Heating motorhome
Hi I need some advice please.
I am new to the world of motorhomes. I have just got one to be able to have holidays with my disabled daughter. I would like to be able to use it in the winter but am terrified of anything going wrong with the heating, we only have gas heating which uses gas very fast, should it run out or break down it would be very dangerous for my daughter as she gets very cold very quickly and is not mobile.
I am only looking at staying on sites with hook up during the winter and wonder if anyone could advise me on a back up heating system, such as oil filled heaters. I do not know how powerful a heater I could run from a hook up. I have a gas hob and no oven and do not use any electricity other than a fridge and lights, no telly or anything.
If anyone could advise how many KW of heater I would be able to use I would be very grateful.
Very many thanks
Jess
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We carry a backup 2.5kw blown air heater just in case but it's never been needed! It can be used on 1kw or 2.5kw settings but is a little noisy as it is thermostatically controlled and turns itself on and off as demands. The colder the more frequent mind!
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We carry a thermostatic electric fan heater as back up. It is rated at either 1 or 2 kw and is adequate to keep our 5.5 metre internal length caravan warm.
What motorhome do you have?
If I was staying on EHU I would consider an oil filled radiator if sufficient space with can heater for quick heat up.
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Thank you both.
We have a 7m Benimar called "Freda the Freedom Fiat" because we had not been able to have a holiday for 6 years before we got the motorhome!
So from the sounds of it 2.5kw of power is ok to use on a hook up? I know there is a limit and I really was not sure what the limit is.
Thank you both once again,
Jess
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Unless you like it or need it particularly warm you may find that it is warm enough in the van with a fan heater just on the 1kw setting. Our van is 6.4m and 1kw keeps it really cosy, in fact we have to keep switching it off to let it cool down a bit......
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all the above is good advice and will satisfy your 'back up' requirements, but, as you have gas as your primary system (which will be far better to heat the van from cold) it would be good if you can make this work better (and cheaper) for you...
i dont know what size gas locker you have and the size (and number) of bottles you can carry, obviously buying the largest that will fit will give you the cheapest bottled price.
however, if you are going to be using the van in winter, and gas is your primary heating fuel, i would think carefully about getting a refillable system ( where you can get your gas at a pump at approx a quarter of the price of a std 6kg exchange.
yes, this will cost you around £300 for a single bottle 11kg system from a supplier like Outdoor Bits of Exmouth, which sounds a lot, but is also usable overseas (with a filling adaptor) whereas your Calor bottles cant be exchanged except in the uk.
good luck, please come back of you need any more advice on this.
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To further allay fears the caravan we were in 7 years ago had blown air heating which kept the caravan at over 20c when temperatures overnight for a week were down to -14c. It would have gone warmer if required! I stayed below freezing during the day and the toilet block had 18'' icicles hanging of the gutters
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Jess, you may find this link useful. It’s from the Advice & Training tab at the head of the page.
https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/advice-and-training/technical-advice/mains-electrical-installation/
Remember that privately owned sites may offer an elecrtric hook-up of less than 16a.
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I do not think if you have any 13amp sockets in your motor caravan depending how big it is there would not be a problem of running one or even two oil filled radiators of about 600watts each (one each end) or as we did put a 1 or 2 kw fan heater in the cab facing the rear of your van ,it depends where your sockets are
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I have not used less than 10 amp in UK and have then run heating on 1kw as I like to use an electric kettle. Only used such a site once when temperatures were around 5c and was able to cope and stay warm. Ran on 2kw without kettle until van heated initially.
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all the above is good advice and will satisfy your 'back up' requirements, but, as you have gas as your primary system (which will be far better to heat the van from cold) it would be good if you can make this work better (and cheaper) for you...
If paying around £4 a night as part of pitch fee for the use of EHU then gas would not be my primary heat source and would be used as an addition in cold weather to speed initial heat up and then as a standby.
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Agree with you there ET, refillable is fine if you are using it all year round and going off grid but it will take quite awhile to recoup the money.
Jess, we carry a 2kw fan heater but have only ever had to use it on 1kw to be honest its much better at heating the MH on 1kw than the vans own heater when set at 1kw, of course we can use the gas or turn it up to 2kw but the fan heater does a much better job if restricted to 10amps rather than 16amps. We also (in winter) carry a small oil filled radiator which we use overnight as it doesn't seem to 'dry' the air out as much and it of quiet. Hope you get sorted and manage to get away.
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If you have no choice but to use additional heating I would tend towards an oil filled radiator, perhaps one rated at around 1.5 kilowatts or 6.5 amps. They can punch out quite a bit of heat. The downside is that they are quite heavy and bulky so it will depend if you have space. I can see a number of people use fan heaters. However you do have to guard against anything falling on them, like clothing and bedding that could cause a fire. They can also be quite noisy.
If you have satisfactory gas heating but are worried about the gas not lasting you could investigate refillable cylinders which would not only provide more gas capacity but are cheaper per fill but as others have pointed out the initial investment is quite high.
David
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Surprising that you have no electric heating system and also, presumably, no way of heating water on electricity?
Good advice above and you can run a 3kW electric heater on Club sites but if you are travelling around then a 2kW fan heater is fine for a 10 amp supply and would be more than adequate for most motorhomes. An oil filled radiator would make for good background heating if you don’t mind lugging it around.
If you are running a 2-3kW heater you just need to get into th habit of switching it off if you are using an electric kettle or microwave otherwise you may trip the supply.
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If you are running a 2-3kW heater you just need to get into th habit of switching it off if you are using an electric kettle or microwave otherwise you may trip the supply.
Which is why I use 1kw on 10 amp sites and 2kw on 16 amp sites.
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As with TG, I have found our 2Kw fan heater to be more effective at least initially for heating the van up than blown air and if it's really cold on arrival we have the fan heater on 1Kw and blown air on 1 kw then move over to the van's heating once it's warmed up.
Even on very cold sub zero nights we have found the van's heating on 1Kw (well actually 0.9) is all we need to keep toasty warm.
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Not quite, Lornalou -- the 60 amp you quote will be available only at the Mains input point. 30a feed probably to the Cooker Supply/switch unit, then only 13a max on feeds to socket outlets, { they are called 13amp plugs are they not ? } so they are very approximately the same as in a 'van.
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P.S. For the OP --> One Kilowatt approximates to 4 amps so a 10 amp supply will cover 2.5 Kilowatts MAXIMUM
16 amps supply equates to 4 Kilowatts Maximum
You must allow for the other things you use as well so a 1 -- 2 kilowatt ( 4 -- 8 amps ) thermostatically regulated heater should never cause your mains supply to trip out by itself .
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As fairly new caravanners we maybe went too puritanical, having read advice that 700W heaters were the way not to trip switches. As it is, our little 700W oil-filled heater, which is the only heating in our van, does a reassuringly great job, and is surprisingly quick at getting going. It's not too heavy either.
A couple of these in the bigger space you have might be worth looking into.
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what I was trying to say was that the feed into house is a lot bigger than a EHU to caravan. funny my elec shower is fed by 45amp fuse. its easier to trip the EHU than it is the mains board in a house. I don't know of anybody that totals up what amp is being used in a property but would expect that most with a caravan/motorhome would keep a close eye on what's plugged in and being used.
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I have just checked the wiring diagram for our Bailey Pegasus, and the three MCBs
6 amp = charger
10 amp= hot water and heater
16 amp= sockets which include fridge and microwave ,
That does not take into account air con or other extras that may need mains power
And as the max site EHU =16 amp
I can see why there is serious discussions going on about EV charging from the site supply in near future
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