[Caleb Morley]

Alright lads,

I see that Grippatank do a frost protection heater.

https://www.grippatank.co.uk/grippamax-ro-cabinet-frost-protection-heater

I'm trying to work out whether it would keep all of your equipment warm enough/avoid freezing or whether it's only filters etc.

Maybe someone a bit cleverer than me can help me out.

Cheers

[Oliver @ GrippaTank]

Hi Caleb

Thanks for the question.

The frost prevention heater is designed to keep everything within the system cabinet from freezing - so that would include the pump, plumbing, and filters on our GrippaMax Systems. It doesn't however keep the hose reels protected, which would be done by our circulation system on the HydroHeat hot water heater intregrations.

We hope this helps.

[Caleb Morley]

Thanks for your answer, exactly what I needed to know.

[Spruce]

But Caleb,

They simply replied that it was suitable to work in their cabinet and didn't include hose reels etc.

That may have been good enough for you but......

They didn't tell you how much current the heater draws when on apart from that they recommend a 15 amp fused circuit.

How long does the heater stay on drawing 12 volts from your battery whilst its raising the temperature from 2 degrees to 7 degrees before switching off?

If you have their cabinet then before you spend £480.00 on this heater, you need to know this so you can make an informed decision.

.

[Oliver @ GrippaTank]

But Caleb,

They simply replied that it was suitable to work in their cabinet and didn't include hose reels etc.

That may have been good enough for you but......

They didn't tell you how much current the heater draws when on apart from that they recommend a 15 amp fused circuit.

How long does the heater stay on drawing 12 volts from your battery whilst its raising the temperature from 2 degrees to 7 degrees before switching off?

If you have their cabinet then before you spend £480.00 on this heater, you need to know this so you can make an informed decision.

.

Hi Spruce,

Thank you for your question. We are of course happy to answer your questions in addition to the question that was asked by Caleb.

Answers as follows:
1/. The device pulls a current maximum draw of 10 amps, but its designed to be on short sharp bursts to bring the temperature back up to 7c so to not drain the batteries. We do recommend that 2 batteries are fitted as per our HydroHeat Diesel system as well. When fitted as part of our cabinet unit, it becomes a very efficient heater - with our workshop tests showing the temperature raising in the cabinet within 2 -3 minutes.

We have also tested the unit, where we forced it to stay on for 1 hour constantly, and it brought the battery voltage down from 12.6v to 12.5v.

2/. When the ambient temperature measured by the remote temperature probe is lower than the threshold temperature for more than 5 seconds, the device (Fan & Heater) will turn on, it will remain on until the ambient temperature has risen from 7 degrees Celsius above the temperature threshold(manufacturing threshold set at 2°C).
To avoid draining the system batteries, the voltage monitor will turn off the system when the input voltage is lower than 11 .8V for more than 30 seconds. The device will resume operation when the input voltage has recovered above 12V for more than 30
seconds.

[Tony dunmall]

Hi Caleb

I've  got one and it doesn't really affect the batteries draw ,I do use mine differently as I'll turn mine on and off when I see fit to use it so if it -1 that next day I'll turn it on when I get up and I can use van no issues without a heater any where in the van


If I need to use a heater for hose reels there both done in 30-50mins even when down to -5 through to -7 although by then it's getting to cold for cold water users

It is designed for the grippa cabinet

I guess You could just put a heater in back of the van  keeping the equipment protected, but I do find using it on colder days I've not had an issue this winter with having to recalibrate on colder days  and pumps also have a clean warm dry free environment which means they work for more efficiently

Yes it's expensive but it's suits me I toyed with fitting the Eberspacher
Hot air heater  which is more expensive but thought might as well put my diesel heater back in van , so thought I'd try 12volt heater and see how it goes

Tony

[Spruce]

But Caleb,

They simply replied that it was suitable to work in their cabinet and didn't include hose reels etc.

That may have been good enough for you but......

They didn't tell you how much current the heater draws when on apart from that they recommend a 15 amp fused circuit.

How long does the heater stay on drawing 12 volts from your battery whilst its raising the temperature from 2 degrees to 7 degrees before switching off?

If you have their cabinet then before you spend £480.00 on this heater, you need to know this so you can make an informed decision.

.

Hi Spruce,

Thank you for your question. We are of course happy to answer your questions in addition to the question that was asked by Caleb.

Answers as follows:
1/. The device pulls a current maximum draw of 10 amps, but its designed to be on short sharp bursts to bring the temperature back up to 7c so to not drain the batteries. We do recommend that 2 batteries are fitted as per our HydroHeat Diesel system as well. When fitted as part of our cabinet unit, it becomes a very efficient heater - with our workshop tests showing the temperature raising in the cabinet within 2 -3 minutes.

We have also tested the unit, where we forced it to stay on for 1 hour constantly, and it brought the battery voltage down from 12.6v to 12.5v.

2/. When the ambient temperature measured by the remote temperature probe is lower than the threshold temperature for more than 5 seconds, the device (Fan & Heater) will turn on, it will remain on until the ambient temperature has risen from 7 degrees Celsius above the temperature threshold(manufacturing threshold set at 2°C).
To avoid draining the system batteries, the voltage monitor will turn off the system when the input voltage is lower than 11 .8V for more than 30 seconds. The device will resume operation when the input voltage has recovered above 12V for more than 30
seconds.

Thanks for the info.

[NWH]

All you have to do to keep hoses warm is connect a 12" long piece of hose with a ez tail plug it into your hose and into the tank job done.

[NWH]

I'd be interested to know how you split charge your heater,I have the same heater running with 2 110amp battery's and it messes around something chronic at times. Sometimes it'll go for hours other times it turns itself off every half an hour,battery's charged and it still does this I'm wondering whether it's the ECU or similar.

[Tony dunmall]

hi NWH

how are you?

I've been using one from grippa I've got there standard split charge over year old  that was in my T5 and  absolutely no issues with charging, on the new connect I've got there split charge for the  auto stop/start which i cannot comment on for heater use as heaters not in new van currently may go into spare, who knows

prior to that i used arc welding cable wire ( bought from george Rose in Buxted)  direct through to van  battery with 80amp  in line audio fuse at each end no split relay, batteries lasted two years

but as your aware i turned on heater after i started the van first thing, as thats where worst draw of the day is

if you've got space get 3 or 4 110 batteries  0r largest you can get hold of in the van,  (rapid on line do some large sealed batteries 185} charge over weekend then recharge after day or so hopefully will give full power for the day

they are hungry for power, but if you want continual hot I'm guessing its the only way to have enough power for a day, guess how long your day is and how stationary you are through the day determines how many batteries you'll need and if you think its worth it

[Oliver @ GrippaTank]

I'd be interested to know how you split charge your heater,I have the same heater running with 2 110amp battery's and it messes around something chronic at times. Sometimes it'll go for hours other times it turns itself off every half an hour,battery's charged and it still does this I'm wondering whether it's the ECU or similar.

Good Evening,

Have you tried plugging it into a diagnostic unit to see what its failing on? This would likely be really helpful to find the source of the issue.

We use a couple of split relay kits, depending on the age and type of vehicle.

[NWH]

Cheers. Tony for that,Grippa the split charger shows its charging it goes from 12-6 stationary to 13-4  or 14 when the engines running. The draw on these heaters is massive although like I've said sometimes it can go ages without turning off.