On  1 Oct 95, Cetin Seren wrote:

> However, 1500 watts of continuous heating is enough to bake the
> insides of a VW van almost anywhere, any temp (well, maybe not where
> Tobin and Christa passed through in Canada).  I would imagine a 500
> watt heater would be more than enough for most reasonable climates.

i can vouch that 1500 watts doesn't do much in REAL cold weather .
those infamous 110v ceramic (or even just plain resistive, its all
nearly 100% efficient despite marketing claims) heaters crank out 1500
watts or 5200 BTU.  this won't do much when the temps drop below 0 F. 
dropping the output to 500 watts will barely keep your toes warm. 
the under seat heater in a wasserboxer is probably around 10,000 to
13,000 BTU (a complete guess) and that still needs the front heater
on also.

please temper my comments with respect to our winter weather-- we see 
a meeting of the english and metric system each year... -40 F = -40 C 

-dan