we are going on our first xmas rallie at southport new year,we will be using mains hook up .can any body advise me on heaters to keep warm in the caravan?? i have a halogen heater and portable oil radiator ,are they any good ? what amps can you draw off before tripping the elecric hook up
We find fan heaters a bit noisy and you're either hot or cold and oil filled heaters are heavy. We've got a small convector heater which stands in the corner just ticking over most of the time. It's very light and has a thermostat and cutout. I think it probably came from Argos or B&Q and was only about £12.
I agree, convector heater on a thermostat if your caravan heating only runs on gas or like mine it doesn't have any! I've got a little 500w convector which is brill, but then my caravan isn't very big. In bigger ones we've used a 2Kw convector with thermostat and variable setting.
Having said that, as you already have an oil filled radiator then there's no reason why you shouldn't use it as the main heating - a few years ago in our motorhome in February when it was snowing outside we used a 700w oil radiator because I noticed a gas leak and turned the gas off completely till I could get it looked at. It was warm enough for us.
Most sites' EHUs are 10 or 16 amp so unless you are sharing an EHU or on a site with an unusually low amperage, you won't trip the leccy unless you try to put the leccy kettle or George Forman on at the same time as the heating. Even a 10 amp will give you 2300 watts so plenty for a 2Kw heater lights and fridge at same time.
------------- Caz
If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, just keep going till you go round the bend.
we also use an 800w oil filled radiator...quite and keeps the campervan lovely and warm....at the mo in 'Wilkinson's' they are selling the one i have for about a tenner....
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Lord Scratcher and Lady Jayne
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You tried your best
and failed MISERABLY.
The lesson is : NEVER TRY .
Quote: Originally posted by reedrider on 20/11/2007
We have one of these we use it in the awning did last year minus 9 and we were still sitting in Tshirts
I used to have a diesel fired one in the garage. The fumes from the diesel one would make your eyes hurt and the noise was deafening. I imagine the propane one is a little quieter as it has no fuel pump, but would probably pump a lot of moisture into the atmosphere, not to mention carbon monoxide. The diesel ones would also throw sparks out when the fuel gets low, which would be a potential disaster in an awning.
We have a convector heater for inside the van and it's as good as silent and up until now we have always used a fan heater in the awning as it heats it up quicker when the zip has been opened, we have just bought a small oil filled radiator like this one that is only a 1000 watts for our daughter to use in her annexe.
Most people say as a rule of thumb no more than 2kw should be used but we regurlarly use 3kw at a time but only if the sites hook ups are 16amps, 10amps would be less.