From my days in Alaska I've still got an Alaska goose down sleeping
robe. Jack Frost - bring it on!!!

John

On 10/31/2013 5:51 PM, Al Knoll wrote:
> New dog? or two?
>
> Woolies?
>
> A legendary organic squirrel coat?
>
> Pensionerd.
>
> On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 6:49 PM, tom ring <taring@taring.org> wrote:
>> I am going to do a one night camp at Surly Darkness tomorrow night and have
>> been experimenting with ways to add some extra heat independent of my propane
>> catalytic unit.
>>
>> I am doing a couple of things, both are quite simple.
>>
>> First, preheat the interior as much as possible.  I am using a 1200 watt
>> electric heater running at 500 watts (low).  My current outside temperature is
>> 39F, and my van has been at 75F for over 24 hours.  There is a lot of heat
>> stored in the interior, especially the 150 lbs of the battery bank.
>>
>> Second, to heat things up quickly (when the interior was at 37F yesterday), I
>> bought 2 4.5 gallon water containers from Fleet Farm.  They actually hold 5.5
>> gallons or 46 lbs of water.  My hot water temperature at home is 148F.  If you
>> do some simple math where 1 lb of water heated 1 degree F, or cooled, is 1 BTU.
>>   I am assuming the low temperature cutoff is 80F.  So (148-80) * 46 is 3128
>> BTUs.  I have 2 of those containers.  That is more than 2 hours of my propane
>> 3000 BTU heater.  I am using those during the preheat stage and will refill
>> them for the camping stage.
>>
>> I also plan to fill the tank in the van with the same temperature water and
>> leave the top cover open.  I think that's another 11 gallons, so would add
>> 2*3128 or 6256 BTUs.  Between that, the van 24 hour preheat, my body heat,
>> waste heat from the fridge, and the heater, I expect I will be very snug
>> tomorrow night at Darkness Day Eve.  Overnight temperatures are expected to be
>> around freezing depending on cloud cover.
>>
>> I hope someone else from the list will be there.  We see people from all over
>> the continent.  Good beer, good people.
>>
>> tom
>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------
>> Tom Ring K0TAR EN34hx
>>
>> Never attribute to engineers that into which politicians, lawyers,
>> accountants, and marketeers have poked their fingers.
>> -----------------------------------------
>