At those temperatures, I leave the windows open....
Miguel

Miguel

On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 8:12 PM, tom ring <taring@taring.org> wrote:

> The plan went quite well.  So well I had to cover the water containers
> with a
> large towel to keep the temperature reasonable.
>
> I got to the site at about 4 PM when it was around 50 and the temp dropped
> into
> the mid 30's by 10 or so.  I also had the cover over the water tank and
> the lid
> above that open after about 9PM.  All in all it kept the van at 65 to 70
> even
> with the top popped until about 1 AM when I finally started up the
> catalytic
> heater.  I probably would have been good all night if I hadn't popped the
> top.
>
> So it's useful for a one night camp a short distance away.
>
> tom
>
> On 24 Oct 2013 at 20:49, tom ring 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.
> > -----------------------------------------
> >
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Tom Ring K0TAR EN34hx
>
> Never attribute to engineers that into which politicians, lawyers,
> accountants, and marketeers have poked their fingers.
> -----------------------------------------
>