Wacky idea on a heater!!!

[halfdome, Danny]

Endo...do you think if effected tear interior temp? If so how much do you think.. Doug

Hey Doug, our body heat raises the tears temperature almost 10 degrees during the night. We have a clock with a temperature gauge that lights up when touched. I ordered that 12 volt mattress pad heater and will let you know if it raises the ambient temp more than our bodies do. We are still sleeping in it since July. Danny

[Et Cetera]

We have added a foot warmer...

Hey, we have one of those, too!

[dakotamouse]

What a handsome puss! Well maybe we are just a bit biased!

[SkipperSue]

Sorry, I couldn't help myself!

[GPW]

OK !!! A Large Eskimo woman , a dog and a cat with a habit .....

MJ's right , unless you're evacuating , you shouldn't be camping in that kind of weather ... Yo Momma' knows ...

[Psychohillbilly]

Back to page 1.

it might be interesting to see if some of the more scientific types could run some numbers on the BTU's given off by a bulb and what effect it might have on a volume of air inside of a tear...

I am no a scientist but I ran some numbers and:
150 watts = 512 BTUs
100 watts = 341 BTUs
This is assuming 100% efficency and nothing is perfect (execpt my wife)
I found a BTU needs calculator and for 96 cubic feet (about the volume of
a average tear) with poor-insulation and cold climate was:
Min 240 BTUs
Max 480 BTUs
These are interesting numbers and may be of some help.
My concern with the idea is what paint do you use to paint a light bulb??

Chuck

[doug hodder]

Don't paint the light bulb. Just paint the glass housing in the aluminum cage, that surrounds the bulb. There is a paint that can be used on the bulb however, it's called block out paint. The sign industry uses it to block out the areas of neon that you don't want visible. I used to have a can of it around when working at the sign co. It's like painting with syrup. Doug

[halfdome, Danny]

I found this doing a search today. It's a 12 volt seat heater. I'm curious if it could be built into a tear for radiant heating. I guess someone could make a fabric cover for it and mount it on a wall. The side bar of this site also has listed one for a motorcycle seat that probably would be enough. Danny
LINK

[johnson814]

What about 120v ceiling bathroom heater with a fan, mounted in the cabinet area. Just add a thermostat and you should be good to go.

[bdosborn]

Next trailer gets one of these:



http://www.solarhaven.org/HPArticle.htm

Bruce

[doug hodder]

Johnson814...that would work, and would certainly heat it up in a hurry. I was thinking of something that was absolutely silent, so I didn't have to hear it cycle...hence the idea of a light...but now that I think of it, based on your thermostat comment, a rheostat would allow you to control the temps. It would just take some experimentation to figure out how to control the dial for the comfortable temp. Doug

[Psychohillbilly]

Doug,
This is what I bought. It has a bult in thermostat (60 to 80 deg) Wall mountable (removable for the warm season) and cost less than 20 bucks at Wallmart or Lowes. I plan to hang it from my cabnet door.



Chuck

[halfdome, Danny]

Doug,
This is what I bought. It has a bult in thermostat (60 to 80 deg) Wall mountable (removable for the warm season) and cost less than 20 bucks at Wallmart or Lowes. I plan to hang it from my cabnet door.



Chuck

That looks safer since it can be mounted on a wall. I tried out a small ceramic heater & I noticed that even on a 750 watt setting it can get the ceiling of my tear really hot. I wish there was something with less power or had a variable heat setting below 750 watts. My tear is only 12 volt but it wouldn't be that hard to add one circuit of 110 volt. I'll see if our Walmart or Lowes carries that model. Danny

[ARKPAT]

I'm with Bruce on this one.

Good idea.

Just like home.

bdosborn Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 10:23 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next trailer gets one of these:



http://www.solarhaven.org/HPArticle.htm

Bruce

Pat[/img]

[angib]

A heating old fart adds his thoughts:

'Hydronic' sounds really space-age compared to 'pumped hot water'! This is the standard heating system for houses here, so I would add one simplification - the air fan probably isn't required.

If the radiator core is fitted where it can have clear airflow above and below, the air that it heats will rise by convection and create its own circulation. Of course that means it will take a little longer to get the teardrop up to temperature from a cold start - it could be, oh, two or three minutes slower than with a fan!

As an alternative to using the thermostat on the water heater to control the cabin temperature, a domestic thermostat wired in to the water pump would provide better control - that's how my house works. It could even be used to switch the water heater on and off, to save gas when heating is not required, though this probably wouldn't save much as the heater would have to run for longer to get its water up to temperature.

One final simplification is to eliminate the circulating pump by carefully designing the water circuit so that it will thermo-syphon. Like hot air, hot water rises so if the piping rises from the water heater to the radiator core, drops inside the core (as the cabin air cools the water) and then drops back to the water heater, the water will flow itself.

Thermo-syphoning will further slow the response time, but eliminate the water pump (and its noise). This system was used here for domestic hot water production from heating boilers until a few decades ago. It has the one problem that the radiator core has to be turned vertical (like in a car) so that there is a drop from the inlet to the outlet to make the water thermo-syphon - for fan-less convection of the cabin air, the radiator core wants to be horizontal so that air can rise vertically through it easily.

Andrew
(currently being warmed by the hydronic system he installed himself)