Fairbanks to Yucatan. Heating question.

[mckaye49]

Hi all,
So I have been preparing my 99 dodge extended van to give this a go. I am currently working in Fairbanks for the winter and will be driving to Mexico to be with the girl that I am marrying. Long story short, immigration has been too much of a pain and neither of us want to live here that bad anyway. I will be returning next week from Mexico to finish prepping the van and start living out of it. I have a friends place that I plan on using as a back up if something goes wrong, but I would prefer to stay in the van with my dog.

A little about the van...
His name is pancho and is overall in pretty decent shape, engine wise at least. There were a few holes I patched in the bottom while insulating it. It came with a layer of that yellow spray in insulation. Then I installed a layer of reflectix on top of the that(floor,wall, ceiling). Then another layer of 1 inch reflective styrofoam. Still debating if I should enclose the front area so that the cold from the cockpit doesn't bother me too much. I was thinking either going aggressive with some 2" styrofoam or just an emergency blanket and some heavy blankets over that to stop drafts. I bought the Mr. Big Buddy heater but have not opened it yet in case I come across a better idea for heat.

MY MAIN QUESTION IS... HAS ANYONE USED CAR PLUGINS AND AN ELECTRIC SPACE HEATER SUCCESSFULLY FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME?

Up here we have little plug in ports for plugging in our cars when it gets too cold. While I am at work, i would like to plug in my electric space heater into one of these if my dog had to stay in the van. He can come to work with me during night shift, but not on my day shifts. He currently is at a friends house 300 miles south while I am sorting this all out, so if it ends up being impossible to keep him warm during the days in the negatives he can just live there at her house. I have seen a few people on this site that have lived in Alaska and they would probably understand, if you are living alone in the winter, a dog is extremely helpful when it comes to dealing with zero sunlight.

Anyways, I'm super stoked to finally fulfill my van dream and any helpful advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Donnie

PS this is my first account on a forum, so I am still learning forum etiquette.

 

[rvwandering]

Welcome to the CRVL forums Donnie! We do have some members who have lived in Alaska through the winter so hopefully they'll chime in with some ideas for you.

To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[Stargazer]

The small electric heaters I have had used around 11 amps. I have seen those plug ins, never used one and don't know how much power they provide. Also, if someone else plugs in to the same pole, will your heater cause a circuit to flip off from an overload?

When my electric heater broke down, there was no warning. It just quit. In sub-zero temps, if that occurs, how long before your dog freezes? Can you check on it every few hours, just to make sure the heater is still working? And I would definitely have a backup heater just in case.

And what if some not nice person unplugs you while you're working? You have no way of knowing until it's too late. Argh!!

I love my little furry sidekick; she goes with me everywhere. I understand your desire to have yours with you but (s)he may be better off at your friends under those circumstances. I hate this negative response but I wouldn't take the risk with my best friend and companion.

Best wishes in whatever you decide.

 

[mckaye49]

Thanks stargazer. It's not a negative response. It is exactly the kind I am looking for. My main source would be the propane, for the reason you mentioned. I have a feeling they can trip easily and wouldn't trust it as my primary source. My plan would be to use one post all to myself(my coworkers would understand why I need it that way) and for only that one heater being plugged in it. I was planning on going out and checking periodically too. He was there in the summer and fall with me and that's what we did. I work very close to my car so thats not a problem. I would most likely be walking past it every 2 hours or so. And I had been doing some searching for remote thermometers. I didn't look too much depth on those, but it seemed its possible to find one that I can monitor temps in the van from inside my work for less than $50. He's been a car dog his whole life up here so above zero for an hour or 2 he doesn't really care. I have been reading about a few people who do that candle/ceramic pot "heater" to take the edge off. The only issue with that is it sounds a little dangerous to me with the open flame. But I might test it out one day just to see if I could make it safer.

 

[akrvbob]

Hi Donnie, we're glad your here! I lived in a box van for 6 years in Anchorage and did it pretty comfortably, of course Fairbanks is much colder than Anchorage. Some thoughts:

1) An inch of styrofoam is not enough. I had 2 inches on the walls and 4 on the roof and I could barely keep it warm at -30 and you are going to see -40 or colder.
2) You MUST put in a well insulated divider wall between the drivers area and the back. You'll never keep it warm otherwise.
3) The Big Buddy should be enough to keep you mostly warm. It's incredible how the cold creeps in at -30, much less minus -50 or -70. It's like a living thing. Be careful of clearances to it. It's hard to have enough clearance in a van and anything too close can spontaneously ignite and burn you and your home down fast.
4) Sorry, I never had access to plug-ins (they are much less common in Anchorage) so I never had electric heat.

Let me tell you a true story. When I got divorced and moved into the van my dog went with the kids to the ex-wife but she stayed with me sometimes. One winter she was with me and I was in a restaurant. I always had the heater on to maintain the temps. My dog knocked off a pillow and it landed on the heater and of course it caught fire. So I'm sitting in the restraunt and a guy comes running in yelling, "Hey, there is a green van outside on fire!!! So I run outside and find the pillow against the heater just starting to smolder and pouring out smoke. I pulled it off, threw it outside into the snow and everything was okay. That could have been one of the first days of my life but it turned out okay.

I didn't keep my dog when she would be unattended after that.

Bob