My mother in law and her partner are currently camped on our driveway in their camper van. It is a coach built job, four berth with kitchen, shower, toilet, TV and bad taste floral upholstery. It is quite new, only about 3 years old.

Mother in Law is complaining about the weather being ‘perishing’. The are from down south, we love in Scotland. It was only -1c last night so I don’t understand her complaint. Anyway, they are hooked up to our electricity but (not very clever MIL partner) reckons the only heating they have is gas powered. They are therefore sleeping at night with no heating on and I have to listen to a constant commentary through the day of how cold her nose and toes gets at night time.

I’m suspicious of his intellect, he on on the third satellite dish on this van as none of the others could receive Coronation Street and he has never put up the awning as the instructions are too complicated….

So STW, would that be right, is gas only heating normal? Surely a camper van can heat on electricity when hooked up?

Gas-only heating is common. Electric element in there is more expensive and less common but does exist.

Getting a refillable LPG system is a good idea as they you don’t have to run it down to refill and you can refill whenever you fill up with diesel. They you can use the gas with abandon and stay warm.

e.g. https://www.gaslowdirect.com

(edit: you need 3 different nozzle adapters to fill up anywhere in europe).

Aren’t those gas heaters notorious for going wrong and gassing people?

I’m really surprised at that, I thought hot air blowing would be a standard type of heating.

If they are hooked up, surely a fan heater on its lowest setting will get them as warm as toast in 20 minutes?
Otherwise, use the gas blown air system. What’s the problem?

I bought a tiny little 2kw fan heater for our little van. I made sure it has an adjustable element as the power management unit says its rated to 1.8 kw. Works great when plugged in to mains. Obviously doesn’t work off the battery – the sockets only work when connected to mains.

Your suspicions about the old man may be correct.

If they are hooked up, surely a fan heater on its lowest setting will get them as warm as toast in 20 minutes?

Obvious solution is obvious.

I refer you to my previous statement

I’m suspicious of his intellect

He won’t plug a fan heater in as he thinks it is a fire risk

Blow air heating is the standard for campers but it’s gas not electric fueled. Electric heating is very rare. A fan heater for £20 will solve all problems.

Our van heater runs off diesel.

Our motorhome is fairly typical in having a gas-fired Truma heating system. There are versions of that which can work on either gas or electic but many/most are just gas. We carry two small electric heaters (one oil filled which is about 650W and a 2Kw blown air one) and use them on hookup. Agaom, that’s pretty standard for many motorhomers.

We also have one 11kg refillable LPG gas bottle and one 13kg calor one as backup, so do carry a lot of gas.

Aren’t those gas heaters notorious for going wrong and gassing people?

If it happens it must be very, very rare as I’ve never heard about it on any of the forums I’m on. Most folks (including us) fit carbon monoxide alarms as well.

He won’t plug a fan heater in as he thinks it is a fire risk

I can understand this to be honest. Most of them are more open to foreign objects than installed heaters.
How about an oil-filled radiator. There must be small portable ones about.

Even if the heating is gas only, why doesn’t he just turn it on? Am I missing something?

How about an oil-filled radiator. There must be small portable ones about.

There are, and lost of motorhomers use them – especially as they don’t draw a lot of electricity which can be useful on European sites which often have low amperages.

Most truma systems in modern vans will run of both Electric and Gas. Gas heats the van up much quicker though. Get it up to temp with the gas then switch to electric to maintain the temp.

Aren’t those gas heaters notorious for going wrong and gassing people?

No they are not.

Your post was about as helpful as the wrong info you continually post on woodburner threads.

If they are hooked up then get am oil filled radiator in there for now.

My post was tongue-in-cheek but you’re obviously a very serious person.

Off grid – gas powered Propax heater.

On grid – 1.5kw oil filled radiator.

Varients of which are used by millions of campervaners all over the world. I’ve not been gassed or roasted yet.

Most campervans and caravans have both electric and gas heating…or at least they seemed to when we were at the Camping and Caravanning show earlier this year (what a rock and roll live I lead!!). However this is unhelpful as your in-laws van doesn’t have electric heating. My T5 converted van does have an electric heater. It isn’t that good really, on a cold night it is only good enough to take the chill off the air rather than heat up the van.

Probably best to get a radiator or an electric fan heater as others have suggested. Could turn on the gas heating they’ve got too, I would expect that to be pretty effective, if not a bit thirsty on gas (if thirsty is the correct term). Diesel heaters seem to me to be the best option for van heating.

Or maybe the best option is an electric blanket…lower power consumption, is heating them during the night rather than a shed load of empty space.

Get a sneaky photo of the heater, make/model and you be able to use google. IME most are gas or Electric as no-one wants to use expensive gas when hooked up on site.

Otherwise get a oil filled radiator.

My post was tongue-in-cheek but you’re obviously a very serious person.

I see . I’ll treat all your posts as ironic now as the information contained in alot does seem so bad it’s almost ironic but as it’s the internet you never know

Diesel seems like the best option but it’s also the noisiest. VW vans with the factory webasto are so noisy that the guys who camped next to us at the puffer asked us however we managed to sleep in that cold…. We said with the heater on….. Oh we can’t do that it’s impossible to sleep with that jet engine going. -the only noise from our gas heater is the fan …. And it’s 1/3rd the price of diesel to run. Win win

Our Webasto is basically fan noise only. I can’t see why it should be any louder (it’s mounted under the drivers seat so not enclosed either) .

Yours was fitted by professionals maybe. Probably Haas the inlet and exhaust silencers on (costs more )

VW don’t do that as stock nor it seems do many so called pros or home converters judging by the rackets we have ended up parked near.

PS -under the seat….won’t someone think of the children. . you might get gassed ! It should be fitted externally on the roof for safety /tongueincheek

These cheap Chinese copies seem to be pretty good from all accounts. For under £200 you get a wabasto/Eber copy. I was suspicious at first but been following several YouTubers who live in their vans for a good few months now, and over winter so they’ve been used a lot and they seem the real deal. Sure they’re not a good quality as the significantly more expensive premium branded ones so might not last as long, but at that price if they last a few years they don’t owe you anything. Ultimately though, they’re safe so not going to explode or gas you. Think i might take the plunge with my van.

I’ve slept in a van with an Eber and it was fine…not noisy at all inside the van…i didn’t even notice the fan noise, and the unit was mounted on the floor behind the drivers seat so not enclosed in a cabinate at all.

The diesel heaters use sweet FA fuel, the consumption rate is very good so alot cheaper to run than the gas equivalents from what I can tell from my research so far.

Eberspacher (diesel) in my van, but looked a various options before deciding.

Propex has a gas/electric version, they are bulky compared to Eber/Webasto as the whole unit is inside but if you are mostly a van park user and have power why wouldn’t you? https://www.propexheatsource.co.uk/heaters/hs2000e

If it’s only to keep them warm whilst hooked up at yours then a small oil filled radiator will be the easiest.

Long term if I were them I’d have an oil fired Eberspacher or copy of (much cheaper) for running safely.

Mentioned above is the noise they make, this is only when warming up, once upto temperature they are very quiet indeed! they tick over and keep our camper van toasty and warm.

Diesels 1.29 a litre round here.

Gas is 42 pence a litre.

72hrs of constant heat 2 bar heat in the -10 at the puffer (for the wife) +cooking all weekend for 6 and when I filled up I could only get 3 quid back into it.

I’d say gas was pretty frugal as well.

Unless your using calor canisters which is like burning 20 quid notes for fun.

Can’t she just get another duvet, wear a hat and cut the whinging?!

….Or turn on the heating they have?

I just read through the manual for my Webasto (I thought they might have quoted a dB value). They reckon between 0.12 and 0.24 l/h for diesel (0.9 to 2 kW). I guess we’re not running it continually so the impact on the amount of diesel in the tank seems negligible.

Can’t she just get another duvet, wear a hat and cut the whinging?!

Yes yes and no

Whinging is her second favorite past time. Without whinging she would have to dedicate more time into her most favorite past time, racism.

Why don’t they use the vans heater?

Anyway, they are hooked up to our electricity but (not very clever MIL partner) reckons the only heating they have is gas powered.

Double-check that. Our cheapo 19 year old caravan has an electric/gas combo heater.

We used to use an oil filled job in the past. Worked nicely, and was cheap as chips. Loads of places sell them, including B&Q.

Why don’t they use the vans engine…..to start it up and drive it somewhere less cold ?

What’s the best after-market heater for heating a small pop-up roof campervan off grid; e.g. wild camping in winter? Low cost, small, easy to install and cheap to run  ideally.

My mate has recently bought a van and she’s finding out how cold it can be.

Face book.. Look for Chinese deisel heater

What’s the best after-market heater for heating a small pop-up roof campervan off grid; e.g. wild camping in winter? Low cost, small, easy to install and cheap to run ideally.

Sorry but best and low cost are mutually exclusive.

The best is an Eberspacher diesel heater plumbed in to your fuel tank. You can get used ones on eBay and they’re fully rebuildable with good parts availability. They pump out instant heat and sip tiny amounts of diesel.

For low cost, there’s people fitting Chinese copies of the Eberspacher. By all accounts they work very well. I’m sure they work right up until they don’t, which is when you might run into spare parts problems. I believe there’s a facebook group for users if you need info.

I’m a few years out of touch with all the hashtag vanlife stuff but an Eberspacher is top of the list and will be budgeted for and fitted into our next van before anything else. They’re brilliant.

EDIT: Yeah what he said, just before me^^

Without whinging she would have to dedicate more time into her most favorite past time, racism.

Well there’s your solution, don’t tolerate racism and tell them to GTFO your drive for being racist…

They are long gone now. We followed the advice on here and got them a £30 oil storage heater from Argos, seemed to be ideal.

Incidentally I was able to confirm that they definitely do have an inbuilt electric heater. They do have gas heating with its own LPG tank. However they have never put LPG in the tank as they don’t know how to.

Our camper has a chinese diesel powered night heater. On the absolute lowest setting it will tick over quietly and keep the van toasty warm in any weather. Once it’s warmed up the only noise it makes is the gentle clicking of the pump, which you quickly zone out. I gather you can make the clicking quieter using vibration damping but ours seems to be completely inside the van so I don’t think that would change it much. As far as I can tell it uses very little diesel, maybe a litre over 5-6 hours although we usually don’t leave it on all night.