A couple of sleeping bags or even some inexpensive queen or king size comforters doubled up would likely make a big difference. Hard to insulate all that steel framing in the back. Layer up over the top of it reduce the heat suck.
A little extra Winter insulation...?
My Van is reasonably insulated; however I sometimes find myself in zero temperatures in the Northeast. When this happens my furnace runs constantly. I have a curtain of warm window material separating the cab from the cabin that helps a great deal - although it was pain to make. I have two sleeping bags that I was thinking of hanging on the rear doors to add additional insulation. I also have a set of blackout curtains that I could hang instead of the sleeping bags. It seems obvious that the sleeping bags would be better...but I thought I would seek the wisdom of the group.
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I use cargo blankets for the cab and rear door curtains. Swing by Goodwill and see if anything is available.
Try isolating the cab too. In our previous van we would hang a curtain across the cab area to try and minimize the amount of cold air coming from the front windows.
Are you trying to keep your sleep area warm during sleep time or you want your whole van area warm the whole time?
Just trying to keep the cabin warmer
Yup. Already done.
Hi @Murph...
Single pane glass is some of the “low lying fruit”. There can be other areas also. @GaryBIS has a thermal loss calculator on his website that you might find handy to consider.
The Cab 🤔 ,,, If you go t,the effort of insulating that, there is still many SF of glass.
www.buildagreenrv.com
Single pane glass is some of the “low lying fruit”. There can be other areas also. @GaryBIS has a thermal loss calculator on his website that you might find handy to consider.
The Cab 🤔 ,,, If you go t,the effort of insulating that, there is still many SF of glass.
Heat Loss Calculator for Camper Van Conversions – Build A Green RV
www.buildagreenrv.com
I reread post 1 and what's the problem you're trying to solve? heater to small? interior to cold?
I'd love to isolate the cab, but the problem is my webasto is under the passenger seat and it pulls air from the footwell of the cab area to figure out what the temperature is. If I seal off the cab area wouldn't it be 95 degrees in back of the van and 40 degrees in the cab area, because the heater would never turn off. There's no way to reroute the air intake. I'm guessing if I bought the thermostat for the webasto I could maybe get around this problem????Try isolating the cab too. In our previous van we would hang a curtain across the cab area to try and minimize the amount of cold air coming from the front windows.
You could still hang a curtain but have it so the webasto vent isn’t blocked. The idea is just limit the amount of cool air coming into the warmed area. In our old van our heater was back by the rear tire but aimed at the side door, so we had to come up with ways to keep that heat from being lost to the front.I'd love to isolate the cab, but the problem is my webasto is under the passenger seat and it pulls air from the footwell of the cab area to figure out what the temperature is. If I seal off the cab area wouldn't it be 95 degrees in back of the van and 40 degrees in the cab area, because the heater would never turn off. There's no way to reroute the air intake. I'm guessing if I bought the thermostat for the webasto I could maybe get around this problem????
I made some janky looking window covers out of extra 3” R10 XPS. As soon as I am able to buy more I’m going to make an interior door cover.
Vans have limitations that simply can't be overcome. At best a van has minimal insulation and an overwhelming number of places for heat loss. In colder climates your best bet is short term warm periods. If you want to sit inside all day you'll need a heat source running constantly and you should never open a door. But if you did that you'd have a real condensation problem.
Hi,Vans have limitations that simply can't be overcome. At best a van has minimal insulation and an overwhelming number of places for heat loss. In colder climates your best bet is short term warm periods. If you want to sit inside all day you'll need a heat source running constantly and you should never open a door. But if you did that you'd have a real condensation problem.
I think this is overstated - we have had cold weather trips that were quite enjoyable and the van was very comfortable.
Banff trip...
VERY cold trip... We had one water problem on this trip, but it was really due to poor design.
A camper van is no different than any other enclosure - you can insulate and seal it well and be quite comfortable even in very cold weather and have a very good time.
Gary
Hmmm, I'll have to think about it. I could fashion something similar if I got a three foot hose that connects to the intake and wraps around the front of the seat through the area in between the seats. Maybe make it detachable so I can stow it out of the way until I really need it. Or, I could see if I can track down one of those remote temp sensors and see if that works...@Jlo11111
Heater under the passenger's seat, not for everyone, but it works for me. When I need to close the cab curtains I have this setup that puts the heater inlet and outlet on the cargo side.
View attachment 91714
My recent cold weather trip was tame in comparison to what ur dealing with. But two things worked for me. 1. A throw rug on the floor. My Floor is FREEZING, no matter how much heat the heater throes out. And 2. a heated mattress pad. I kept that on all night. The heater made the cab too hot so I kept getting up to turn it off. So finally I just left it off:
is there any way to adjust the heat better? Thermostat?The heater made the cab too hot so I kept getting up to turn it off. So finally I just left it off:
There's an on/off timer. I still need to figure that out. Do you know if the esper / webesto heaters have a thermostat?is there any way to adjust the heat better? Thermostat?
Thermostat is a Webasto option, but bad things can happen if it's not run full on. I made sure the rheostat was accessible from the bed.
We encountered bitterly cold weather on the way home from Kip's this week. On the way up, we stayed at a rest stop and an Applebees, so I covered windows. On the way back, we found a little secluded empty park, so I didn't cover anything. We were able to plug in our nominal 1500w electric heater—I say nominal because it is >30 years old. 18° outside, 56° inside overnight, which was perfect sleeping. Webasto when we were up and about could only maintain 67°.
We encountered bitterly cold weather on the way home from Kip's this week. On the way up, we stayed at a rest stop and an Applebees, so I covered windows. On the way back, we found a little secluded empty park, so I didn't cover anything. We were able to plug in our nominal 1500w electric heater—I say nominal because it is >30 years old. 18° outside, 56° inside overnight, which was perfect sleeping. Webasto when we were up and about could only maintain 67°.
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