[Londoner]

Winter is coming and for those of us who had the pleasure of having all their gear frozen solid last year in the van I would like to draw your attention to a website.

www.hurricanelamps.co.uk


They sell a range of heaters but the one that is of particular interest is the Parasene cold frame hanging heater for £19

Provided you don't have it on too high a setting it doesn't smell (that much) and you can leave it on all day in the van so it provides a bit of heat when you are stopped.

[Bonkors]

there is of course the fire hazard. Does anybody do anything different to prevent freezing equipment. Does anyone use Paraffin heaters?

[wightsurf]

How about lpg heaters

[windowwashers]

I have an espacha ( I know I have spelt that wrong but sounds the same  ) in my van, nice and toasty for when I go out in the morning 

[Bonkors]

window washers, have you got any details of such i.e price, where to buy from etc?

[Jeff Brimble]

I have a parrafin as back up for when the elecy goes out and used it for house heating for many years, no smell if you get the wicks trimmed properly.

[geefree]

i like the idea which someone posted on another topic, very small oil filled radiator...
with a thermostat and timer.... plug it in... pop it in the van , set the timer for 4am...

result = lovely warm van in the morning.... 7p hour.

[tradman]

i too have an eberspacher in my landy....luv it. cost me £800 installed. going to get the 7 day timer for this winter tho...so my lad doesn't have to go out into the cold at breccy time. i also use a bungee as a washing line so i can keep drying my clothes during the day. brilliant piece of kit

[thewaterwizard]

   eberspacher ?  £800 ! wot is it any one got a link

[MJH]

This is of interest to me, i got fed up last year with all my pipes freezing up! Any other economical suggestions??

[Nathanael Jones]

I tried the parafin heater,.. the stink nearly killed me, and the one night the wick was set slightly wrong the whole place got covered in very dirty and hard to remove soot.

I'd recommend a LPG water heater,.. heat your tank to a lukewarm temp, 20-25 deg C will do, and it'll act like a giant radiator all night and keep the van frost free.

If you can park near the house and a trailing wire wouldn't be a hazard, any cheap oil filled rad with a frost protect function will do the job too.

[Londoner]

Electric heaters are fine assuming you can run a wire out to your van. Also you can't keep them on in the van during the day.
This paracene heater hangs from a hook in your van so there is no danger of getting knocked over. It uses about a litre of parrafin all week and you just leave it on continuously. It isn't as warm as toast but it just stops it freezing.
If you get smell or even worse smoke it means the wick is way too high.

[geefree]

going for the small timer , oil filled radiator.... will be nice and warm in the morning, the van heater should take care of the rest of the day.