Gas heating overnight

Evening all, 

I'm planning on still using the harmony over winter and sometimes wont be on hookup. Heating on electric is never a problem obviously but I was wondering if any of the van conversions users out there used the gas blown heating system over night? I have a monoxide detector in the van (electric one like a smoke alarm) Now my guess is i should be perfectly fine as its a van conversion and these heaters are designed to be used in the vans they are fitted in but has anyone had any dodgy experiences with them I should be aware of before using the gas heating over night? Only ever had combi gas/electric in the caravans and always used the electric option over night so naturally I'm a little cautions, after all we don't want to wake up dead or worse  

Neil

Leaving the gas out of the equation, your fan for the heater runs off your battery and that uses 1.2amps per hour on low speed so its going to be very depleted by morning.

Thanks paul, I was only planning on it being for 1 night stops so potentially that's not too much of a problem, I'm more worried about things like the flame blowing out overnight or gas bottle getting low :-S

Gas heaters overnight are no problem, its what they are designed for. They all have flame failure devices so should the flame go out then the gas will automatically close down. They are externally vented so no fume problems, but just be careful - smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are always a wise precaution.

Hi there,

We regularly use the blown-air gas heater.

The design of the heater is such that the gases being burned are NEVER in contact with the air being circulated round the van so carbon monoxide migrating into the van is impossible.

As pointed out, the fan depletes the battery so we generally only use it in the evening, to give the temperature a kick before we undress and in the morning to heat up the van enough to put our clothes on; the rest of the night being spent underneath some very warm and substantial sleeping bags!!

Apart from the battery situation it is also essential at this time of year to have propane gas rather than butane gas.

At the moment we are on butane but, as we are sat in the south of France, we don't expect the temperature to drop much below 6 degrees so the butane should still function okay.  However, when we head off to come home it will be a calculated "dash" if we can see temperatures below 4 degrees!!

With regard to using an electric heater when on EHU;  if you ever travel down to the Mediterranean in winter you may need the gas blown-air heater and the gas water heater even on EHU.

On two sites in Italy our Dimplex Chico heater and the Water Heater both individually tripped the EHU!  

Hope this helps.  

Best regards,

When we used our Duetto in the winter I was in the habit of putting sausages in the oven on waking up then getting back under the covers for 15 mins before venturing out again to finish making breakfast etc.

Peter

Many thanks for the replies folks, this is the first unit I have had with the propex box style heating units as all the caravans I have had have the more conventional heater and blower systems so was unsure about how they vented, as for the bottle type I only ever use the propane as I know how badly butane works in low temps, sounds like I should be fine n dandy for a 1 night no hookup without freezing lol, as for the sausages peter that's a great idea if they had only of fitted ovens in the Harmony models lol

If I was using the blown air overnight I'd probably want to give my leisure battery the best chance of coping by making sure that it started the night with the best possible level of charge.

I'd use less lighting (or LEDs if you have them) and try to restrict use of the water pump, TV and so on.

Giving the leisure battery a kick by running the engine for ten minutes would also help if you're concerned about charge level.

Do you have a leisure battery voltage monitor to check before going to bed?

We have had two Duettos, the first was on a MK5 Transit and that had the gas heater, the second (our current van) is on a MK7 Transit and has a diesel heater.

The gas heater was perfectly OK and safe to use unsupervised over night, the main problem being that the Duetto's gas locker could only take two 3.9 kg gas bottles and if we were on an extended trip, these would soon run out in cold weather. The battery was not so much of an issue as even a modest run the next day would recharge it.

The diesel heater in the MK7 has the inverse problem. The big potential problem here is the battery consumption, fuel is normally not an issue; if you have fuel for the van, you have fuel for the heater.

Have used mine for a couple of overnights without any problems. Never thought about the fan drawing current from the battery!

Only one drawback...........couldn't help listenening to the fan 'kicking' in all through the night!!

PB

peugeotboxer wrote:Have used mine for a couple of overnights without any problems. Never thought about the fan drawing current from the battery!

Only one drawback...........couldn't help listenening to the fan 'kicking' in all through the night!!

PB

Not as irritating as when the fan speed controller excites a resonance rattle in the heater metalwork, just at the speed that it settles on to maintain the temperature through the whole bloomin' night. 

I'm not sure if the van conversions are inherently much colder than the coachbuilts but when we leave our heater on overnight, (only on electric up to now) we don't bother with the fan, just leave the heater on with the thermostat on about number 5, which keeps the van at around 16 degrees, which is plenty while sleeping, and then whack it up when we wake.
Just wondering why you can't keep the gas fire on low without the fan, or is it a different system (that is, not the Truma gas/electric heating).

nuevoboy wrote:I'm not sure if the van conversions are inherently much colder than the coachbuilts but when we leave our heater on overnight, (only on electric up to now) we don't bother with the fan, just leave the heater on with the thermostat on about number 5, which keeps the van at around 16 degrees, which is plenty while sleeping, and then whack it up when we wake.
Just wondering why you can't keep the gas fire on low without the fan, or is it a different system (that is, not the Truma gas/electric heating).

Different system

PB

nuevoboy wrote:I'm not sure if the van conversions are inherently much colder than the coachbuilts but when we leave our heater on overnight, (only on electric up to now) we don't bother with the fan, just leave the heater on with the thermostat on about number 5, which keeps the van at around 16 degrees, which is plenty while sleeping, and then whack it up when we wake.
Just wondering why you can't keep the gas fire on low without the fan, or is it a different system (that is, not the Truma gas/electric heating).

The van conversions don't have what you might refer to as a 'fire', they have a box which has a burner inside and a fan blows the heat out through ducts. Various makes of heater - Propex, Carver P4, or Truma (same idea but I don't think AS used the Truma version) such as these...

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you can see the stupid prices these fetch even second-hand.

Get yourself a onsesie, a winter sleeping bag and a duvet. You won't need any heating.

Like rose49f I don't use heating at night,I just like a cozy bed, if really cold a good old fashioned water bottle is hard to beat, then fire up the heater and put t'kettle on when you wake up,
Colin

rose49f wrote:Get yourself a onsesie, a winter sleeping bag and a duvet. You won't need any heating.

Not the dreaded onesie!!!!

We use sleeping bags,  38oz ones in warmer weather and 44oz ones in winter. Looking at buying new ones I noticed that apart from the mummy type that serious campers use, the square type for caravans/motorhomes are now available in 50oz and 60oz! Have we become a nation of wimps.

Otto wrote:Like rose49f I don't use heating at night,I just like a cozy bed, if really cold a good old fashioned water bottle is hard to beat, then fire up the heater and put t'kettle on when you wake up,
Colin

Hi there,

Me too!  I have one of these to keep me snug and warm ......

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.... we also have ONE hot-water bottle which causes the odd argument.

I bought it as a present for Helen and was told "If it ever gets cold enough to use that I will want to go home."  

It has.  She hasn't.  I've shivered!  

"I love crawling into a freezing cold bed and slowly warming up until feeling snug." I once said to friends; and my good lady pointed out that, as she went to bed at least an hour before me, it hadn't happened for nearly thirty years!!   

Dontcha just love 'em!!   

Best regards,
 
Ian

OK, thanks for putting me right folks.

Incidentally, one of the reasons we're finding it hard to choose a possible replacement 'van is that they all seem to have these dreaded blown air systems, rather than the fire.

Blown air heating does tend to wake me up, but it is a more compact unit than a fire, and you can't burn yourself on it.  I think AS have designed the vans so that you can stop for a couple of nights, use the heater, the lighting and water without running out of anything.  The leisure battery is 66 ampere hours I think, so it could run the heater for about 50 hours continuously, it shouldn't need to run continuously though, unless the doors are open.

well folks I tried it last night and thankfully I have lovely snug sleeping bags as it would seem I left it on too low to be of much use but still plenty of power left today although I don't think I would risk it for more than one or two nights as I did notice one of my LED lights flickered when I used the cooker ignition for me morning brew so i'm guessing its drained the battery a fair bit but I'm still alive and didn't get hypothermia lol

I've used the gas heating on overnight a few times without any real issues apart from needing to turn it down. In the summer, the solar panel recharges but that is when you don't normally need the heating!