Caravan Heaters

kraftykat

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this question, but here goes....

We've just recently bought a static caravan that has no central heating, just a gas fire in the living room.

I know from staying in my MIL's caravan that they can get quite cold at night due to being near the coast. I was wondering which heaters would be best to use in the bedrooms?

I've been told that fan heaters can use loads of electricity. Would oil filled radiators, convector heaters or halogen heaters be any good.

I'm probably asking the impossible, but I'm hoping to get something that is low cost to both buy and run and also be safe as my 7 yr old daughter has Autism.

Thanks in advance

squeekswhenwalking

fan heaters circulate the heat around quicker but use the same amount of elec as oil filled or convectors, in a bedroom oil filled will work quieter than fan or convectors (the thermostats on convectors click on and off noisily) oil filled rad will probably be safest too, no accessible elements (plus can be used for clothes drying)

rustyboy21

It could be possible to install gas wall heaters in the caravan. I have checked the installer guides online and they do not appear to be unsuitable. You would need to do a bit of plating around the flue duct, but that shouldn't be a problem for a registered gas fitter.

They would need to be a min of 12'' away from any windows or doors vertically.

They, if suitable would be the cheapest form of heating for your caravan and you can leave them on all the time, safely. They would warm the caravan through nicely.

I will check tomorrow when in work and get back to you to confirm they would be suitable. They will work on nat gas and LPG gas too.

Owain_Moneysaver

If you do use gas heaters ensure they are permanently fitted 'room sealed' ones, where the combustion air does not come from the room.

It's now illegal to have a an open flued gas appliance in a bedroom in a house, not sure if this applies to caravans, but the safety risk is still there. Older caravans may still have open flued heaters.

The safest is probably a wall-mounted fan heater at high level.

Check the running costs LPG vs electric carefully, and make sure that any has heaters you buy are suitable for LPG (the jets have to be changed, they are not suitable for both) and are fitted by a Gas Safe fitter with LPG certificates, as the safety precautions are different from mains (natural) gas.

Another option might be an electric blanket - you can get low-voltage ones so there is no mains electric element in the bedding.

ariba10

If you intend to use bottled gas it would be as expensive to run as electric.

With that in mind, without forgetting the safety factor I would go for a fan heater.

MX5huggy

It does not matter what type of electric heater you have for every 1 kW of electricity you use you get 1 kW of heat. (except heat pumps).

How oftern will you stay in the caravan and how long will you own it?

fwor

My own experience of this is that fan heaters are not suitable for caravan bedrooms. You need a heater with a thermostat, and most people find it difficult to sleep with a fan cycling on and off during the night.

You really need a convection heater with thermostat. One option would be flat panel electric heaters with a separate thermostat, though that makes the wiring a little more complicated (but not much).

madjay

Itdepends on what the restrictions you site have in place, My site has a maxusage load of 3Kw per caravan. Havinga son with Autism I can see your problem regards young hands touching hotthings. I have 200w electric ceiling mounted heat panels in the bedrooms whichdoes not seem much watts but the rooms in a Static caravan so does the job. Oryou could go for electric oil filled radiator So nothing can be jammed in anyhole. But I would not go for a large wattage you will not need it. But your first port of call would be to find out what wattage heater you are allowed to use on the site.

sk240

Is this a holiday type static caravan, or a mobile home?If its a holiday type (aluminium cladding) then these are very poorly insulated with lot of fresh air vents, these are very difficult to keep warm.
your best option would be panel heaters such as
http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/dimplex-dxlwp800-low-watt-heating-panel-07756972-pdt.html


Or another option, although would cost about £1000 to install would be a split air heat pump, which cost 3 times less to run than electric heating

madjay

sk240 wrote: »

Is this a holiday type static caravan, or a mobile home?If its a holiday type (aluminium cladding) then these are very poorly insulated with lot of fresh air vents, these are very difficult to keep warm.
your best option would be panel heaters such as
http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/dimplex-dxlwp800-low-watt-heating-panel-07756972-pdt.html


Or another option, although would cost about £1000 to install would be a split air heat pump, which cost 3 times less to run than electric heating

The insulation in static caravan depends on the model, type and age but most caravans are well insulated with very few air vents. The have come a long way from being a metal shed on wheels. But I would say if it is a caravan on a site like Haven etc they more likey to be the lower end of the market due to the high prices the charge for a caravan. But a wall mounted heater in caravan bedroom with limited wall space and an child with Autism is not a good mix. And as for split air heat pump the is no way any site would allow that much load for single caravan and they are not suitable for caravan any way.

Ransoman

I used to live in a static caravan myself and had the same dilema regarding heating. Bottled gas was far too expensive and electric heaters didn't seem to make an impact (mine was very poorly insulated). This is what i used:

http://www.floorheating.com/wood-floors.php

My sitting room and kitchen was 1 system with a thermostat. I wired the thermostat into a standard 3 pin plug and plugged that into an RCD. I layed the heating mats on 1inch kingspan with a thin layer of hardboard to spread the load.

The bedroom had an independant system on its own thermostat so that i could only run the 1 system if i wanted.

This was a great solution as i heated the whole caravan 24 hours a day with only 1900w of power.

The only downside is you can't really put anything on the floor where it is heated. (clothes, papers, cusions, rugs etc). Furniture is ok if it has an open bottom.