[sean oregan]

Hi
Can anybody recommend a heater for the van that I can use throughout the night? Or even a 12 volt heater to warm the rear of the van when I am using it?
I can't run cable from home to the van

[Mike Halliday]

Nothing 12v will heat a back of a van without having flattened the battery by the morning,  unless you can get power to the van you are very limited to what you can use, the best is a ebascher ( sp)  heater but they are not cheap (but very good)

Bringing in the vunarable  items might be your only choice or risking it with lots of blankets.

Putting 2-3 25lt  containers of hot water under the blankets might help. But this is a lot of hassle.

[sean oregan]

Thanks Mike
Van is ply insulated top to bottom but all that means is it will take longer to freeze. So I was thinking of 12v heater that will warm rear of van as I am driving.

[Robin Ray]

The lowest power heater I have found to be effective is a 500w black heater which is 240v and I leave it on all night. This is only really effective down to about -3 .A 3kw blow heater set on a timer is  also effective. As mike says nothing 12v will remotely do a thing.

[Simon Gerrard]

Yes there is. A 12 volt webasto or epberspacher heating system, runs of diesel tank, or its own diesel or kerosene supply. Not cheap but brilliant, especially for tm's. I've got them in both of my vans.

[tim handley]

luckily i have a fairly tight driveway between our house and next doors house which the van sits in, it seems to help with a bit of insulation against the cold, any time soon, maybe even tonight, i start to run a lead from my garage,  to a halogen heater with a thermostat attached, seems to work..........   id be interested to know how  much  a portable machine is  at risk against  a cold night of about minus 4?        wands, hose leads, chems i will take indoors if it really goes south temp wise, but taking the machine indoors is a pain in the harris......  in my valeting/detailing days i did loose an expensive pressure washer when it dropped to minus 6, also i had a cubic tonne of water in my tank (i used to fill it up to prevent a total freeze), ( that went well) , it took about six days to thaw out.....    my, how i laughed!!!!!!!!  i remember in the valeting days having six weeks off work due to cold weather, which was why i looked into carpet cleaning..........   best thing i ever did.....

[Mike Halliday]

Minus 2 this morning here and the equipment in the van was fine, went out at 6:30 and the windscreen was frosted but inside the van was ok nothing had frozen. Not Worth taking a chance but I bet it would need to be minus 4 all night for the cold to penetrate the van into the machine and freeze parts.

[sean oregan]

Minus 2 this morning here and the equipment in the van was fine, went out at 6:30 and the windscreen was frosted but inside the van was ok nothing had frozen. Not Worth taking a chance but I bet it would need to be minus 4 all night for the cold to penetrate the van into the machine and freeze parts.

Is your van insulated? If so with what?

[Mike Halliday]

Nope, just ply lined. The roof is just the metal roof. Considering heat rises I would guess most of a vans heat loss is through the roof

[Kev Martin]

We insulated our vans and then ply lined them including the roof and floor

[Carpet2Clean]

luckily i have a fairly tight driveway between our house and next doors house which the van sits in, it seems to help with a bit of insulation against the cold, any time soon, maybe even tonight, i start to run a lead from my garage,  to a halogen heater with a thermostat attached, seems to work..........   id be interested to know how  much  a portable machine is  at risk against  a cold night of about minus 4?        wands, hose leads, chems i will take indoors if it really goes south temp wise, but taking the machine indoors is a pain in the harris......  in my valeting/detailing days i did loose an expensive pressure washer when it dropped to minus 6, also i had a cubic tonne of water in my tank (i used to fill it up to prevent a total freeze), ( that went well) , it took about six days to thaw out.....    my, how i laughed!!!!!!!!  i remember in the valeting days having six weeks off work due to cold weather, which was why i looked into carpet cleaning..........   best thing i ever did.....

Hi Tim 

The good old valeting days....Had the same prob's in the winter months mate. Its was also the best thing i did, was go into carpet cleaning.

Richard