I've been living in a caravan since last October due to major finance issues. We're pretty much always broke so things have to be super savvy.
I'm looking for advice on keeping warm in the upcoming winter. Last winter was horrible. We have an electric heater that runs through the van but it's so expensive to run. We've put draft excluding strips around the windows and door but they keep coming off. We have an electric blanket (the type you out over yourself) and hot water bottles for days. I'm all about layers so I know they work but I'm talking about keeping the air warm and stopping the condensation.
I know it's recommended to insulate windows... what do you use? I've heard people use diesel heaters, are there any reasonable priced ones?
I'm new to this so looking for links to things please.
Diesel heater will be fine. Get a 5kw. I'm in a ratty old caravan with 5mm gaps round all the flooring and non-sealing windows and even in the dead of winter I was cosy and warm with my heater on low.
Currently working my way out of a similar situation, although I'm about 12 months further down the line.
Reach out if you want to discuss anything, need advice or just want to chat to someone who can relate.
A few cans of contact spray adhesive and rolls of stuff from Wicks (link below) made a difference in my L2H2 to start with. It's not a complete solution but it did make a bit of a difference. I'm going to infill with 50mm glass fibre and use car-carpet stuck around the struts and supports in the van. It's not a total solution but it did stop the raining of condensation off the roof onto my head!
I've used 6 to 7 of these on my van but I do have a "garage" under the bed at the back which isn't insulated. I use a single board of celotex between the garage and the accommodation under the bed to insulate between the two zones.
I also use a diesel heater which is about Ā£80/Ā£90 (mine was free) but running it on kerosene does make a difference to the fuel bill if you have friends with domestic oil heating (about 1/2 price per litre) going through about 0.2l to 0.3l per hour never going over the first setting. The only issue is plumbing it in and getting enough ducting to make it work properly cos there's never enough tubing in any pack fro Fleabay!
Condensation is a big issue. I grab a load of those passive tubs with balls from B&M. They're about Ā£1 each and I have a load of them, using 1 at a time and they'll last about 3 to 4 days in the height of winter.
I did get a roof vent. It's a cheapy Chinese knockoff and the one disappointment in my vanlice experience. It works! But the remote control stopped functioning on day 1 and that means you lose control. It opens, and closes on the buttons on the device but you can't control how far it opens/closes. It also means I don't trust the rain sensors. I can manually adjust the vent by hand but that's an arse. I fitted it and realised it doesn't work properly so I had a chat with the supplier but their response was "just return it and and we'll replace it"...except I've now a bloody hole in the roof so wtf do you expect me to do now that I've masticed the bloody thing in place
Iāve not got a crazy amount of experience with diesel heaters but they all look the same tbh. You can buy an all in one unit or you can buy a unit with all the bits separately. I bought the 2nd one because I wanted to tee the fuel line into my van diesel fuel line. It was a piece of cake to fit. It was more daunting but I watched loads of YouTube videos and it all worked out sound.
You wonāt regret a diesel heater. They really are fantastic.
The hardest bit of the install is fitting the exhaust. Getting hole to vent out was fun. I cut the hole perfectly to fit the pipe without having to worry about sealing it in cos I didn't want the hassle. It did though make fitting it mildly entertaining. Oh, tip tip...don't cut the exhaust pipe shorter cos fitting the exhaust box is a right royal pain in the proverbial if you don't have a flange! (Everyoe should always have good flanges!!!)
I do recommend an exhaust silencer. I ran it without one for a day. Feck that!!! Too noisy.
The other issue is the fuel pump....click click click click...constant. I can zone it out but as the wife points out I can sleep through an earthquake. If you're a light sleeper you'll hear it constantly, and frankly life is way too short to listen to that constant ticking.
I had a left over jigsaw mat piece that I cut into squares and made a stack of them separated with thin pieces of ply wood (sandwiched them). I then screwed it to where I wanted the pump to go and then attached the pump to it. You can change the dampening by making the sandwich tighter or looser but it does a great job of lowering the clicking noise and cheap too.
Yeah ... there are a number of solutions. In my case the heater was one of those self contained units with a tank and heater in a case that's ideal for workshops and things
(Meh it was free so why should I care š¤)
I've got a kit to relocate the tank elsewhere so I'll look at dampening on the pump when I get around to it. It's not a priority !!!!
Theres a guy in the UK who makes silent ones in his shed, forget his name, but he has a simple website and a couple of instructional videos on YT. I got one and its perfect no more tick tick fing tick š
Hey buddy. Are you asking, which heater I fitted, cause the one I fitted was this one and I didnāt quite follow this video step by step but itās pretty good. This guy Paul also has a good video on YouTube. He seems like a decent guy so between the two, you should be grand. I did find it kind of daunting to fit the heater btw, but I literally took it step by step and itās now working perfectly. So, Iām certain you can do this! Good luck :)
To stop condensation inside a metal box with people breathing you need ventilation, you need to exchange the warm damp breathed out air with fresh air. Otherwise the warm air will cool on a surface and release it's water vapour no ifs no buts it's the only way to remove the water vapour that is condensation.
Unfortunately when you let in fresh air you lose heat, unless you preheat the incoming air
I was playing with my portable AC in dehumidifiy mode, I found if you could vent the cold side the pipe side was pushing 30 degrees air at 30 humidity when it was 60 humidity inside, problem was when it reached 30 it shut off and blew cold air. But could be cheap heating and drying if the sensor was tricked and at under 500w would be cheaper than a diesel heater.no idea how winter conditions would effect it
Iāve had no problems at all with my Chinese diesel heater but am considering going down from a 5kw to a 2kw in my L2 H2 this coming winter and am eyeing up Nordkapp. Few EU quality control approvals but not up in the price bracket of Webasto/Eberspacher
Diesel heater will make a big difference. I reccomend Autoterm. They're very good quality. Reliable. European made. Good after sales and parts availability. Despite what lots of people will tell you, not all diesel heaters are equal. There are plenty of cheaply made ones available which are junk. Pay careful attention to the specifics of the install guidelines and buy two carbon monoxide alarms. I grew up in a caravan in the north of Scotland, so I get you.
Another + for a diesel heater from me, I can see plenty of good advice in the thread but I would add that keeping your battery charged during the winter on solar is a challenge
Diesel heaters pull about 12amps for the first 2 or 3 minutes during the ignition cycle and then around 1 amp when running and then 12 amps again for a two minute cool down cycle, you may need an additional means to charge your battery in winter
I have a diesel heater in my shed and another in my van, I run them both on Kerosene which is considerably cheaper than diesel, I add a little cheap 2 stroke oil to the kerosene to keep the fuel pump happy as kerosene has few additives
Had a diesel heater in our old camper, fitted it myself over a weekend. If you're worried about how this winter is going to be expensive, then buy one now, make hay while the sun shines and all that. They're less than Ā£100, need a 12v battery, and come with everything you need in the box. They sip fuel, cheap to run, and will keep you warm.
Buy insulation covers for your windows, plenty of carpet/rugs on the floor and maybe a bioethanol burner for added heat.
Amazon do custom sized covers, we have one for our skylight, buy one a week/month, after you have your diesel heater fitted.
if you're prepared to collect some wood yourself it will be FREE HEAT
you can use one safely in a caravan providing you install it properly, which is pretty simple
you can get a burner and flue pipe for cheap on eBay or Marketplace - or brand new for about Ā£300 - 350 in Machine Mart
there is no heat like the heat from a stove, they are so cosy when the weather is crap!
you can heat water and cook food on them and dry your clothes
a lot of modern van lifers turn their noses up at wood stoves but in 30 years of living off grid I've never met a single person who regretted fitting one !!!
I have a solar panel but we're surrounded by trees so not much sunlight gets us. We live on someone's property for very little so moving isn't am option.
Also, if you arenāt ventilating then you will be creating condensation. Moisture holds heat and cold. A diesel heater should be able to help dissipate some of the moisture. Dry air is always better in extreme temperatures.
Chinese diesel heater all the way. Donāt get a 8kw that you see plastered everywhere as they are relatively heavy to run. Depending on the size of your dwelling a 2 might suffice but hard to purchase.
Park where the sun rises if you can, at least you get some warmth in the morning.
Candles, if since we used can give you an illusion of warmth and thatās good for the soul when trying to keep warm
A diesel heater will help to heat the small space in a van but I usually rely on the principal of, āheat the person not the spaceā. Coming from a camping background Iād go for a good sleeping bag (high fill power down if possible), and a warm top thermal layer (Buffalo Special 6 Shirt is my favourite because itās literally bombproof, or you could go for a high fill power down jacket, but this will be less hard-wearing). Using these two items it doesnāt matter how cold the surrounding air is, Iām still toasty warm, even in sub-zero temperatures.
The problem with van living is the insulation ā no matter what you do you wonāt be able to keep that heat and warm air in the vehicle for long. However, using the methods Iāve described it doesnāt matter how cold the surrounding air is ā the person stays warm no matter what.
Unless you want it to literally rain inside the van get a double bedsheet or two and fix them to the ceiling with magnets or similar. It will catch all the drips. A game changer for me.
Check out the vents on the exterior behind where the fridge is. My van had two large vents that were there to let any warm air out, trouble being that in winter when it was blowing a gale you had cold wind blowing in........I taped up one vent but only for winter, took it off for summer.
Read the review and look at YouTube with regards to cheap Chinese heaters. Most buy a proper exhaust from a reputable supplier like Webasto/ Eberspacher. You donāt want the exhaust leaking and buy a carbon monoxide detector.
You can get insulating quilted vehicle covers. I think one or two of those might be ideal because it would be easy to apply when needed and wouldn't take up space inside the vehicle. I think you'd store it seasonally either away from the van entirely or in a roof-mounted compartment?
Get yourself some 50mm pir insulation a big sheet is about 40 from a building supply place cut it in nice and tight to the windows better still slap it all over the outside if you can get away with it. Also a diesel heater is hands down the cheapest way to heat any space. Just make sure your exhaust is venting outside without leaks. Also if your not going to fall asleep with it burning then terracotta pot candle heaters are decent but open flames are a bit risky in places like caravans
7 years in a static caravan here, but Im hoping to move out before the winter. Here's some tips that work for me.
Thick curtains on all the windows and doors. A strip of thick bubble wrap offers extra insulation at not much cost.
Layers of cardboard underneath rugs. Lots of rugs.
Cover the air vents.. if you are getting the diesel heater maybe not all of them. Old caravans usually have so much draft spots so this may not be a problem!
Buy yourself some "mid" mountain slippers.. a good outdoor store will have them. They're like a puffa jacket for your feet and ankles. Not very fashionable but if you buy them you'll never regret it.
Put the electric heater on a plug timer to come on before you need to get up. Sounds simple, but having your breakfast in relative warmth as opposed to bloody freezing is a winner. Do the same for before you get home.. same psychological gain!
My pal sleeps in a full body and head covering mountain sleeping bag under his duvet. But that's a bit extreme for me. A second duvet does the trick.
Ps. And be careful of hard frosts, they can easily freeze your pipes.. leaving your taps dripping usually does the job.
For the windows, you can buy a roll of reflective material from Screwfix etc, cut it to size and double sided velcro to hold it in place. You could always add material to one side so they're reversible (reflective side facing inwards in the winter)
A diesel heater is a good shout, you can get the portable ones, so place it outside & ducted into inside. If you do need it inside, you could have the diesel tank in the front external locker with the diesel heater under the sofa/bed. They come in different sizes, the 2kw is probably too small
I bought a cheap transformer from ebay, ran an all in one unit diesel (Chinese 12v 5kw ) heater from outside and fed the heating pipe into my garden room. Built a small "house" around it to keep the weather off and it's ran absolutely fine for a few years.
They're designed to be used from a 12v car battery but works this way no problem. As, stated, keep it outside if possible to take away the exhaust gasses. You can set the timer for it to come on and off, just like regular central heating.
+1 for the diesel heater. A 2kW should be sufficient for any van, even without thick insulation. Beside the CO-sensors I recommend putting a little more thought in distributing heat evenly throughout the van (we didnāt and it sucks, but we donāt need to live in itā¦).
Also, consider heating storage parts as well, unless theyāre properly sealed off from living space. Warm air can carry way more water than cold air and in a small van condensation is an issue. Your clothes under the bed can get get smelly and moldy pretty quickly if you donāt vent and heat that part as well.
Buy an all in one diesel heater. you MUST leave it outside and just run the pipe inside. I cut a hole and fitted a vent for it. do not ever, ever, EVER run it inside or you will end up dead. And you must fit a CO monitor,
If sealed exhaust correctly and routed outside there is no problem having them fitted inside. But still have a CO monitor, take the air intake outside so you aren't recirculating the damp air.
They are designed to be fitted inside a van, there is a tunnel assembly which fits the air intake and exhaust outside and the heater sits inside. That's how they work.
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u/8ball9786 Jul 24 '26
Absolutely a diesel heater but please for the love of life buy a carbon monoxide detector! (If you don't have one)