1.5 amps at 120 volts will need at least 15 amps at 12. 1.5 amps X 120 volts is 180 watts. This will give you about 565 BTU's/hour of heat. Why?

Dennis

----- Original Message -----
From: Jake de Villiers
Date: Friday, March 2, 2007 3:25 pm
Subject: Re: Alternative Vanagon heaters - Zodi's, Tankless Water Heaters
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM

> I just spent the morning laying out and connecting a Watts Sun
> Touch heat
> mat.
>
> This is very low amperage radiant in-floor heating. I'm putting
> it under
> tile, but it is spec'd for engineered flooring too.
> I see that the 4'0" x 2'6" 120 volt mat draws only 1.5 amps.
>
> Would that be low enough to work off an inverter?
>
> Jake
>
> On 3/2/07, Tom Buese wrote:
> >
> > On Mar 2, 2007, at 11:17 AM, John Rodgers wrote:
> >
> > > The tankless hotwater heater thread prompted my thoughts on
> > > alternative
> > > heat for the inside of the van when camping etc.
> > >
> > > Would not a circulating fan mounted behind a finned heat coil
> > > INSIDE the
> > > van - supplied with hot water from a source OUTSIDE the van -
> when
> > > camping eliminate a lot of problems related to other than
> under the
> > > seat
> > > gas or diesel fired heaters? No fumes, no CO, no CO2, no water
> > > vapor to
> > > condense inside, etc. Just dry heat coming off the coil.
> >
> > Hmmm, or radiant heat thru heat fin tubes or continuous tubes
> in the
> > floor of the vanagon? grin
> > >
> > > The tankless water heater thread reminded me of having seen
> something> > like what I described mounted in a school bus in
> Alaska up near
> > > Fairbanks that had been converted into a camper. It worked mighty
> > > slick.
> > > The owner of the bus had plumbed it with copper tubing,
> installed heat
> > > coils and thermostatically controlled fans, DC circulating
> pumps, and
> > > shutoff valves and quick disconnects at the point where the
> plumbing> > entered and left the bus. System was filled with
> water and antifreeze.
> > > Outside was a drum fitted with a coil of copper tubing down
> inside and
> > > the drum was filled with water with some antifreeze in it.
> The drum
> > > was
> > > up on a steel frame with a half-drum wood stove underneath.
> Wood of
> > > course was the fuel for this contraption. It worked well.
> Was not
> > > extremely portable, but it could be broken down and moved if
> needed.> >
> > > Would not the principles applied in the school bus camper
> be a viable
> > > and safe-for-sleeping-in-cold-weather alternative to the underseat
> > > heaters, catalytic heaters, etc, that are often used in the
> Vanagons?>
> > I have a building under construction now that is using ground source
> > heat pumps connected to 2 large wells (240' each deep)in the ground
> > that extract the water from 1 well, run it thru the heat pumps to
> > heat or cool heat coils/exchangers which provide heated or cooled
> > air, then the water is injected back into the ground w/ the
> 2nd well.
> > Very energy efficient. Not cheap on the front end, but pays for
> > itself over 5-8 years+-. My explanation might be a little
> > simplistic, as I am only the architect, & I rely on my mechanical
> > engineers to actually make these things work, but you are
> going to
> > see more & more of these alternative systems.
> >
> > Now if you can just bring this whole system along w/ you,
> voila, your
> > have nice AC?
> >
> > Tom B.
> > >
> > > Opinions, ideas, and suggestions, anyone???
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > John Rodgers
> > > 88 GL Driver
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com
>