800w Oil filled heater

[PJGWiltshire]

I have just purchased an 800W Oil filled heater for use in the motorhome whilst on EHU. Over the past few years of Autumn/Winter/ Spring outings using the heating on gas: a) it uses a lot of gas when we have EHU, b)the heating system on EHU is useless.
My intention is to use the heater after I have initially got the MH up to a nice temperature with the gas heating then plug in the 800w heater for continued heating through the day/night. I have chosen such a low Watt heater as we travel in Europe and find the EHU very low Amp and thus cannot use more powerful Watt heaters.
Looking for fellow users of such heater if they find the heat output sufficient. We have a tag axle Swift Kontiki 669 which has a large area in the lounge leading down to the bedroom. Early feedback would be appreciated as i have a 14 day window to send back.

 

[Wildman]

Be aware such heaters should not be left unattended in the motorhome there are reports somewhere in the archives of them bursting into flames.

 

[DavidG58]

I would have thought an 800W heater will be pretty useless, probably more so than your on board electric heating, why don't you preheat on gas as you suggest, then revert to the built in electric heating

save humping around something else that needs storing and tying down

 

[Ed Excel]

Look at it this way. I used a 1.5kW electric fan heater (not over night) in a 6m PVC, which was just about enough. I think your van's a bit bigger.

 

[paulmold]

I've got an 800w oil radiator which we used in our Symphony and that was only just sufficient in a van 5.4m long, so I doubt it will be good enough in a tag axle. We no longer use it in the Nuevo, preferring the electric Truma heater in the van.

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[Theonlysue]

It may be worth looking at how you can keep warmer in the van.
Using good external silver screens will help. Closing all blinds and curtains, especially when not in the van. I find the roof vents let a lot of cold in.
Maybe a blanket in the footwell, to stop the draughts where the pedals are.
Good bedding and carpets or extra rugs on the floor. And a hot water bottle

 

[scotjimland]

check with your insurer, unattended portable heaters of any description are generally excluded and you use at your own risk.

 

[PJGWiltshire]

Heater will be on route back today, thanks for sharing

 

[abforfun]

We just use ours when its parked up at home, it just takes the chill off. We found it pretty useless on site. We hav a 6mtr PVC

 

[trekkin]

Will be good to keep the frost at bay, and maybe in the bathroom to dry out the towels, perhaps keep it for this if space is not too much of a premium, but will not give a lot of heat, and what it does will be localised

A fan heater with a low/high setting that stirs the air around, heating more evenly eliminating cold dead spots and reducing condensation would be my preferred option

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[RandallC]

Hi Pjgwiltshire

We have a 679 and found the same issue with the heating system, ok bedroom end bit thin by the cab.
Use a 1/1.5kW oil filed rad located in the cab between the seats generally only on 800w just to even out the temp. Also turn the blown air right down at night to avoid fan noise and leave the rad ticking over to take the chill off.

 

[Speve]

We have a 1kw fan heater that works well for us if needed but find the Truma heater works well it is the combi type and seems quite efficient gas usage not to bad our van is just over 7m Tracker

 

[BreweryDave]

We have a 500w oil rad placed in the garage under the bed, with the doors open under the bed into the van - works very well when combined with another 500w convector in the cab area. Use a further 500w fan heater in the lounge if needed to give it a boost. We full time and are on hookup all winter - never use the gas heating. Have a similar van - 8m tag - so don't be too hasty to dismiss it!

 

[simplyjimbo]

Hi PJG,
We have a 669 too, and use an oil-filled heater like the one you describe with no adverse effects, and it does keep the whole unit warm too. Ours has the over-cab bed too, so the cubic metre space is probably slightly more too.
Another thing we use when its really cold is one of the upright halogen bar light heaters with the option of having one, two or three bars illuminated. You will find it stores nicely under the bed when travelling, and gives a nice warm glow in the lounge when the lights are turned off too.
Cheers
Jim

 

[Ed Excel]

Hi Pjgwiltshire

We have a 679 and found the same issue with the heating system, ok bedroom end bit thin by the cab.
Use a 1/1.5kW oil filed rad located in the cab between the seats generally only on 800w just to even out the temp. Also turn the blown air right down at night to avoid fan noise and leave the rad ticking over to take the chill off.

Have you tried turning your cab heater to recirc, taping up the louvred vents on the cab door edges (assuming it's a Fiat) and covering the slots seat belts pass through, to stop cold air entering the cab area?

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[PJGWiltshire]

To hell with it, it was a cheap buy so give it a go next week. Perhaps I am being a bit fussy I got the low watt unit as we are traveling for a year from April and looking for something in the less warm times on locations that are liable to only supply 6amp. I have a 2000w oil heater in the conservatory that I take in the UK but normally thats OK as we get 16amp at most sites. Nice to hear from you fellow tag axles and I am sure you experience the same problems re the amount of gas it takes to keep the unit warm in our Winters using the blown system. Why use gas when paid electricity is sitting there. Jim can you tell the watt output your little heater is to keep you all snug and warm

 

[TheTwoOfUs]

We use a 1500W de Longhi unit in our 6.5M A class. We generally only have to use it on 1/2 setting, sometimes even less. We are usually on CC Club sites and as we are paying for the electric we may as well use it. In fact we have only used one bottle of 6kg gas this year.

 

[simplyjimbo]

Hi PJG,
I think ours is a 1000watt one or similar, its certainly not very big and we bought 4 of them in a bundle, for about 80 quid. As I said in my previous post, the little halogen heater is a good quick van warmer too.
Be interested to discuss other mods you may have done too, if its ok to 'pm' you?

 

[Ed Excel]

You can get an idea of the electric heater size (kW) you would need from your gas consumption. 1 litre of gas (propane) will provide 6.96 kWh Assuming your heater is 75% efficient you should get 5.22 kWh from each litre. There should be information on your heater or in its manual stating gas use. I imagine it does feel like you're consuming a lot of gas, especially when it's around zero outside.

 

[PJGWiltshire]

We have a 500w oil rad placed in the garage under the bed, with the doors open under the bed into the van - works very well when combined with another 500w convector in the cab area. Use a further 500w fan heater in the lounge if needed to give it a boost. We full time and are on hookup all winter - never use the gas heating. Have a similar van - 8m tag - so don't be too hasty to dismiss it!

You are getting value for money with the EHU, As mentioned will give it a go to see if it keeps up the room heat once the gas has booted us upto room temp. Thanks for joining in

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[Gromett]

I previously had a 1 - 2Kw portable fan heater and a small oil one. They were portable ones and I could never find anywhere to put them where I wouldn't trip over them.
Last year the fan heater developed a fault and got extremely hot and it scared me enough to get rid of it. The oil heater did chuff all to be honest.

I bought one of these last winter after a recommendation I think on here.



I have this next to the door screwed to the wall and will be properly wired in when I get time..

Without any electric heating I go through an 11Kg Gaslow fill in about 7-8 days in winter. With this the gas lasts almost 4 weeks. It keeps the van warm all by itself except on the coldest nights where I use the gas heating to top up. If I had space I would get a second one of these heaters to put at the other end of the van.

I found the oil filled radiators to be too weak and didn't react quick enough to the change in temperature. These convector heaters although lower power appear to be much much more effective at half the power rating.

 

[Scattycat]

.
But just as a point of info.
I checked last year with our van sat on our driveway.
I did the check over two similar winter periods.
1 with the gas heating on tickover and keeping the interior of our 7 m van at around 9/10 degrees and the 2nd time using a small oil filled radiator achieving the same temperature.
Given the cost of both it was less expensive running the heating on gas
But as you say, if you are already paying for mains hook up why pay extra to use gas

 

[Malcolm Bolt]

We carry 400watt oil filled radiator for use when on EHU. We tend to use ACSI sites so can be limited to 4kwh per day. Of course it is not large enough by itself but it helps and is often sufficient in spring/autumn or to keep the chill off overnight in winter.

 

[mikebeaches]

We have 2 free-standing oil-filled radiators on board in the winter - a 600-watt one and a 900-watt. We also carry a 2kw fan heater, which is normally used on 1kw if required (rather than 2kw). It gives us flexibility to juggle the power consumption subject to availability, and the fan is useful for a quick warm-up. But the oil-filled rads do a good job for background heat. We have a 6m coachbuilt van. Oh and the onboard blown-air heater runs on diesel, which is reasonably economic (although I slightly begrudge using fuel that has tax paid for on-road use).

Mike