Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 22:32:13 -0800
Reply-To: Steve <sxs@CONCENTRIC.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Steve <sxs@CONCENTRIC.NET>
Subject: Re: which catalytic heater?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
The short answer is that the 3000btu, in my experience, is adequate and even
preferable for camping where the lows don't get much below25 degrees at night,
although i have camped down to 5 degrees with it and never got cold. There are
lots of variables at play here like how warm you like it, where it will be
mounted, will you be using the poptop, will you insulate your windows, etc.
I use the plat cat in the portable configuration i have described before with the
heater typically sitting on the front table up against the steering wheel when
camping. the thing to keep in mind with these is that they give off radiant
heat...they heat the objects in the van, not the air...hence by having it back
against the steering wheel i heat more of the bus than if i had it mid ship. I
like the small size...this is a real plus for me. when its really cold, it runs
full time...and this is actually more efficient than having lots of off and on
cycles and provides more constant and steady supply of heat....like a little pot
belly stove. If i had the 6000 btu, i suspect it would get too hot too quick to
do this...and there would be lots more on off cycles...whichj draw a lot more
current than constant operation and provides less even heat...hold...then cold
then hot, etc. Harold and the others who have the 6000 btu can tell you whether
this is in fact a problem at more moderate outside temps.
When i got mine, i ran it off of the main starter battery and in two years of use
never ran the battery all the way down to red...it draws .50 amp. (which is 1/3rd
the power draw of the propex) and it is cheap to leave the 3000 btu running all
the time...as it burns only 1/8 a pound of fuel an hour...so if you hook it up to
the main tank you could run it for 80 hours continuously. the 6000 uses twice as
much fuel.
if you do lots of winter camping, though, at cold temps in the single digits to
upper teens and you like it real toasty inside, get the big one.
steve
Carl Turner wrote:
> Tom writes:
> <<<<<<snip>
> 1. What size of heater do I need to keep my westfalia reasonably warm during a
> night of camping? Both Olympian and Plat-cat have two basic sizes, a 3000 and
> 6000 BTU model. Would the smaller 3000 BTU model sufficently heat a vanagon?
> snip
> <<<<<<<<<<
>
> Just as a datapoint for your consideration, I just fired up my Olympian 3100
> that came with my Westfalia for the first time. Didn't blow up so I was happy
> about that ;^) Obviously hasn't been run in some time (and was new in 1990
> apparently) but it fired up and stopped stinking after 15 minutes or so. I'm
> at 6000 feet elevation and it was about 30 degrees outside, 15-20knot wind and
> snowing. I left the unit on high for about 2 1/2 hours to see how it did and
> checked it occasionally with the CO detector from my house (the cheap kind,
> not the kind with the LED readout, alas). The heater was able to take the
> inside temp from the 30 degrees up to about 53 degrees in about 15 minutes as
> monitored by my little stickon LCD thermometer mounted to the overhead shelf
> (about a buck at Kmart BTW!) It ne,ver was able to get above 55 with the wind
> blowing and the window I had cracked open an inch on the windward side but it
> definitely took the chill off the air. Windows didn't start to condensate
> until about 45minutes to an hour into my little test run. Not too bad really.
> I suspect it would have done better if the wind hadn't been blowing so hard.
>
> So I have no way of knowing about the state of the platinum catalyst as to
> contamination or anything and I don't know how efficient this thing should be
> if new so you might take my numbers as kind of a worst case for the smaller
> 3000 BTU sized units.
>
> Depending on the size and cost of the larger 6000 BTU units if I were to be
> buying a new one I might take the suggestion of one of the other listmembers
> and get the larger unit and figure I could always run it at a lower setting if
> it put out too much heat.
>
> BTW, mine is mounted on some cheesy legs and just freestands in the middle of
> the floor. I think I'll try to make a better looking folding platform for it
> at some point so it stores under the back seat a little neater. PO had this
> set up with a T in the propane line under the fridge and the loose hose with
> valve and quick disconnect hides under the fridge when not in use. To hook it
> up I fish the loose end out and connect it to the 18 inch long hose
> permanently mounted to the heater.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Carl Turner
> 84 and 85 Westies
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