Hello all. New member, long-time lurker to van forums in general.
We took our 1-year old baby boy for his first overnighter and it was an adventure! One issue we ran into was heating. With him on the floor in his Pack N Play, and us in the fold out bed, the heat difference was pretty significant. In order to keep him warm enough, we had to be about 5 degrees above comfortable (I was on the top of the sleeping bag in my whitie tighties J ). Part of the problem was the electric ceramic heater we use is on high power mode (1500 Watt) when using the thermostat feature, and the fan is powerful, so all the heat was blasting into the back of the van cooking us out, while he was comfortable as could be. The thermostat unfortunately only increased by 5 degree increments too.
I am trying to find an electric ceramic heater that is smaller in size, uses 400-900 watts, has a low to moderate fan speed, and includes the safety features anyone would want… overheat and tip-over protection.
We are weekend warriors during fair weather times.
It seems like I might just need to get the plug in thermostat with the remote reader similar to this unit, but that requires another item with batteries. As an occasional weekender, I see fewer batteries as a good thing.
I am open to a propane external exhaust heater, if I can find a way to mount it to the roof rack and vent through the driver window, but their size and price are deterring factors. I ran across something about suburban heaters but didn't get much further than a picture of one since it requires a fixed mounting position.
I don’t want to use a heater with a fuel source. It either involves poisonous and moist gasses sinking to the floor where the Pack N Play is or involves cutting a whole in the van, and with my frequency of use, the fuels would sit too long and allow the possibility of their break down. Similar to batteries, I don’t want to trouble shoot a plugged jet or something similar.
I saw these two options, but I'm concerned the first one is too low of a wattage, and I don't like the idea of plugging it in against a wall. Plus, I'd need to find a place to mount it, and there again it is stuck fixed in that position.
The other one only has 3.5 stars. I tend to avoid anything with less than 4 stars or that has over say 12% in the 3 or less start bracket (sometimes products have predominantly 5 stars, no 4 stars and then a ton of 1-3 stars. The average comes out to a 4 star rating even though 18% of people can say it sucks. This third one is similar to the second.... the size and features I want, but the ratings are terribly skewed
I think based on price and maintenance, a portable ceramic heated that I could throw up on the dash with shore power would be best, and one at a lower Wattage so as to avoid throwing breakers as well as cooking ourselves out every time the thermostat cycled it on. I have decided the thermostat also needs to be adjustable within a degree, not 5 like my current one is.
If anyone has any recommendations, they would be appreciated!
Alternatively, does anyone know the idea wattage to heat a van without a pop top, and assuming minimal insulation with windows all around? 1500 from one of the 2 foot oscillating lasko's is way too much.
Thank you.
We took our 1-year old baby boy for his first overnighter and it was an adventure! One issue we ran into was heating. With him on the floor in his Pack N Play, and us in the fold out bed, the heat difference was pretty significant. In order to keep him warm enough, we had to be about 5 degrees above comfortable (I was on the top of the sleeping bag in my whitie tighties J ). Part of the problem was the electric ceramic heater we use is on high power mode (1500 Watt) when using the thermostat feature, and the fan is powerful, so all the heat was blasting into the back of the van cooking us out, while he was comfortable as could be. The thermostat unfortunately only increased by 5 degree increments too.
I am trying to find an electric ceramic heater that is smaller in size, uses 400-900 watts, has a low to moderate fan speed, and includes the safety features anyone would want… overheat and tip-over protection.
We are weekend warriors during fair weather times.
It seems like I might just need to get the plug in thermostat with the remote reader similar to this unit, but that requires another item with batteries. As an occasional weekender, I see fewer batteries as a good thing.
I am open to a propane external exhaust heater, if I can find a way to mount it to the roof rack and vent through the driver window, but their size and price are deterring factors. I ran across something about suburban heaters but didn't get much further than a picture of one since it requires a fixed mounting position.
I don’t want to use a heater with a fuel source. It either involves poisonous and moist gasses sinking to the floor where the Pack N Play is or involves cutting a whole in the van, and with my frequency of use, the fuels would sit too long and allow the possibility of their break down. Similar to batteries, I don’t want to trouble shoot a plugged jet or something similar.
I saw these two options, but I'm concerned the first one is too low of a wattage, and I don't like the idea of plugging it in against a wall. Plus, I'd need to find a place to mount it, and there again it is stuck fixed in that position.
The other one only has 3.5 stars. I tend to avoid anything with less than 4 stars or that has over say 12% in the 3 or less start bracket (sometimes products have predominantly 5 stars, no 4 stars and then a ton of 1-3 stars. The average comes out to a 4 star rating even though 18% of people can say it sucks. This third one is similar to the second.... the size and features I want, but the ratings are terribly skewed
I think based on price and maintenance, a portable ceramic heated that I could throw up on the dash with shore power would be best, and one at a lower Wattage so as to avoid throwing breakers as well as cooking ourselves out every time the thermostat cycled it on. I have decided the thermostat also needs to be adjustable within a degree, not 5 like my current one is.
If anyone has any recommendations, they would be appreciated!
Alternatively, does anyone know the idea wattage to heat a van without a pop top, and assuming minimal insulation with windows all around? 1500 from one of the 2 foot oscillating lasko's is way too much.
Thank you.