12V Heater
Hi Everyone,
This is my first post on here (although we have been caravanning for many years)
We have just brought a new caravan and it has a solar panel already built in.
As my van is on my drive, when the winter comes I usually plug an oil heater in which comes in and out at various times to keep the van in good condition and stop any damp smells.
As I now have a solar panel, I wanted to ask if anyone keeps a 12v heater plugged in during the winter and:
1. Which one would you recommend
2. is there one with a timer or heat sensor
3. Is my idea an old and outdated thing to do.
Many thanks
Cliff
Comments
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And in addition to a 12v heater being next to useless, tens of thousands of caravans are successfully stored each winter without heating. If you have a smell of damp then you have too little ventilation and a damp ingress problem that heating will not cure. We have never heated any caravan over winter, never had any damp problems and only once had damage. It was the first winter we had a caravan and simply didn’t drain down properly. No problems since and our storage was in a very exposed location.
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Through flow ventilation is the key to winter storage. Remove as much moisture collecting/retaining materials and leave cupboards door and other dead spots open to circulation. Don’t bother with those moisture collection things, you will never dry out the air inside as this will always balance out to that outside.
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an even better way to keep the van in good nick is to use it.....
ours gets plenty of warmth in winter
but even if we werent abroad (as in this past year) we use it in winter and it keeps everythig ticking over..2 -
My motorhome has 12V heaters in fresh water and waste tanks. I had one switched on and disconnected the mains hook-up without switching it off. These heaters are quite low power but it didn’t take long to drain the habitation battery and blow the main dc fuse.
Just to add that I also believe that it is unnecessary to heat a van over winter, however, after not using our motorhome over last winter there was extensive damp discovered at the Spring service so it does make me wonder.
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Fully agree. Only needs a three pin plug connector. We carry one anyway, for those CLs that offer hook up without bollards.
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If its on your drive, why not plug into the mains? I do.
The OP mentions plugging an oil heater in, I assume oil filled radiator, so I think they already do that. I think they just wanted to utilise the solar panel they now have and try and avoid doing that.1 -
You are right Steve. Prevention being better than cure, best to get the air flow right as AD and others say. We just plug our MH in to chill fridge and warm it up a bit before the off on Winter tours. Last year during the very cold frosty spell, we did leave little radiator on occasionally as we couldn’t go away during lockdown.
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using a separate oil filled or other heater connected to home mains 'might' keep the chill off during a cold winter spell, however, fitted van heaters, like Truma or Alde, will certainly have a finite life.....fans and heating elements etc..
leaving a Combi on for months on end will undoubtedly reduce the remaining expected life...why bother?
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As cold air holds less moist than warm air it is far better to keep the caravan / motorhome cold during the winter but with ventilation.
I keep my caravan with one side next to a wall and keep the windows on that side on their ventilation setting and similarly with my Heki roof-light. On dry, breezy and cold days I will occasionally open the door and the Heki for a couple of hours to get plenty of airflow through. So far I have not experienced any problems except for one year when I didn't 'air' the caravan during the winter layup and got some mildew on the curtains.
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Due to lifestyle choices I need to keep my 'van in ready-to-go condition throughout the winter, so I don't drain it down or turn off the fridge. To keep insides above freezing I use an oil-filled radiator but the thermostat is quite vague so it is run on maximum setting but plugged into an electronic thermostat which has a remote sensor device. With heater in middle of 'van and sensor at one end I can keep the temperatore a few degrees above freezing. The gas drops in the floor seem to provide quite an air flow, plus the lack of draft exclusion around the fridge.
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