How to keep your van warm in the winter?

[joeynbgky]

I have a TCS chief unit. I am not able to put it in a garage. So I guess my only option is to run portable heaters to it with extension cords...

I have 2 questions.


Can I leave my pilot light on on my little giant propane heater? with the van closed up to give it just a little bit of heat?



Can I run a propane line from my tank and put in a little buddy heater and run it off my propane tank? are these things safe?


thank you

 

[Jim Martin]

stick with the electric heaters......even a pilot light with any type of gas will give off bad fumes in a confined area........you also want to make sure you drain the water out your hose and everything .........

 

[joeynbgky]

Thank you so much. Im new to the cold weather thing. so I will have to drain water from solution hoses and all everyday. thats horrible,

 

[bob vawter]

yes and don forget the scraper to get the ice off the INSIDE of yor glass......!

 

[joeynbgky]

lol really?

 

[Scott S.]

anyone ever make an adapter so you can blow air threw your peressure lines to clear the water out for winter weather? im thinking about making one.. i already have a pressure line that has an open end to flood around my water claw.

 

[SRI Cleaning]

If you insulate the van and run an elec. heater, then you shouldnt have to drain the water from the lines. Thats what we do with our box truck. Get a heater with a fan to circulate the warm air around. you can insulate yourself with the semirigid sheets from home depot or have it sprayed.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Bowling Green, Ky, eh?

when it gets "really" cold and windy, 2 elect space heaters won't get it if the van is parked outside in the elements.

You'll need to insulate the van well.
also some kind of blanket-van/RV cover.

be sure to use "at least" 12 gauge wire extension cords.
and no longer in length than you really need

..L.T.A.

 

[everfresh1]

When my worker takes the van home in the cold weather if it's real cold I normally run the electric heater but, I also run anti-freeze through the machine becouse there are always cold spots even with the heater running. I don't have fresh water tanks so i don't have to worry about that but even if you run the heaters there is always a chance that you will lose power, So for me it's better to run the anti-freeze through the system if it's below 20 degrees just to be on the safe side :mrgreen:

 

[paulj]

BTW- that's not the typical Prestone glycol antifreeze you put in the lines. I believe folks use RV antifreeze- the watery red stuff.

As far as making a blower to clear the solution from the lines? Maybe that would save a $.25 per 100 ft. of hose, but personally I just vacuum the water out with the truck's vacuum hose. This is tricky if you are trying to pull it out of the male end of the line by pushing in the spring loaded quick connect and at the same time hold a big old 1 1/2- 2" vacuum hose over it. I suggest getting a male quick connect to just push into the female end of the solution line and vise verse so the solution line is now free to let it's contents drain anywhere for that matter. You could put one end into your 5 gallon slurry mix and then blow the solution through with the blowers exhaust. It's not too much trouble walking to the opposite side of the van to do this.

 

[ken horvath]

Heat from the pilot light can create a stack effect if you exhaust the water heate out of the van. This would cause cold air to be drawn into the van, creating the opposite result you are attempting. Blocking this exhaust will help keep heat in the van when using an electric heater. If you have an ELE 6400 you can use it for Restoration as well as for heating your van. You can operate on as little as one 15amp circuit or you can hook up to 4. This creates heat like (4) 1500 watt heaters. You can set the unit to the temperature of your choice (0-220F) and it has a built in fan so you can blow heated air directly on the areas of concern.

 

[Ed]

A propane or kerosene heater puts moisture back into the air. It hits the cold surfaces and re-freezes and you have ice on the inside as Bob said.

 

[everfresh1]

Heat from the pilot light can create a stack effect if you exhaust the water heate out of the van. This would cause cold air to be drawn into the van, creating the opposite result you are attempting. Blocking this exhaust will help keep heat in the van when using an electric heater. If you have an ELE 6400 you can use it for Restoration as well as for heating your van. You can operate on as little as one 15amp circuit or you can hook up to 4. This creates heat like (4) 1500 watt heaters. You can set the unit to the temperature of your choice (0-220F) and it has a built in fan so you can blow heated air directly on the areas of concern.

No offense but what does a guy from Arizona know about keeping a van warm in the winter? if you run one of those units every night you'll go broke from the electric bill :mrgreen:

 

[everfresh1]

BTW- that's not the typical Prestone glycol antifreeze you put in the lines. I believe folks use RV antifreeze- the watery red stuff.

As far as making a blower to clear the solution from the lines? Maybe that would save a $.25 per 100 ft. of hose, but personally I just vacuum the water out with the truck's vacuum hose. This is tricky if you are trying to pull it out of the male end of the line by pushing in the spring loaded quick connect and at the same time hold a big old 1 1/2- 2" vacuum hose over it. I suggest getting a male quick connect to just push into the female end of the solution line and vise verse so the solution line is now free to let it's contents drain anywhere for that matter. You could put one end into your 5 gallon slurry mix and then blow the solution through with the blowers exhaust. It's not too much trouble walking to the opposite side of the van to do this.

:shock: Thats NOT!! correct you don't use RV anti-freeze EVER!! It doesn't work for that use. You use regular green anti freeze that you put in your car diluted 50-50. before the first job you drain it back into the containers and you can reuse it up to 4 times before you must buy new. As far as blowing your lines I think it's better to just remove the solution line reel and and take it in the house along with your wands. Trust me I've been doing this for many years it's the best and safest way to do it. :mrgreen:

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

I had an insulated van , parked it out side in the winter for five years with a little space heater. Never drained the water out of any hoses or 100gallon water tank , never had to scrape the inside of the van window and never had one thing freeze up.

January - February always pushes the 0 degree temps with wind chills well below zero.

 

[everfresh1]

I had an insulated van , parked it out side in the winter for five years with a little space heater. Never drained the water out of any hoses or 100gallon water tank , never had to scrape the inside of the van window and never had one thing freeze up.

January - February always pushes the 0 degree temps with wind chills well below zero.

Yes that'll work if your van is insulated, my aren't. Plus, doesn't that insulation help keep the heat in when it's hot out? what if you lose power for some reason your screwed.

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

I had an insulated van , parked it out side in the winter for five years with a little space heater. Never drained the water out of any hoses or 100gallon water tank , never had to scrape the inside of the van window and never had one thing freeze up.

January - February always pushes the 0 degree temps with wind chills well below zero.

Yes that'll work if your van is insulated, my aren't. Plus, doesn't that insulation help keep the heat in when it's hot out? what if you lose power for some reason your screwed.

In those five years we never did lose power, but you are right if we did we would have had to figure something out until the power came back on.

 

[John Buxton]

I would use windshield washer fluid instead of anti-freeze. I would also run 2 heaters on different circuits (redundancy).

 

[everfresh1]

I would use windshield washer fluid instead of anti-freeze. I would also run 2 heaters on different circuits (redundancy).

Apparentley you've never used that washer fluid with no heat, If you did it would've froze on you. Have you ever tried to use that stuff before your car heats up? Try it, It will freeze all over your windshield. You should only use regular anti-freeze no RV ant-freeze no windshield washer fluid. Ask any tuckmount manufacturer he'll tell you the same. :mrgreen:

 

[Ron Werner]

as for using propane, One guy here used his LG pilot light to heat the van. Apparently the added moisture can cause rusting inside the truck as well.

With a box truck, the thing is to keep things from freezing when you're away from your home/shop. Nice thing with HZ units, run them for 30 min and get everything good and hot, then its good for a several hours without any extra heat.

 

[hurricane]

I have a box truck. I wrapped the ceiling with the tinfoil bubble wrap and I use an oil based radiator with a heavy duty extension cord. This heater saves money, because the oil stays hot and the heater keeps giving off radiant heat for a while when it shuts off. As soon as the blower fans shut off, no heat at all, so they run all day. I also have a wireless thermometer that transmits to a display in my kitchen, so I always know what's going on. I'm in new england and for 10 years I have never had to drain anything.

 

[SuperFly]

I would use windshield washer fluid instead of anti-freeze. I would also run 2 heaters on different circuits (redundancy).

Exactly what I've used for many many years.. 8)
Van insulation is a plus.. :|
Heater on each side of TM..

Had one of my heaters die :x one night -10f windchill -25f
the other heater kept it +30f and the blue winshield
fluid/insulation saved the TM from a solid freeze.

Its your choice.. Either will work..
:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

In case someone was wondering about my profile (who really cares?)
It isn't working when submit is clicked..