Ski RV's, who's sleeping in parking lots?

[fleaches]

Resistive heat off of a battery is pretty tough. You'll drain even a big one really quickly. 200Ah lithiums by various Amazon "brands" are ~$650 and are reliable, but would only go a few hours powering a heater. You can do the math on how much run time you'd get out of a hair dryer etc.
Charging one of them will take forever unless you have a pretty high-powered charger as well.

Diesel heaters are $150 and use negligible fuel. Your Insta chick would be much more stoked on a warm night....

This, heating things off batteries is hard.


The one exception I can think of is if anyone is making a portable heat pump you could run on 12v. That could potentially be efficient enough that getting electric heat wouldn't be crazy

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[charlesj]

Thanks for all the good advice! I would not be looking to run any heat for very long, will need to charge camera batteries and laptop. I have a lot of the basic stuff figured out already. I do use hot water in a Nalgene bottle., I have a really good Exped mattress (I was using a thin backpacking sleeping pad for years. last season I figured that was fine for winter camping but I could afford the space and weight in the van for something much better.) The hot insta chick would require that I re-engineer my bed and get the double wide mattress. I’ll cross that bridge if and when I need to


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[byates1]

one of my favorite vanners...

[DanoT]

I have been using Dry N Warm boot dryers for years. I think they draw 16 watts. Power them with one of those Jackery etc. lithium power packs, plug the boot dryers into a timer set to go on a few hours before you wake up.
https://buckmans.com/product/9515/dr...and-pre-warmer

[johnnyg82]

Here’s something interesting, pricy, but interesting;

https://ca.ecoflow.com/products/wave...43731088670874

[rpearce1475]

In multiple reviews "the heating element essentially does not work below 40, maybe 35 degrees"

[beaterdit]

Here’s something interesting, pricy, but interesting;

https://ca.ecoflow.com/products/wave...43731088670874

Seems like electric heating doesn't make sense because it's all resistive and power inefficient. The current diesel heaters are bomb proof and cheap. Even the gasoline heaters though finicky and for the most part expensive, work well when set up properly. Price will come down for the gasoline versions and one is already available from Velit for 30% of the cost of the originals. Mine's not installed yet but others have it use in the states and it apparently works as advertised.

If cooling ever becomes a need for me I'll go with this unit also from Velit. More powerful and more efficient than that Ecoflow unit. Still an electron hog though. Their rooftop units are proven and also more efficient than the competition at a much lower cost.

The company seems to be doing good things.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Thread adjacent:

Anyone else besides Trackhead running a chinese diesel heater to heat a shop/garage? Thinking of setting mine up to heat my shop somewhat. Kinda don't want to drill any holes for the exhaust but can't think of any alternative really.

[skaredshtles]

Thread adjacent:

Anyone else besides Trackhead running a chinese diesel heater to heat a shop/garage? Thinking of setting mine up to heat my shop somewhat. Kinda don't want to drill any holes for the exhaust but can't think of any alternative really.

Have you looked into portable heat pumps at all?

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Have you looked into portable heat pumps at all?

Not really. My shop is big and insulated and has a woodstove. I can get it stoked and good coals and really rocking and by the morning it's pretty much cooled back down and like 30 degrees inside if it's 10 degrees outside. Next summer I could dig a trench and get NG over to the shop from the house.....I could also have an electrician come in possibly and wire up 220. One or both needed for a real Reznor heater. A 110v solution that could get me through this winter would be great. Running the diesel heater using a 110v to 12v DC inverter seems pretty easy.

Edit: Previous owner left one of these here in a bedroom. Basically brand new.

https://perfectaire.us/products/9-00...44633772917052

Remote control has a "heat" mode, but the product website doesn't say anything about heat.

[singlecross]

Thread adjacent:

Anyone else besides Trackhead running a chinese diesel heater to heat a shop/garage? Thinking of setting mine up to heat my shop somewhat. Kinda don't want to drill any holes for the exhaust but can't think of any alternative really.

Yes, I use mine at my workbench in our barn. Works well if you’re standing in front of the heat duct… I wouldn’t really expect it to actually heat a space much larger than a single bay garage. I did drill a hole in the barn wall to vent the exhaust. If you need to heat a larger space, a propane salamander heater is better if you have power or a kerosene heater if no power.

[Trackhead]

My garage and garage door are insulated and it’s easy to get it to 55-60 deg in Montana winter.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

20 x 30 space with high ceilings is probably asking too much? Even with walls/ceiling insulated and garage door insulated.

I'll mess around with woodstove and diesel heater going and see how it goes.

[CptnCrunch]

I use a 2K diesel heater to heat my 12’ x 15’ well insulated work room in my shop. 8’ ceilings. Works well. Unit mounted outside with heat ducted inside with a return duct back to the heater. I’d use a 5K unit if I did it again. Been burning 25% mix of waste motor oil.

[apex dave]

Last week I helped a friend install a suitcase heater in his old flat bed quad cab work truck. He is a faller working in the far north of BC and Alberta where -30C is not uncommon. The outlet faces the dash and the exhaust pipe goes out through a hole in the back. Pretty simple really. He will turn it on when he returns from the field to warm up the cab. The self contained suitcase will also let him heat the truck engine or side by side under a tarp if needed.
IMHO it works well and puts out a decent amount of heat especially for his application.
I doubt it would heat a garage even if well insulated. I also didn't like the burning rubber smell but the internet says that will burn off.
I heated a large, insulated high ceiling double garage with an inexpensive 220v construction heater. Instant on and used it only when needed so not too expensive on power. That was in Ontario so not -30 but still mid -10s. The shop had twin ceiling fans to push the heat around.
https://www.princessauto.com/en/4800...t/PA0008993263
The instructions for the diesel heater specifically said not to use it in garages or homes but that doesn't make sense to me.

[thommy21]

Saw this in the Rodeo lot at Snowmass yesterday . Isuzu truck platform

[BFD]

first Rossmonster, looked nice. Would of thought he could of found a better place to take it. These are desperate times.

[MakersTeleMark]

One box for deer, the other for elk. Needs moar condiments though.

[alpinevibes]

Saw this in the Rodeo lot at Snowmass yesterday . Isuzu truck platform

That guys been living/boondocking around Aspen for a few years now. Solid setup

[climberevan]

That guys been living/boondocking around Aspen for a few years now. Solid setup

I have looked into doing a forward cab truck build pretty extensively. Even though it doesn't make a lot of sense (poor fuel economy, no pass-through, uncomfortable and loud), I still can't stop thinking about it. The idea of taking an empty 18' box and turning it into a super space efficient RV is appealing. If the 4x4 versions weren't so costly that would be a strong selling point.

[Name Redacted]

I have looked into doing a forward cab truck build pretty extensively. Even though it doesn't make a lot of sense (poor fuel economy, no pass-through, uncomfortable and loud), I still can't stop thinking about it. The idea of taking an empty 18' box and turning it into a super space efficient RV is appealing. If the 4x4 versions weren't so costly that would be a strong selling point.

This guy got a NPR converted to 4wd: https://expeditionportal.com/classif...zu-npr-hd-4x4/

[alpinevibes]

For sure and I have a hankering for the forward builds, in concept, but they drive pretty terribly from my
experience. We have a few older Mitsubishis at work and compared to my various transits [yes, not apples to apples, but…] it’s pretty unideal for road miles.


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[Harry]

I have looked into doing a forward cab truck build pretty extensively. Even though it doesn't make a lot of sense (poor fuel economy, no pass-through, uncomfortable and loud), I still can't stop thinking about it. The idea of taking an empty 18' box and turning it into a super space efficient RV is appealing. If the 4x4 versions weren't so costly that would be a strong selling point.

Why couldn’t you do a pass-through ?


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[singlecross]

Why couldn’t you do a pass-through ?


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The entire cab flips forward to service the engine which you are essentially sitting on top of. I drove an Isuzu forward cab flatbed for work for a few years and agree that there are much better choices for a distance travelling vehicle.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Drove an Isuzu NPR box truck for work for a bit. 35 mile trips were a fucking chore. I would never ever want to drive one of those as an RV. It's the kind of truck probably not many people have actually driven. They kinda blow.


These have gotten so cheap that it's not worth building your own anymore. I'm gonna grab another for a dedicated shop setup.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...BAJY6ZY2&psc=1