Winter Heating

[lewiswilliams1]

This is our first winter with the caravan and we have a few trips planned in November and December. Our unit is fitted with Gas and electric blow central heating. Both work very well at keeping the van warm but is it safe to leave on over night whilst we are asleep? I was thinking of using the Gas heater as the elec blow heater is a little noisy. Up tp now he have not needed heating throughout the night but now its getting a little colder and frosty i thik we are going to need it.

 

[Shirker]

I would assume both are fine, but personally I'd go with electric over night that way no chance of a CO build-up. Just eliminates the 'what if' from the gas question.

 

[lewiswilliams1]

Ok. Am i correct in thinking i can only have the electric heater part turned on along with the blower? The reason i ask is because it is the blower that is noisy. I have had the Gas heater on without the blower and that does the trick.

cheers

 

[David_L]

I have purchased a low wattage oil filled radiator which keeps the van warm but not too hot.
This does away with any problem of noise and CO. we use it at night and the other heating daytime if reqired.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

You can turn the blower speed down on the top of the Truma fire with the control around the blower switch
You can also use the fire without the blower as they used to be standard without and the blower was an extra
There should be no CO danger on gas unless the heater casing is badly damaged (unlikely) as its a sealed heat exchanger with combustion products going outside via the flu

 

[Damian]

With both fuel sources, gas and electric, it is OK to use with or without the fan running, but of course the heat will not be distributed through the van ducting to the extremities.

To try and put to rest the notion that there is something dangerous with leaving the gas on all night, the gas fire is totally room sealed, it draws its combustion air in from under the van, and disposes of the exhaust either below the van for older vans or through the roof on newer vans.
With a properly serviced and checked fire there is no chance of CO build up within the van.

Also, using gas as the fuel source does not produce moisture as the flame is totally isolated from the inside of the van and the heat is produced via the heat exchanger .

 

[Beehpee]

Maybe a CO alarm would put your mind at rest and probably wouldn't hurt to have even if not using the fire on gas during the night, not expensive and you will sleep better.

 

[Shirker]

To try and put to rest the notion that there is something dangerous with leaving the gas on all night, the gas fire is totally room sealed, it draws its combustion air in from under the van, and disposes of the exhaust either below the van for older vans or through the roof on newer vans.
With a properly serviced and checked fire there is no chance of CO build up within the van.
Also, using gas as the fuel source does not produce moisture as the flame is totally isolated from the inside of the van and the heat is produced via the heat exchanger .

That's not strictly true. There can never be 'no' chance of CO associated with a gas fire in a van, there can be 'very remote' chance of it but never an absolute 'no'.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Shirker,

I must refere you to Damians second paragrapgh.

There is absolutely no doubt that CO is a very serious issue and the use of gas appliances should be carried out with a conscious regard for the potential dangers, BUT exactly the same must apply to the use of mains electrical devices and the risk of electric shock.

The construction standards that apply to gas and electrical appliances for touring caravans and motor homes seek to ensure the products are designed to be safe to use and present no practical danger to the caravanner. These include the products resistance to certain types of abuse. Specifically with regards to space heating in caravans gas appliances have to be room sealed, which ensures the gas and flue products are segregated from the living space.

The same overriding care has to be used when installing or using gas or electrical appliances, and that includes the important aspect of timely service/maintenance to keep the products working correctly.

I venture to suggest that bias against the use of a gas heater on the grounds of potential danger is unfounded, as electric heating also has potential dangers, all of which are controlled by proper design, correct installation and use, and timely maintenance.

 

[JamesH]

My first thought is, when on a site with EHU, why use gas for heating when you have paid for the electric?
I initially bought a small oil filled radiator but it was quite heavy so replaced it with a convector heater which has three power settings, the lowest of which is 750W = 3A. It also has a thermostatic control and of course it runs silently.
To overcome the problem of VERY cold nights I have installed tubular heaters under the front seats. These heaters are available in sizes from one foot long up to (I think) six feet long. They are all rated at 60W per foot. I have fitted one three foot long heater under each seat and find this does the job. The power taken is ¾W each.

 

[RogerL]

Surely no-one chooses to use gas heating if they're on an electric hook-up? It would have to be incredibly cold to warrant using both gas and electric at the same time, as you can with the Truma.
The Truma can be used on electric overnight with fan set to minimum or even off.
Even in windy conditions I find the 2000w electric setting can maintain a 20 degree C differential between inside and ambient, proportionally less for the 1000w and 500w settings but substantially more in still air conditions. We have coped quite adequately with -12 C overnight on electric alone, in fact the gas feature of our room heater, water heater and fridge only get switched on once a year during service to check they still work!

 

[WatsonJohnG]

We often use the gas heater as it gets the van up to temp a lot quicker than gas and then we switch to electric

 

[lewiswilliams1]

Thank you for the replies. I didn’t know I could use the electric part of the heating without the blower turned on. I will give that a try. The main reason for asking about gas is because I know I can use that just as a heater rather than with the blower. It’s the blower that is noisy that all.

Cheers all.

 

[JamesH]

Sorry, last line should read - The power taken is ¾A each.

 

[Surfer]

When we were living in our caravan, we mainly used electric but when the site started charging for electric we switched to having gas. No issues arsoe.

 

[Beachball]

Hi just say we brought a electric 500 watt heater it came with a 24hour timer clock and you can control it either low /medium/ high/ setting it has been fitted on the wardrobe side near the door and what a great buy for £50 ( Levante Heater ) it keeps us very warm indeed .

 

[Mike_S]

Can I remind forum members there was an excellent article (written by me of course!!) in the February edition of the magazine giving details of installing a programmer to control the electric "side" of a Truma space heater. I would be happy for the moderators to give out my email address if anyone want a copy.
Mike

 

[chrisbee1]

Hi Mike, I fitted a timer after reading the article and what a boon it is! I set it to turn the heating on at 500w an hour before Mrs Chrisbee kicks me out of bed to make the early morning cuppa. It takes the chill out of the air nicely.

 

[RogerL]

Hi Mike, I fitted a timer after reading the article and what a boon it is! I set it to turn the heating on at 500w an hour before Mrs Chrisbee kicks me out of bed to make the early morning cuppa. It takes the chill out of the air nicely.

I just leave mine on 500w all night with the thermostat set to 16C - fancy timers are ok until the one time when you want to get up a 5am to catch the tide and forget to alter the timer.

 

[Dustydog]

We often use the gas heater as it gets the van up to temp a lot quicker than gas and then we switch to electric

It was -10 deg C at Carnon Downs last Christmas. John's method is the only quick way to get plenty of heat into the caravan . We found 30 mins on full gas and electric combined was sufficient for a decent warm temperature and thereafter just keep the electric on blown warm air.

 

[Steve L]

We use electric overnight for our heating, but having said that we have only needed it twice so far in october. Personally I wouldn't risk gas on overnight as we have a 40Kg chocolate lab who sleeps in the van, and when he wants to go out, he will jig around and drop a shoe to let us know what he wants.

One important thing is to take the front panel off your fire and vaccum up the dust and in our case hairs that get behind the gas heater module. Taking the frony off the fire is quite simple to do. They either pull straight or lift up as a guide. Then there are the electrics and the temperature control rod to disconnect. Most caravan hand books will detail this proceedure. I removed about 2 hand fulls of dog hair from the fire in our van.

I can't emphasise enough though that, you must have both a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide detector fitted in the van and both should have their batteries renewed at least annually. I change mine every 6 months as we are fulltiming at present.

Trust me there's nothing worse than singed hair smells, and also you are avoiding a possible fire risk

 

[ProfJohnL]

Sound advice Steve,
I recall from my servicing days the number of times we were called to look at a heater beacuse it 'didn't blow', and the main cause was the incredible build up of dust and hairs both around the base of heaters but also in the fan units. Impellers that were almost totally occluded with dust and hair.

It is also very sensible advice to have WORKING smoke and CO detectors, these can be life savers, thouh i have to say the greatest risks are from cigarettes, teh cooker hob and the oven, both of which have 'open' flames and do use air from the living space and vent exhausts direcetly into them.