[gwrightson]

I was talking to a friend on sunday  , he is an electician about the problems of keeping frost from van,  he took an interest and suggested  trace heating , not having heard of this before he went into details and seemed to think it would do the job.
he said he would look into it for me and could prob get my van kitted out quite reasonably,and even suggestef could run from a spare battery , in my case the battery for the t/m.
I wait in anticipation, he does seem to know what he is talking about he has his own company suppling low energy light fitting etc for  large companys and industries.

has any body tried this method ?
geoff

[Mark Slaney]

  Isn't trace heating a cable run along a length of a pipe then thermal insulated. Don't how you be able to do a van.

[gwrightson]

mark,
yes that was the impression i got from himhow ever he did seem to think trace wiring placed  in the right paces , and even run around van would do the job.
I got to admit i am not exactly savy on this, but i will wait and see.
geoff

[wynne jones]

mark,
yes that was the impression i got from himhow ever he did seem to think trace wiring placed  in the right paces , and even run around van would do the job.
I got to admit i am not exactly savy on this, but i will wait and see.
geoff

Taking on board hes the expert on this, but my thought would be the total energy in a battery producing heat would not be enough for anything other than a very mild frost. Maybe a super duper insulation job might make it viable.

[John Kelly]

As Wynne says can't see anyway to provide enough energy from a 12 volt battery to heat a van Might be enough to heat the bottom of a seed tray but thats about it.

[Mark Slaney]

  You would have to wrap the van in loads of heat cables, not sure what output they produce. They use trace heating in under floor heating as well.

[Paul Moss]

You could always try spraying your batterys on 

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/07/spray-paint-battery/

[gwrightson]

i am in the same thought mind as you have already stated from your commentsm how ever he did seem confident in what he was saying .

Geoff