230 v Heater

R1nutty · Sep 6, 2015

Hi
Can anyone recommend the best type of 230v heater in my california while were away. Planning a few winter trips all to campsites with electric hook up, don't have diesel heating in my beach and can't swallow the £1200 quoted to have it installed.
So just plan to plug a little heater in. Any advice would be helpful.

Cheers
Tom

SimplyDubs · Sep 7, 2015

Really depends upon what you want... gentle constant heat, go for a very small oil filled radiator... quick short term warm up... small fan heater.

I've a fan heater like this for the Multivan for use in the middle of winter... Useful as it has a thermostat and as such is a little more controllable than some. As will all heaters make sure it's kept clear of obstruction.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/pe124-pifco-2000w-fan-heater/191-1040.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=191-1040

Rgds

Mark

Rhyddin · Sep 7, 2015

Have a look on camping websites, especially as there's lots of end of season sales on right now. Outwell, for example, produce several heaters for tents that run off the mains, have a thermostat and have an automatic cut off, should they fall over. We use one in our caravan awning and it's the safest option, we felt. This would be perfect in a Cali.

rippers · Sep 7, 2015

When I had a Beech I used a cheapo £10 heater, run it for 20mins and the van was a sauna lol
Make sure you don't get more then a 2KW as you could blow the electrics at some campsites and have to reset the trip on the Electric point outside or worst in the site office.

2into1 · Sep 7, 2015

Does anyone actually find these small oil filled radiators actually useful when (say) there is a ground frost (like Sat night!)?
I've tried them and found them close to useless, and that is in a van much better insulated than most.
I now have a small bathroom panel heater (silent) 'installed' but carry one of those tiny ceramic fan heaters for a quick blast.
My one criticism of that one is the wide variation on the thermostat..... It runs until I'm too warm and doesn't come back on until I'm too cold.

18hunts · Sep 7, 2015

Dimplex ColdWatcher 500w greenhouse heater. Gives a good controlable heat and no fan so quite. Use one in our caravan instead of our blown air system.

R1nutty · Sep 25, 2015

Thanks for the responses guys. I went away to the new forest last week and tried both a small 500w oil filled heater and a small fan heater to see what worked best.
As mentioned the oil heater didn't really help at all on night one!!
On night two I put the fan heater on but they seem to just run and run which is not only noisy we were getting to hot, turned the stat down and it didn't come on at all!!
Maybe the small ceramic heater is the way forward then although don't really want to screw anything!!!

larrylamb · Sep 25, 2015

We used a rad similar to this last weekend in the Lakes, positioned nicely between the front seats we were very cosy. Perhaps 500w isn't powerful enough?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00O12X42O/?tag=eliteelect-21

MattBW · Sep 25, 2015

T4WFA said:
Does anyone actually find these small oil filled radiators actually useful when (say) there is a ground frost (like Sat night!)?
I've tried them and found them close to useless, and that is in a van much better insulated than most.

My experience of the small oil filled rads is if the temp is close to freezing then they only add about 10-12c to the internal temperature. It makes it bearable but certainly not cosy warm. A slightly bigger one may be better or we have actually used two on one occasion which did work better.

I'd probably try a different kind of heater if I was buying again.