safe, portable heater that people use for occasional use?

[Derek]

Does anyone know of decent electric heaters? I have an overwhelming fear of the propane ones and would rather spend the extra money on a battery bank that can handle electric heat than risk my life and still be cold due to paranoia with propane.

[Flux]

Why not go with an espar?? Diesel and gas options that pull directly from the tank. They are tiny. Many with gas engines buy the diesel and hook up a small diesel tank to it, some even mount them inside the van. Diesel is pretty safe.



I have a gas espar heater (B4) and it absolutely cranks. Have had the van down to 5°F with the pop top up.


They make a smaller version called the B1LC, which is comparable to the D2 diesel version. If you have a hard top van that would be plenty.


Plenty of folks sell them in the US. I ordered my B4 from these guys and it came no issue and they are good about returning emails with questions:


https://www.heatso.com/eberspacher-air-heaters/


These guys are great too:



https://esparparts.com/

[Blowby]

Originally Posted by wish41

Question on that portable Planar unit: if I were to have a hole in the floor of the van to put the exhaust piping, would it be safe to have the rest of the unit inside?

This may answer you question!

[Blowby]

Originally Posted by gnty

I just pickup one of these guys for winter tent camping on our stocking order. You could use the same thing, have it outside and maybe have a port in the floor or wall of your van that your hook into? Just a thought, its pretty slick. Then you can use it for other occasions as well. Just a thought.
https://planarheaters.com/product/po...-planar-2d-12/

gnty have you had a chance yet to try out your heater?
Was also interested to know whether these planars need a high altitude kit.
Thanks
Roger

[ConnieKat]

Hey guys,
I too am looking for a small, portable electric heater!
Previous owner had everything assoc. with propane removed, including hoses, tanks, stove, etc. I have bought a small electric ( solar) generator to help support electric items if not plugged in. I likely need a third house batt to add to that, since everything needs to be electic or extremely portable gas or propane ( stove). Suggestions and/ or thoughts on this would be very much appreciated!
Thanks,
ConnieKat

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by ConnieKat

Hey guys,
Suggestions and/ or thoughts on this would be very much appreciated!
Thanks,
ConnieKat

Here's why it's tough to do.....


Let's say a typical small portable electric heater is 1200-1500 watts....


Using 1200W for easy math it would draw 10 amps of current at 120V or 100 amps at 12V. 120V x 10A=1200W 12V x 100A =1200W


Assuming that you have a pair of 4D house batteries (that's a nice setup with a couple of large batteries) ....and they are rated at 200 amp-hours (AH) each.....so 400 AH total.


Lead acid batteries don't like to be discharged past about 50% state of charge (SOC) .......so if you draw your pair of 4D batteries down 50% you've consumed half of your 400 AH, so 200 AH.


So the heater consumes 100 amps at 12V when it's running, and you've got 200AH of energy.


200 amp-hrs/100 amps = 2 hours


..so running the small 1200W electric heater will drain a fairly large battery bank in 2 hours..not very practical.


It's actually a bit worse than this when you add the inefficiencies of the inverter.......

[Grampswrx]

Most people get the little buddy portable propane heater. I have one and it’s awesome. Heats the van right up in about 10 min. Has an auto shut off if it detects CO. Runs off 1 pound propane bottles that slot right in, so there’s nothing extra. You can get them on amazon.

[ConnieKat]

AKA......yikes!!!!

[ConnieKat]

Thanks for the suggestion. Will absolutely take a look.
It’s been very cold up here lately, with a lot of snow. Not that I’m complaining, we do need the moisture.
Thanks for the suggestion.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by ConnieKat

Thanks for the suggestion. Will absolutely take a look.
It’s been very cold up here lately, with a lot of snow. Not that I’m

ConnieKat: Does your van have a CO detector?