Very Cold Freezing Temps Parked with Stuff in Sportsmobile

[accrete]

Originally Posted by daveb

...you might look into the smaller alcohol heaters...

we have the heatmate 5200 and can use it to take the morning chill out of the air while boiling water for coffee or tea : ) on the moisture...it's not to bad if its just to take the chill off and boil some water when the front windows are cracked.

[SkinnyRV]

Tell me more about the Chilly Dog system. I found a link, but is is no longer good.

I bought a couple of small low temperature thermostats, wirewound resisters, and a small sealed battery (17AH). Still need to tinker, but plan on putting the small battery inside the ice chest with thermostat and heat source. Also found some cheap tank heaters on e-bay, but they do not have favorable on/off temperatures, and draw lots of amps.

Using a thermostat will save battery.

[daveb]

Originally Posted by accrete

we have the heatmate 5200 and can use it to take the morning chill out of the air while boiling water for coffee or tea : ) on the moisture...it's not to bad if its just to take the chill off and boil some water when the front windows are cracked.

How big is that thing? I'm looking for a backup heater.

[daveb]

Originally Posted by SkinnyRV

Tell me more about the Chilly Dog system. I found a link, but is is no longer good.

I bought a couple of small low temperature thermostats, wirewound resisters, and a small sealed battery (17AH). Still need to tinker, but plan on putting the small battery inside the ice chest with thermostat and heat source. Also found some cheap tank heaters on e-bay, but they do not have favorable on/off temperatures, and draw lots of amps.

Using a thermostat will save battery.

http://k9safety.com/index_files/rv.htm

[edit] http://k9safety.com/index_files/ChillyDogManual.pdf

[jage]

I'd be worried about running anything flame based while I'm away, even the Suburban built in.

Here is a write up about moving it:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=527&hilit=chili+dog

Note that it was Chili Dog on my build sheet so I spelled it like that for many of my early writeups, there might be more, I know I've talked about it.

[SkinnyRV]

Success with the heated ice chest! The wire wound ceramic resistors 2 for 99 cents at Radio Shack worked. Hooked up one. By calculation, the resistor will draw 0.12 (1/8) AMP. It raised the temperature of the ice chest by 21 degrees. Two, with the always closed (until it gets up to set temperature) thermostat to keep things from getting too hot should do the trick. I have 200 AMP rated battery power, and the setup would use 42 AMPS in 7 days. Should have protection to well below zero Farenheit. The thermostat was $19 from Altex, and the resistors 2 for $0.99 from Radio Shack. The resistors get hot so need to not touch side of ice chest. I will put a layer of sheet metal to distribute the heat.

Thanks for the link on the Chilly dog. I did not see Mercedes-Benz Sprinter on their web site, but the 2009 Dodge Sprinter was listed, so I sent them an email. It was always so nice to fire up the Jeep with a it's remote starter on those morning when it was covered with snow.

So far as burning stuff, I trust the suburban as much as the furnace in the house. I left the one in my Navion running a bunch while I was in Utah.

[daveb]

Funny, I never thought about this until your last post. I have several types of these I use on my scopes. They range from low to high end and I've even made some in the past.
http://www.dewbuster.com/

[SkinnyRV]

Received a reply from K9 safety. They did not see a way around the Mercedes-Benz transponder on the www either, but are checking.

Also received a reply from this place: http://www.smartkeystarter.com/ They have a video showing remote start of a Sprinter, but seem to still be in development.

I keep remembering how nice it was to look out the window and remotely start that Jeep sitting buried in the snow, but at least I think I solved the keeping-stuff-from-freezing-while-parked-for-a-week-in-the-bitter-cold for less than $30.