I wonder if anyone has actually measured this ?

Anecdotally, we had a Carthago T47 for 16 years then a panel van ( Wildax ). They are probably wildly different but since I am vague about what power we used in the Alde when out with temps well below zero, the PVC doesn’t seem too bad ( so far ) though we have yet to venture out in the depths of winter.
In use for normal ( what’s that ? ) uk weather when it’s not freezing, I suspect that we will probably notice more of a difference in hot weather - the carthago’s insulation seemed to hold off the worst of the heat with the relative thick roof and wall insulation.
We’ll see - really don’t want to shell out for a roof air con ( and more potential leaks )

 

[garry55]

Thanks for all your input
The heating performed faultlessly, but I didn't leave it switched on overnight - just set it on the alarm function to cut in at 07:30. Hab was nice and toasty when I got up at 08:00.
Another bonus was the distinct lack of condensation on the cab windows - as in zilch - thanks to the addition of my newly acquired external thermal blanket. Only downside being that in the gale force wind that sprang up late on Weds night, I had to get dressed and go outside at 02:20am to remove it as it was only being held on by the 2 corner door attachments - the rest of it was on the roof!

 

[dunnah01]

Thanks for all your input
The heating performed faultlessly, but I didn't leave it switched on overnight - just set it on the alarm function to cut in at 07:30. Hab was nice and toasty when I got up at 08:00.
Another bonus was the distinct lack of condensation on the cab windows - as in zilch - thanks to the addition of my newly acquired external thermal blanket. Only downside being that in the gale force wind that sprang up late on Weds night, I had to get dressed and go outside at 02:20am to remove it as it was only being held on by the 2 corner door attachments - the rest of it was on the roof!

I use a bungy chord from the mirror to the door jamb to hold it in place in the wind

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[garry55]

I use a bungy chord from the mirror to the door jamb to hold it in place in the wind

The fault lies with the inadequate Velcro straps that "secure" the blanket underneath the mirrors. The Velcro straps on the windy side let go and the wind got in between the blanket and the windscreen - the wipers then had no chance of retaining the blanket! I'm going to modify it by fitting a riveted eyelet into each piece of Velcro and then securing the two halves with a re-usable zip tie.

 

[Otter Spotter]

Thanks for all your input
The heating performed faultlessly, but I didn't leave it switched on overnight - just set it on the alarm function to cut in at 07:30. Hab was nice and toasty when I got up at 08:00.
Another bonus was the distinct lack of condensation on the cab windows - as in zilch - thanks to the addition of my newly acquired external thermal blanket. Only downside being that in the gale force wind that sprang up late on Weds night, I had to get dressed and go outside at 02:20am to remove it as it was only being held on by the 2 corner door attachments - the rest of it was on the roof!

If you can stitch 2 straps at the bottom of the bonnet section and attach hooks to hook into the grill . This holds the front bottom section down and helps to stop wind getting underneath and lifting the screen up and away

 

[garry55]

If you can stitch 2 straps at the bottom of the bonnet section and attach hooks to hook into the grill . This holds the front bottom section down and helps to stop wind getting underneath and lifting the screen up and away

See my post above

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[Otter Spotter]

See my post above

Done that too I have the screen that extends down over the bonnet grills and the extra flap used to catch the wind hence the new straps.

 

[garry55]

Done that too I have the screen that extends down over the bonnet grills and the extra flap used to catch the wind hence the new straps.

My blanket only extends to just below the lower windscreen seal.