Gas versus diesel heating?

Spit2 · Member

Gas versus diesel heating?

KFT · Guru

Hello Penny,

our 2010, 22' caravan has a Truma LPG heater installed under one of the seats. It runs on the LPG already installed in the van, It runs on 12volt, the thermostat is beside the bed. It is quiet inside and out and extremely efficient at heating the whole van quite quickly from start up.

These units are said to be "maintenance free" by the manufacturer, unlike diesel units which as I understand it do need a service every now and then.

The LPG heater uses very little gas and next to no battery power.

We would not have a van without one now

hope that helps

Spit2 · Member

Thanks so much for the info. I am leaning towards the gas heater but just need to decide.
Cheers
Penny

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

There are several types of diesel and gas heaters.
There are air heaters and there are water heaters.

I have had a gas hot water service in the OKA for 10 years, but no 'central' heating.
I will soon remove the gas HWS and replace it with a Webasto Thermo Top E diesel water heater that heats the water AND the camper area (it will also pre heat the engine if required in sub zero conditions and the engine can heat the hot water service too).
Diesel is much cheaper than bottled gas and weighs much less too (because of the weight of the bottles).

I would then expect that 4kg of gas will last about 3 months for cooking only.

Cheers,
Peter

Spit2 · Member

Thanks Pete, it was for heating the caravan on those chilly mornings.
Cheers
Penny.

elliemike · Guru

Hit the SEARCH button at the top of the page and enter something like "Diesel Heater" or "Eberspacher" Webasto maybe.

Few past threads on this subject.

sandsmere · Guru

KFT wrote:
Hello Penny,

our 2010, 22' caravan has a Truma LPG heater installed under one of the seats. It runs on the LPG already installed in the van, It runs on 12volt, the thermostat is beside the bed. It is quiet inside and out and extremely efficient at heating the whole van quite quickly from start up.

These units are said to be "maintenance free" by the manufacturer, unlike diesel units which as I understand it do need a service every now and then.

The LPG heater uses very little gas and next to no battery power.

We would not have a van without one now

hope that helps

We have the same as this.
Runs a lot quieter than the diesel ones.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I have a Truma gas heater in my new Den and even though I have only used it a couple of times on couple of chilly mornings I have found it great. I got the gas as as I already have 2x9kg gas bottles up front so no need to store diesel. I was also told the gas heaters are quiet.

Noooooo way are they quiet. I find the fan and when the heater actually kicks in a little noisy. I say little as after a while I don't take any notice of it. So it's not that bad really.

PeterInSa · Guru

I have Diesel heating Mate has Gas, we bush camp quite a bit so to me Diesel was abetter cost benefits option ( Have paid $55 for a 9Kg LPG gas bottle refill) But his unit is a lot quieter than my Diesel unit so If I was installing again I would go Gas.

Peter

Bruce and Bev · Guru

if you just want to heat your van up in the morning, the cheapest option is to light one of the gas burners on your stove. And to utilize your gas better, boil up the hot water for your tea/coffee and cook your breakfast (in my wifes case, she always has a boiled egg). In the 5 mins of 2 gas burners going, our van is very warm (too warm I summer, so door is open)

Delta18 · Guru

I was pondering this conundrum recently and finally decided on the diesel unit.

When free camping a gas bottle only lasts me 10 days max now just using HWS and cooking, and in remote WA is very expensive to re-fill and can only get it in certain places.

On the other hand diesel is available anywhere , is relatively cheap & I always have a 20L drum on board anyway as spare for the car.

I opted for a diesel unit.

As for noise, apart from the initial startup, once I turn it down to Low setting (after about 5 minutes) I am straining trying to hear if it is still running, it is so quiet.

-- Edited by Delta18 on Saturday 27th of December 2014 01:15:11 PM

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

call me old fashioned and probably outta date .... but if it is a cold night, then I am in bed by 9pm. hmm

I find these 'heaters' are very handy if it gets a bit chilly in the van. Cheap, noiseless, and last for years.

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Cheers - John

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Bruce and Bev wrote:
if you just want to heat your van up in the morning, the cheapest option is to light one of the gas burners on your stove. And to utilize your gas better, boil up the hot water for your tea/coffee and cook your breakfast (in my wifes case, she always has a boiled egg). In the 5 mins of 2 gas burners going, our van is very warm (too warm I summer, so door is open)

Using your stove to warm the van is a very dangerous practice. Adequate ventilation should always be used when running the stove for cooking.

Burning gas produces CO (carbon monoxide) which is an invisible gas with no smell that is highly poisonous.

It is common for people to simply nod off to sleep and never wake. It is sometimes called "sleeping death". There were 2 deaths in Australia recently when a stove was used in a tent.

Gas or diesel heaters are vented to the outside to avoid this problem.

Cheers,

Peter

Gundog · Guru

I'm with you John

bloody heaters make it stuffy inside, even in the dead of winter I sleep with the window open (nothing better than fresh air).

elliemike · Guru

Gundog wrote:
I'm with you John

bloody heaters make it stuffy inside, even in the dead of winter I sleep with the window open (nothing better than fresh air).

So do we keep windows open Gundog.

In fact even with the heater going we keep windows open and the Eberspacher Heater on low just ticking over keeping the Avan very cosy.

We never need it when in bed sleeping. We have never been able to put it on full belt as we would melt in the small Avan Cruiseliner.

Having a Diesel heater (or Gas) heater really gives you the option of staying "comfortably" in bush camps or unpowered camps in National Parks etc. Rather than in cold weather having to choose CP's to plug into.

My wife although reasonably fit for her age suffers from a bit of arthritis, making cold / cool mornings a slow process of waiting for the joints to wake up. With the Diesel Heater switched on when we wake up the van is warm in no time.

We can camp all the year around as required. Anywhere.

Spit2 · Member

Thank you all, the comments are all relevant and some are funny but completely understandable. I think thenonlynoption is to toss a coin because there are two sides and there is little dividing them.
Cheers and have a merry Xmas.
penny n Pete.

rockylizard · Guru

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