propane heaters

[TWHuntFish]

http://www.dickinsonmarine.com/products.html


I had the solid fuel heater in my 1st Callen, ( full stand up headroom ). It loved a combination of 2"x2" oak & doug fir , with the odd kingsford briquette thrown in.

I have always used a smoke detector in my boats and campers.
Home Depot just had a sale on Kiddee smoke & CO detectors. I bought one for my current Callen shell and it works very well, set it off with errant smoke from the campfire wafting into the camper.

If you camp in wet weather, the dry heat of a solid fuel stove is awesome.

The diesel stoves do emit a diesel smell, the propane versions are really nice,
vented exhaust, little flame window for aesthetics.

What ever heater you choose, spend the $30 for a combo detector, and crack the windows / vents.

[LaOutbackTrail]

So, whats a more reasonably priced product for us real folk?

[Martyn]

So, whats a more reasonably priced product for us real folk?

Well I'm a big fan of the open fire in a fire pit myself.

[LaOutbackTrail]

Well I'm a big fan of the open fire in a fire pit myself.

I've been trying the hot rock idea.... but burned my tent, whoops.

[Martyn]

I've been trying the hot rock idea.... but burned my tent, whoops.

I also have a hot water bottles, one has a pink fleece cover and the other a blue fleece cover. We fight over who gets the pink one

[charlieaarons]

Propane is consumed quickly for space and water heating.
Much more slowly for cooking, about 1 lb every
2 weeks. It's an especially big hassle
overseas.
I'd recommend a Webasto 5kw diesel heater
for space and water heating.

Charlie

[benjamin]

So, whats a more reasonably priced product for us real folk?

This is what I'm looking at for my camper.............

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Atwoo...Q5fAccessories

[Bogo]

I know the units are expensive but when you are dealing with gas, open flame, and heat it's not worth messing around with. You'd be better off with either a really good sleeping bag or a walled tent with a wood burning stove rather than making your own.

Why not a wood stove for your camper? http://www.dickinsonmarine.com/solid.html OK, so they are designed for a boat, but I have seen a couple in live aboard buses. It is a small heater/fireplace that can burn charcoal, wood, or coal. They are small, but do require a bit of space around them. I also see the price has gone up a bit in the past few years. Back when I was thinking of making a live aboard bus I was going to have fancier ones up front and in the master bedroom with backup diesel boiler heat.

Edit: I see I'm not the only one to mention the Dickinson heaters. PS, other manufactures also make them.

If you aren't worried about water supplies, etc., you could use 12VDC electric bunk pads. http://www.electrowarmth.com/fleet.php 36" x 60" in size. They used to have other sizes. To use them I'd have a dedicated house battery bank that is isolated from the starting battery. I figured they would be part of the the first "heating system" in my Micro RV design. The other part is an engine coolant heater for the back. Basically an electric fan with a heater core plumed into the engine coolant system. For the type of trips I do now this works as I usually am driving every day just before camping for the night. Heat the back up as I drive. Later I'd install a gas fired forced air heater. Espar makes one that will run off of petrol, and a number of makers make diesel fired ones.

[Bogo]

So, whats a more reasonably priced product for us real folk?

There is always this one...
http://www.atomicheater.com/

it uses the core heater form a Coleman catalytic tent heater and puts a box around it to use external combustion air and vent the combustion gases outside. Of course it only puts out 1,500 or 3,000 BTUs depending on which Coleman heater you use as it's core.

I have one of the Coleman heaters it can use. It would be simple to make a "case" that it could be mounted into that would provide the same function. An issue would be extracting to much heat out of the exhaust air so that it condenses the water out. On the other hand you could design for that and make it that much more efficient.

[dwh]

This is what I'm looking at for my camper.............

My camper (bubble top van conversion) has the older 12k version of this:

http://www.rvsupplywarehouse.com/pro...d/199/pid/1935

It's fine for a weekend, but for longer than that it sucks. It draws down the aux battery fast and will run through the built-in 5g propane tank pretty quick.

Puts out a ton of heat though...but I never use it.

You can do the math - a gallon of propane has 91,000 btu so a 5g tank will last 38 hours running a 12k btu heater.

Probably going to end up replacing it with the small Propex 2000 (6,500 btu).

That Propex in a toolbox is a neat trick.