Electric fan heater
Hi everyone,
I'm thinking of purchasing a electric fan heater: like this one in the link below:
Is this safe to use over night in the motorhome? Instead of leaving the gas central heating on over night? (Also thinking about it being more economical using the sites electricity rather than our own gas supply)
Nick.
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Looks a bit of a beast. If you get a fan heater then you really need one that has lower power settings in addition to 3kw. No idea whether the one that you link to has. I would have thought that most of the time you would want to use one on a 2kw setting. Having a 1kw setting as well is not a bad idea. I have used one in the past with a 1kw and 2kw setting. No reason why you should not run at night unless the fan disturbs you. I don;t think that I would opt for an industrial one personally as it looks ugly but each to their own.
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We have a fan heater in the van as a back up just in case the heating fails, its not big but boy does it kick out the heat. It has a 2kw and 1kw setting, it also blows out cold air if so required. I've never used it overnight as I can stand the noise of the fan (light sleeper) but I see no reason not to do so. There are lots of fan heater on sale just now most around £15 - £20.
When we had a caravan we used a small oil filled 800w radiator overnight as I felt the blow air heating was very drying, and I didn't like the noise.
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At the beginning and end of the season I take a 2Kw/1Kw Fan heater as back-up and also a booster when we return to a cold van if it is particularly cold.
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I think you might roast alive with that 3kw heater - convection heaters are very useful and quiet too. I have a small ceramic fan but I haven't bothered to use it for ages the old truma heater is enough for me with a blast on the gas setting if its very cold.
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I am not convinced the linked to model would be suitable for a caravan/motorhome. It is sold as a commercial product and as such is likely meant to be used on a solid floor not a lino/carpeted floor of caravan/motorhome so there could be safety issues. Whilst I can understand using a small fan heater to boost the output of the existing heating why would you use overnight, the one mentioned is likely to be quite noisy. A convector or oil filled radiator would be a better alternative.
David
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It would also depend on what the plug circuit in you MH will take. You seem to imply it only has gas heating fitted, so might be a fair age. Our previous caravan ( 2005) had a plug circuit fused at 10 amps. So would have tripped if you put a 3kw fan heater on it. The current one ( 2013 ) will take 3kw.
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Gforce, a lot of MH users have gone down the small oil filled radiator route as mentioned by TG. They are only small, ours fits snugly behind passenger seat when not in use. Choice of 1 or 2 KW setting and a thermostat. A bit safer than a fan and no noise. Gives a comfortable ambient warmth that doesn't dry the atmosphere overnight, and handy for heating the cab cold spot in the day. Ours was under £20 from Dunhelm, second most useful item we bought for MH. First was Silver Screens!
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We have an Outwell Fan Heater which we have had good use out of and have been really pleased with. Unfortunately, I don't think they are available any more. you may pick up one on Preloved or Ebay. We still use ours from time to time, but very rarely take it with us in the caravan these days, now we have Alde heating, which, incidentally, we only tend to use on electric.
David
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We always carry a small fan heater as a back up David. Never know when a heating system might fail. We were glad of it early April 2016. Put the Alde on and realised that the heating had stopped working as the bathroom radiator was cold. Took a while to figure out the problem. At the service just prior somebody must have been checking the system and the system was set to go off at certain times (boat setting ??) did a reset on control panel and all OK except running on gas and soon sorted. Always good to have a back up in the colder months.
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Never thought of the system failing!! We've just been trying to re-clutter the van a little to save on weight. We tend to just take the fan heater when we very occasionally go with a group of people - for the evening get together in the awning. I don't usually like using a heater in the awning, and don't usually do it, except on these 'group' occasions. It's not really that economical, but the awning does keep in some heat providing to keep the heater going.
Perhaps I need to re-think and put the heater back in the van permanently?
David
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We also have Alde heating, ours did actually fail last September while at York Beechwood. Turned out that a component on the main circuit board had failed, we had to get an Alde repair man out and he soon tracked down the problem.
Nobody actually repairs anything these days so a new board was fitted, an expensive repair (over £200) for the failure of a component costing only a few pence. I have the old board and will repair it to keep as a spare.
So yes, we were very glad of our back up fan heater!
Using site facilities is OK for showering, dishwashing etc, but lack of space heating could ruin a trip.
Other spares we carry are a decent battery charger that could run the van if required, and a water pump, plus the usual bulbs, fuses and washers, and a good tool kit.
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Why not use the van heater on electric only?
We carry a fan heater very like this just in case. Can't remember when it was last used.
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Indeed. More to carry Husky, however not heavy and if one has the room then it can be something to be grateful for if your heating fails in a cold part of the year. When away in Scotland this year we had warm sun, rain, calm, wind, snow all in the same afternoon. If the heating had failed when we were 500+ miles from home we would have been pleased that we had carried it.
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Hi , we keep a fan heater in the van , when on electric hook up and when its particularly cold use it for a quick warm up, its 2kw and cost about 15 quid , and works a treat .
However even on the the coldest night we prefer no heating , have left the main heater on very low a couple of times , however wake up only to turn it off , some campers fill the cold more than others so , its what suits you sir ....
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When I was younger my wife, family and I would be happy without heating at night and we usually caravanned from some time in March up to the end of October. There was often a sharp frost. Mind you at that tome the only heating was from the gas mantles
Nowadays we keep heating on low. It comes on very little as a rule but I have no doubt that I was pleased to have it when away with daytime temperatures at or below zero and minus 14C at night. Far more onboard water pipes these days as well!
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The fan looks wrong to me. I would go for a small convection heater if I had to although you could in most cases just use the vans central heating on electricity if you have the option. Do check your insurance though as it might exclude fire caused by a non standard heater.
The heater looks unsafe to me for the tight confines of most motorhomes. The advert does suggest it is for use in garages and warehouses not confined spaces.
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Thanks for all the replies, I went away last weekend in the MH, used the gas central heating during the day, oil filled radiator over night and a electric fan heater just before we went to bed - was lovely and warm - the gas central heating is fantastic - from reading the manual it has a thermostat which keeps the MH at an ambient temperature - to be honest I would love to have the confidence to leave the gas central heating on on over night as it really kept the MH very cosy - I don't have the option of switching the central heating over to electric - I have just got a carbon monoxide alarm - would any of you leave the gas central heating on over night? Or do any of you do that already?
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This is really bugging me :-)
How would I know if the boiler (traumatic) runs off electricity? There is only one dial to use to adjust the temperature and water temp, there is no switch over button (that I'm aware of),
any suggestions/ advice would be greatly appreciated,
Nick.
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My Trumatics have all had an electric dial - somewhere in the wall - one was in a rotten place under the bed - and all have the 0 at 3.15(on a clock face) - below that is 500w and below that 1 kw. Above the 0 is 2 kw. On the actual heater the gas control - a little window low right shows the pilot light and gas is ignited by the large dial on top right being turned all the way to maximum and holding it down for a little while - then turning back to somewhere like 3 or 4. But yours may be different! The left hand dial on top of the heater turns on the blown air system etc. I have almost never moved off the 500 w setting except in extreme cold. Gas will heat up much more quickly but obviously will use some juice!
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