Would the heating find it difficult to get up to temperature if the hook-up was low amp? At NY we had no probs, but this weekend at a different site, we barely made 20 degrees
Need to check the wattage of the heater. Wattage divided by volts (possibly 230v)gives you the amps used by the heater. Problems can arise if you are using everything on electric. Add up the wattage of all electrical appliances you will have on and divide by 230. Thus a 2kW heater, 125W fridge, 750W kettle, 50W TV, plus two 40W lightbulbs, totals 3005 watts, which, when divided by 230 gives you 13 amps. If you are on a low amp site then maybe use the gas for the heater and fridge and just use the LED lights otherwise you may blow the system so no heat at all!!!.
------------- If you're not on a fell your wasting your feet and for 2014 it's.......Feb Castleton Mar North Yors Moors; Apr Sutton on Sea; May Thirsk; Jun Clapham/Riverside (Lakes); July Wharfedale; August Crakehall; Sept Knaresborough; Oct Wirral Park/Clitheroe
Discounted Insurance Quotes for UKCampsite.co.uk visitors! Up to 12.5% off!
Not sure what you mean by low amp. Was it 6A, 10A or 16A. The electric element is usually 2kW max which is approx 8A. So 10A would be OK if you don't use much else.
Once the fridge and water heater are up to temperature the thermostats switches them on and off as required to maintain temperature. Once the van is up to temperature, the electric heating switches to a lower rating, say from 2kW to 1kW then to 500kW as required to maintain temperature.
Electric heating is described by manufacturers as supplemental heating only. The vans are designed to reach temperature, in cold weather on gas, which 3kW is much more powerful than electric.
Quote: Originally posted by Rizzo on 21/2/2010
Would the heating find it difficult to get up to temperature if the hook-up was low amp? At NY we had no probs, but this weekend at a different site, we barely made 20 degrees
We sometimes find even on the highest setting that on electric it does struggle sometimes. I suppose if the site was full and lots of other doing the same then there could be some voltage drop. What we sometimes do is to turn the blower off for a while and use the heater just as a convector and when its pumping out real heat we switch the blower back on.
What we tend to do when its really cold is put the heating on gas and give the caravan a blast of very hot air then just use the electric heater to maintain it.
I know it costs more in gas but saves me a lot of ear ache!!!!!!!!!
Trev.
------------- Trev and Sandy on tour in
2010 Swift Archway, Enduro mover and a baby German Shepherd
The amps available should make no difference to the heat output of you heater,a 1Kw heater will give out the same heat on a 6Amp supply or a 16Amp supply.
You said you had no problems at NY,it may be that the ambient temp was higher then but if it was a similar temperature then the most likely cause would be low volts,unless you have a faulty thermostat or some other problem.
Saxo1
Our Alde on electric uses either 1kw or 2kw. When very cold 1kw just cannot heat the van. What we do is use a 1kw fan heater plus the Alde on gas, then once warm enough we turn off the gas, and the fan heater, and run the van heating on 1kw.