Camping in cold weather vs plumbing & tanks
Ok so I red a lot of posts about insulating the campervan, I live near Montreal Canada, I'm thinking I want to have the possibility to camp out from mid March (23°F avg) to mid December (21°F avg), so...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
This website might be helpful.
Tank-Depot.com
You might also consider that you will be camping longer when it is not cold, and that a grey water tank under the van might be helpful on longer trips?
What about this. I installed a heater core in the back of my pickup, with a tee in each heater line under the hood, going through 5/8" lines under the truck to the heater core. In use, I could open a cargo access door, and turn on the heater fan, then blow warm air into the camper while driving. In actual use, more cold air came in, and the camper was barely warmed at all, but I was young and trying things out.
For your case, a auxillary heater in the back, especially if near the fresh water tank can warm that area a lot, and the warm tank with 20 gallons of water (160 pounds) can give off heat all night long if warmed to say 80F and the area cools to 50F. 30F X 160 pounds = 4800 Btu's.
Another Rv.Net user made a homemade heat exchanger for his water heater. Using 3/4" tubing, he had a tube going up from the outlet of the heater to a high point, then turn down to below the inlet, and piped back into the tank inlet. The tubing was located inside his camper. Because the 140F water is lighter than 90F water, the hot water flows out without a pump, cools off inside the camper, and flows back into the heater. The water heater is limited by it's 8,800 Btu capacity, and that the tubing surface area is pretty small heat exchanger, so it will not give off to much heat.
It is something to think about though. If you have a heater line from your engine go to the dinette area, then a axillary heater, you can put some 3/4" copper tubing in that area, say after the water has been cooled by the heater, then it can warm that storage area. Using a ball valve, you can turn on flow when needed, and shut it off in the summer. You can use a switch near the heater core to turn it on and off as needed.
Fred.
This website might be helpful.
Tank-Depot.com
You might also consider that you will be camping longer when it is not cold, and that a grey water tank under the van might be helpful on longer trips?
What about this. I installed a heater core in the back of my pickup, with a tee in each heater line under the hood, going through 5/8" lines under the truck to the heater core. In use, I could open a cargo access door, and turn on the heater fan, then blow warm air into the camper while driving. In actual use, more cold air came in, and the camper was barely warmed at all, but I was young and trying things out.
For your case, a auxillary heater in the back, especially if near the fresh water tank can warm that area a lot, and the warm tank with 20 gallons of water (160 pounds) can give off heat all night long if warmed to say 80F and the area cools to 50F. 30F X 160 pounds = 4800 Btu's.
Another Rv.Net user made a homemade heat exchanger for his water heater. Using 3/4" tubing, he had a tube going up from the outlet of the heater to a high point, then turn down to below the inlet, and piped back into the tank inlet. The tubing was located inside his camper. Because the 140F water is lighter than 90F water, the hot water flows out without a pump, cools off inside the camper, and flows back into the heater. The water heater is limited by it's 8,800 Btu capacity, and that the tubing surface area is pretty small heat exchanger, so it will not give off to much heat.
It is something to think about though. If you have a heater line from your engine go to the dinette area, then a axillary heater, you can put some 3/4" copper tubing in that area, say after the water has been cooled by the heater, then it can warm that storage area. Using a ball valve, you can turn on flow when needed, and shut it off in the summer. You can use a switch near the heater core to turn it on and off as needed.
Fred.
