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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Dec 2, 2012 16:10:40 GMT
My vans has 35mm Kingspan in the roof and floor and 50mm thick in the sides. This weekend as been the first sub zero trip in the van. There is no heater at the moment ,so we had a gas ring on until bed time,then switched everything off. On Friday night the temp outside was -1.5 and the inside 4.5.Last night was -0.5 and still 4.5 in. So I'm thinking that the insulation is working quite well and what would the temp outside need to go down to before the inside freezes up with no inside heat on? Hoping to get the ebber working before the next trip though as 4.5 * is still quite nippy when you get out of bed.
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Post by whitevanwoman on Dec 2, 2012 16:38:41 GMT
I was away the last weekend in Nov - I've only part insulated the Tranny (floor has 2 layers of camping mats and carpet, ceiling has layer of silver bubble wrap, side door and one back door have sheep fleec inside) and the first night I didn't get there till 1am so just put the gas stove on for a while and got straight into bed. Woke up in the morning and inside temp was 6C, to my surprise, when I looked outside it was frosty, so it must have been subzero. I was really impressed how much warmth such little insulation had retained. I've also got draught excluders for the bottom of the side door and back doors and curtains up in front of side and back doors and between the cab and the back, I have double lined the cab curtain and have also lined it with silver bubble wrap. When I pulled back the cab curtain in the morning there was no condensation on the cab windows but after 5 mins they had misted up, presumably the warm air from the back hitting them. So my new cab curtain has been a huge success and made a considerable difference. My insulating is a work in progress, next job is to do the other back door and then another layer of silver bubble wrap or camping mat on the ceiling, then more sheep fleece behind the side ply linings and inside the cab doors. Any bare metal gets covered in aluminium tape and any little gaps get stuffed with more sheep fleece and or scraps of camping mat, foam rubber, even bubble wrap scraps is better than nothing. I believe the dog generates 0.5 kw heat so I'm also considering getting another ;-) I won't be using the van as much during the winter but it will definitely be used for the odd couple of nights away or even as a local pub stopover so that I can have a drink at Xmas etc. I don't want it to get damp from standing so planning to try to get out in it one night a week / fortnight at least. So I'm also trying to toughen myself on by not lighting my wood burner at home until the point in the day where I'm shivering and can't fit any more clothes on (also partly because I can't afford coal and logs after my horrendous MOT bill) - in all seriousness, I do think living in an un-centrally heated house with no heating at all in my bedroom (last winter my bedroom was 2C for over a week) really has toughened me up, and is probably much healthier. So I reckon as much insulation as I can possibly fit in the van, plus some warm woolly jumpers, my camping gas stove with one of these www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380331003083?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649and 2 dogs, and I could manage. It might not be ideal but there's nothing like a brisk dog walk or a campfire or even just the storm kettle for warming myself up if needs be. I find that I can cope with the cold, its the wet which I find hard - nowhere to dry wet kit, wet dogs, wet towels, wet boots etc - having to keep the side door shut, mud everywhere, everything ends up feeling a little damp to touch, even though my insulation means that the condensation isn't a major problem any more. I end up running the engine with the heater fan going full blast just to try to get some air movement going :-(
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Post by Firefox on Dec 2, 2012 17:20:45 GMT
I have 25mm Kingspan/celotext in the floor and 30-50mm rockwool spaceblanket in the walls and roof. Thick fleece curtains and cab/living curtains also help as do external cab screens but I don't usually have those on for wilding. A small 1.4kw heater or gas ring can get the temp up to 25-30 degrees in no time. I usually find if I switch off heating, even when it is freezing outside I can stay at 5 or 6 degrees or so. O.5kw for dog is amazing! I know humans give off about 0.1kw so dog is great value for weight/size! It is probably all that tongue hanging
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Dec 2, 2012 17:41:16 GMT
This is all good! I need to make a proper fleece cab curtain next.At the moment it's just one of those throws that you cover chairs with,it works but could be thicker.Also the back doors are draughty ,so I need to fix something to the slave door to cover the gap between the two doors.A hot water bottle is good ,but a small dog ( bichon in our case) bathed the day before camping makes a good hot water bottle!!
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Post by Firefox on Dec 2, 2012 17:56:34 GMT
My curtains are made from those throw over fleeces you can buy in Tescos. But I doubed them over to make the window curtains. The cab curtain is a single fleece, but on the other side it has sewn on a cloth curtain and a liner so there are three layers. These layers trap air and make good insulators I find.
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Dec 2, 2012 18:05:16 GMT
That's a good idea! We've got a fleece blanket in the van at the moment .Do you have a curtain rail for the cab curtain?
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Post by Oldish Hippy on Dec 2, 2012 19:43:51 GMT
That's a good idea! We've got a fleece blanket in the van at the moment .Do you have a curtain rail for the cab curtain? simples"curtain wire stretched across support in middle two fleeces one each half, folded in half across the wire take down in two secs and rolled up dont forget wooly hat i survived minus 12 no heating or insulation so i found out lol
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Post by Firefox on Dec 2, 2012 20:35:10 GMT
I do use a brass curtain rail for mine. One of those expanding screw ones and yes it is supported in the middle. The curtain supports are those brass D-rings you can buy.
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Post by whitevanwoman on Dec 2, 2012 23:00:50 GMT
.Also the back doors are draughty ,so I need to fix something to the slave door to cover the gap between the two doors If slave door means the door that doesn't have the handle on it, then that's what I've done as there was a real bad draught coming through where the 2 back doors join. I have used a strip of camping mat on the slave door which is about 10 inches wide from top to bottom of the door join, held in place with drawing pins onto the ply lining of the slave door only. It extends about 5 inches over the join on either side and also covers the lock and the gaps at the top and bottom for the catches etc. Not very stylish but 100% effective. Am planning to cover it with sometime to make it look a bit more attractive. ..A hot water bottle is good ,but a small dog ( bichon in our case) bathed the day before camping makes a good hot water bottle!! And a large collie / labrador sized dog makes an even better one! Unfortunately though his double coat and hot blood means that he gets too hot after about 10 mins lying next to me in bed, and at home he goes and lies on the hearth stone next to the chimney breast, even during the winter, although he has a nice comfy bed on the floor next to it. I might be wrong about the 0.5 kw heat generated by a dog, I heard it somewhere, I suppose it depends on the size of the dog but RTP really does pump out some heat when he's snuggled up to me.
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Post by whitevanwoman on Dec 2, 2012 23:05:42 GMT
I've used curtain wire in my van, much lighter and easier than a pole, and a smaller gap at the top for that nasty cold air and tell tale light to get through. A good tip is to simply run a large hem along the top of the curtain and thread the curtain wire through that instead of using curtain hooks, again less gaps at the top. My curtain wire is supported in the middle with a small cup hook and curtain has a tiny nick in the top so that I unhook the middle support, draw the curtain and then hook the curtain wire back onto the hook again through the nick in the curtain. Fleece is good for this as it doesn't fray along raw edges.
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Dec 3, 2012 7:15:29 GMT
I'm thinking to use a curtain rail as the gap is quite wide and I'm going to use fleece on the inside and black out material on the cab side,so they may be too heavy for a wire.
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Post by Firefox on Dec 3, 2012 7:21:17 GMT
What you can do in the case of a wire or pole is make a small valance to cover the gap at the top which helps insulation and also gets rid of tell tale light for stealth mode.
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Post by n brown on Dec 4, 2012 11:12:29 GMT
another way to curtain the cab is to fix a hook in the 4 corners of the cab and 4 loops of elastic to the curtain. if you have draughty doors you can get a similar rubber trim ie a soft tube like the one thats already there,but self adhesive,so it can go on the door.they have it in my local caravan shop
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Dec 4, 2012 18:54:39 GMT
That sounds good Mr Brown! Any pictures?
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Post by vwT5surfbus on Dec 8, 2012 7:03:56 GMT
some great tips thanks all. you have obviously done a lot of this before!
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Dec 15, 2012 22:27:52 GMT
Bought a fleecy blanket from Dunelm mill today,big enough to make a cab curtain £9.99. Seriously soft blanket its called,available in different colours,mines black.
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