heaters

heaters electric fan
                            any ideas on small heater suitable for a ford dueto
                                                                                                      cheers.

Hi there,

Tip number One is give a fan heater a big miss!!  The noise at night will keep you awake.

We use one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dimplex-Free-Baby-Column-Heater/dp/B002DGTMJE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406759184&sr=8-1&keywords=dimplex+chico

It acts like an oil-filled heater but it's lighter.  It's quiet, adequate enough to heat up a Duetto down to freezing outside, fits into the wardrobe when not in use and at 700 watts can be plugged in on most sites with EHU without tripping the supply.

Hope this helps.  

Best regards,
 

You can buy the oil filled ones for half that price. Heavier yes, but but heavy. To be honest, I don't find ours that good, OK for background warmth but that's all. The main advantage is safety, you can go out for the day and leave it on to keep the van warm for your return. We have a fan heater to provide some "instant warmth" when on hook-up but we don't use it when in bed. Ours is similar to this  one: http://tiny.cc/lyoujx

Frank

Hi.   

Dutto wrote:Tip number One is give a fan heater a big miss!!  The noise at night will keep you awake.

 
Couldn’t agree more.   I made that mistake on the first trip in the van.   OK for instant heat during the day (as per Frank) but that convenience means carrying two heaters.

Now we use one of these:



Expensive new but we got it for a fiver in a charity shop and it has enough power to heat the van in the coldest conditions we normally get in the UK.  At up to 4.5 amps it could (I’m told) trip some campsite supplies but so far I have never had a problem (I haven’t taken the van outside the UK).

Personally I’m not a fan of oil heaters but many people are. Have a look at this thread.

https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t10190-oil-heater-advice?highlight=oil+heater#81567

Brod

just to say thanks to all who answered my query on heaters. I have been indisposed for a while
hence the delay in thanking you all.
                                                         ken.

I use a smallish convector heater. It fits neatly in front of the back doors, which I only use first thing in the morning, makes no noise and is safe to leave on when you're out. When it's really cold (I used one at -8 at New Year) I leave it ticking over all the time on a very low setting.

Nora

I have the DeLonghi Bambino and find it very good,

Silly question I'm sure, but will ask anyway!

As the Dueto has built in heater why not use this?

[quote="StuandLin"]Silly question I'm sure, but will ask anyway!

As the Dueto has built in heater why not use this?[/quote
The built in heater uses 12v to power the fan so danger of flattening battery if not on hook up. Any fan will make a noise and could keep you awake, oil filled radiator or Bambino are totally silent.

Aha!

said it was a silly question!  

Thanks for clarifying

Oil filled no moving parts, centralised heat
Fan, moving parts, directed heat ( may be what you want, but oil filled much safer to use for winter background heating IMHO)

StuandLin wrote:Aha!

said it was a silly question!  

Thanks for clarifying

No, it wasn't a silly question, no such thing if you don't know the answer.

StuandLin wrote:Silly question I'm sure, but will ask anyway!

As the Dueto has built in heater why not use this?

Many of us use alternative heaters, both when the van is stored and in use.

One reason is to avoid constant wear and tear on the installed heater, which would much more expensive to repair or replace if it wore out prematurely whereas a stand alone one would be cheaper.

Also our installed heater had no way of controlling on/off other than manually (I have recently modified this to allow for a timer function) whereas an external unit can be operated via a plug-in timer/thermostat.

And lastly, for overnight use an oil filled radiator is usually quieter than using the in-built, especially with the fan running.

The only silly questions are the ones you don't ask, by the way! 

We used a fan heater in our Duetto and the noise wasn't a problem for either of us. I used it with a plug in thermostat which meant we could leave it on during the night. The fan heater was bought from a local caravan dealership many years ago, it was made in Ireland and initially was 500W or cold air. I realised that there was a second unused element so rewired the heater to 500W/1000W. Currently it's in the cupboard of our van but the Kemerton XL's  Combi heater on EHU at night seems adequate enough.

I've just bought a Dimplex Chico 700W to use when the van is parked on the drive to counter any damp or freezing weather. It's yet to arrive.

I would never use a fan heater, if for some reason and the fan stops could be in the night, and a fire follows, dread the thought of fire.

JMHO

Paulmold wrote:

StuandLin wrote:Silly question I'm sure, but will ask anyway!

As the Dueto has built in heater why not use this?[/quote
The built in heater uses 12v to power the fan so danger of flattening battery if not on hook up. Any fan will make a noise and could keep you awake, oil filled radiator or Bambino are totally silent.

yes, a built in heater would use 12v when not on hook up....but how would you run a Dimplex or other similar mains powerd heater in those circumstances.
it certainly wasnt a silly question and, when not on ehu, gas driven built in system would be the only option.

we use an oil heater  on low setting , over night when camping in the winter ,if not on at night, whoever is up first, usually me,  switches on the van heating before the kettle. also if we go out nice to get back to some warmth, leave oil heater on, if staying in the van, van heater used.only on EHU in the winter, summer do not need the heating.

Also when on the drive throughout the winter we have two oil heaters, one in each van, on low setting, keeps things aired for when we want to move off. This is our way of doing things, has worked for years now.

Each to their own and what works best for them.

Keep safe,

I agree with daisy mae.

Despite supposedly having safety devices built in, we have had two fan heaters catch fire over the years, one was wall mounted and dripped flaming molten plastic onto a laundry basket sitting below. Luckily we were in the house at the time and managed to deal with it before it went further but still had to redecorate most of the upper floor rooms due to smoke damage.  We would no longer use any fan heater unattended or when asleep.

We also have a DeLonghi Bambino as background heating in the van; we stand it on a tray just in case, although we've used many different sizes and makes of electric oil-filled radiators over the years and never had one leak.

We have the same model sas you Roger, can vouch how good they are.

The Dimplex Chico 700W I ordered in late October finally arrived this morning, there'd been waiting for more stock to arrive. I'm impressed by the heat output even though it's only 700W, I like too its thermostat and the frost symbol. I'll probably use in our van to keep the damp at bay over the winter months.

https://www.heatershop.co.uk/dimplex-ofrb7n

Interesting to note that the Dimplex Chico is one of the newer oil free radiators, so no danger of any leakage which is always a nagging doubt with the oil-filled ones.

Although I've never actually experienced any problem with our various models used in the van and at home, whether DeLonghi, Homebase or Tesco branded.

A fair bit lighter than most oil-filled heaters too, but they are actually quite tall - I had to cut down and recreate the base on mine to make it an inch shorter, so I could get it in the under-bed cupboard.

My only criticism of the Chico is that the thermostat is (on mine) a bit loud for overnight use! But it's something I get used to after a while...

Roopert wrote:A fair bit lighter than most oil-filled heaters too, but they are actually quite tall - I had to cut down and recreate the base on mine to make it an inch shorter, so I could get it in the under-bed cupboard.

My only criticism of the Chico is that the thermostat is (on mine) a bit loud for overnight use! But it's something I get used to after a while...

We used ours in our previous VW camper van (the only source for heat) and will probably use it when necessary in our Symbol but we have not noticed any thermostat noise so maybe it differs between manufacturing dates. We would have to store it in our wardrobe, (along with a multitude of other non-clothing type things!) due to the height but at least it is not heavy!

I used mine (and before it a Dimplex 500W greenhouse heater) in my Flair for years and it was ideal - but 700W is not enough with a typical fabric roofed pop-top! Even a 1.5kW fan heater is only just enough outside the summer season.

SENTINEL wrote:maybe it differs between manufacturing dates.

That seems likely - it's a very loud click - louder than any other t'stat I've owned. But my brain seems to have filtered that particular sound out, as it doesn't disturb me at all now.

Use a 2KW Challenge ceramic fan heater from Argos to take the chill off  the van in the morning. 1KW setting available for European sites.
Run time 10-15 minutes only and NEVER EVER leave it unsupervised.