VANAGON archives -- November 2013, week 1 (#90)

Date:         Mon, 4 Nov 2013 15:33:28 -0900
Reply-To:     Mark Tuovinen <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark Tuovinen <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Quick and easy auxiliary heat
In-Reply-To:  <52731D5A.9090703@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
The hot water idea is interesting but would not work for us as it would
take up too much space that we use already for other things.  Preheating
the van would not work either as the van would be too warm at first and by
the time we arrived at our destination several hundred miles away the heat
would be gone and we would be sitting there with containers of room
temperature water.  It is an interesting idea though and I applaud the
effort and agree that if it works for someone it is a success and that is
what matters.

When my family was on our 30 day road trip during January 2011 we met up
with several List Members at Valley of Fire State Park near Las Vegas and
camped with them for a few days at various locations.  It seemed like we
Alaskans were the only ones without a heater in our van as every night we
could hear each van in turn as its heater cycled on while we lay snug
inside our 800 weight Goose Down sleeping bags.  It all comes down to what
you are comfortable with, we are too hot at 65F or above while sleeping and
would have windows open, etc.  When we rented a Westy on Oahu we camped at
times with all windows and the sliding door open because it was too hot in
the van.  Without a heater it is a little chilly before bedtime or when you
wake up in the morning but once dressed and moving about it is fine,
especially for those of us whom think 65F is warm and melt into little
puddles of goo above 75F.

Mark in AK  - where we are still mowing lawns, raking leaves, and painting
the trim on the house in November.  Is it me or is there something wrong
with our weather?

On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 7:17 PM, JRodgers <jrodgers113@gmail.com> wrote:

> My spouse and myself.  Did a lot of goose hunting way back in the early
> 70's when I lived out in the bush.  Not a pin feather went to waste!
> Goose feather pillows, goose down sleeping robes. Mostly Canadian
> honkers but with a few snows and brant mixed in.
>
> John
>
>
> On 10/31/2013 9:12 PM, Karl Wolz wrote:
>
>> Made by whom?
>>
>> Karl Wolz
>> Sent from my electronic umbilicus
>>
>>  On Oct 31, 2013, at 4:17 PM, JRodgers <jrodgers113@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>
>>>  From my days in Alaska I've still got an Alaska goose down sleeping
>>> robe. Jack Frost - bring it on!!!
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>  On 10/31/2013 5:51 PM, Al Knoll wrote:
>>>> New dog? or two?
>>>>
>>>> Woolies?
>>>>
>>>> A legendary organic squirrel coat?
>>>>
>>>> Pensionerd.
>>>>
>>>>  On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 6:49 PM, tom ring <taring@taring.org> wrote:
>>>>> I am going to do a one night camp at Surly Darkness tomorrow night and
>>>>> have
>>>>> been experimenting with ways to add some extra heat independent of my
>>>>> propane
>>>>> catalytic unit.
>>>>>
>>>>> I am doing a couple of things, both are quite simple.
>>>>>
>>>>> First, preheat the interior as much as possible.  I am using a 1200
>>>>> watt
>>>>> electric heater running at 500 watts (low).  My current outside
>>>>> temperature is
>>>>> 39F, and my van has been at 75F for over 24 hours.  There is a lot of
>>>>> heat
>>>>> stored in the interior, especially the 150 lbs of the battery bank.
>>>>>
>>>>> Second, to heat things up quickly (when the interior was at 37F
>>>>> yesterday), I
>>>>> bought 2 4.5 gallon water containers from Fleet Farm.  They actually
>>>>> hold 5.5
>>>>> gallons or 46 lbs of water.  My hot water temperature at home is 148F.
>>>>>  If you
>>>>> do some simple math where 1 lb of water heated 1 degree F, or cooled,
>>>>> is 1 BTU.
>>>>>   I am assuming the low temperature cutoff is 80F.  So (148-80) * 46
>>>>> is 3128
>>>>> BTUs.  I have 2 of those containers.  That is more than 2 hours of my
>>>>> propane
>>>>> 3000 BTU heater.  I am using those during the preheat stage and will
>>>>> refill
>>>>> them for the camping stage.
>>>>>
>>>>> I also plan to fill the tank in the van with the same temperature
>>>>> water and
>>>>> leave the top cover open.  I think that's another 11 gallons, so would
>>>>> add
>>>>> 2*3128 or 6256 BTUs.  Between that, the van 24 hour preheat, my body
>>>>> heat,
>>>>> waste heat from the fridge, and the heater, I expect I will be very
>>>>> snug
>>>>> tomorrow night at Darkness Day Eve.  Overnight temperatures are
>>>>> expected to be
>>>>> around freezing depending on cloud cover.
>>>>>
>>>>> I hope someone else from the list will be there.  We see people from
>>>>> all over
>>>>> the continent.  Good beer, good people.
>>>>>
>>>>> tom
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----------------------------------------
>>>>> Tom Ring K0TAR EN34hx
>>>>>
>>>>> Never attribute to engineers that into which politicians, lawyers,
>>>>> accountants, and marketeers have poked their fingers.
>>>>> -----------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  .
>>
>>

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