I would crack a couple windows while I had the heater running. I also have a battery powered fan that I can put in 1 window to draw fresh air in as needed.

The plan would be what you said. Warm it up prior to going to bed if needed, or maybe in the morning if it's cold. However, the forecast has changed from the low 40's at night to the 50's so I am thinking I won't even need it. The heater wouldn't be sitting on the carpet......I have a couple of pavers for it to sit on.

All the tests I have seen people do with these heater shows that they produce zero CO.

The diesel heaters are nice. I would need to find a place to permanently mount it as well as vent the exhaust. This type of heater is what I would go with for a more permanent camper build. For the time being I will try this one out.

Why wouldn't you use it? Is it due to the flame/fire risk? Mounting a heater under the van could be interesting. I am thinking that it would free up a lot of room underneath for filter/heaters/etc if I swapped in a 38 gallon rear tank and removed the front tank.

 

Coleman and Mr. Heater also make even smaller versions of those radiant heaters, with a round sunflowerish-looking head. The Mr. Heater one, called the Little Buddy, claims it'll do 100 sq. ft. Something like that might be a better fit for the van.

 

I saw those when I was researching before. I could be wrong, but I thought they didn't have the saftey features and weren't certified safe for indoor use.

I will get some dimensions or a pic of the heater in the van. I am thinking that it won't take up much room.

 

nah. I use hot bricks/rocks all the time in my tent when I go winter camping. it's just a hot rock. You put it on a towel or trivet, and the thermal mass of the rock emits heat throughout the night. Well not all night. But for the first few hours. The rock dissipates the warmth slowly. It's passive heating. I learned about from two different sources (camping manuals, and while in architecture school, they taught us about thermal mass for passive solar heating. Designers would install massive concrete low-walls on the interior of a greenhouse or south-facing glass facade, and as the sun warmed the concrete during the day, it would retain the energy, and then slowly emit that stored heat throughout the night.)

The only real risk is warming a rock. If you put it too close to the fire, it can flake off or crack, and it might hit someone. SO you have to heat them slowly.

 

Getting closer. Pulled one of the middle row captains chairs. Really opened it up inside and leaves seating for the 3 of us. I also finished cutting out the curtains. I tacked them up with some tape just to get an idea of how they work. I will be a better test tomorrow when the sun's out, but it definitely feels more private.

 

So after it got dark I went out to see how the blackout curtains work. I turned on both dome lights and a LED camping light that I have. I left the front passenger window uncovered for comparison. I also took half of one of the back door curtains off to show the contrast. As you can see, the curtains were not letting any light through




I had also left the windows open so that it would cool off inside and I could test the heater. It was 45* out and probably 50-55* inside the van. I shut the windows and kicked the heater on high. In the amount of time it took me to mount the CO and Smoke alarm, probably 10-15 minutes, it got to the point where it was hot enough that it was uncomfortable. Not sure what the exact temp was, but I definitely felt like I was cooking.

 

So we got back last night from our weekend of urban van camping. Prior to adding the curtains, I had slept in the van a few times on trips and at the track. While it was nice to have the room, it still really felt like you were sleeping in a vehicle. With the curtains it was a different story. At the end of the weekend my middle boy put it best when he said "It was kinda weird driving around a parking lot looking for a place to sleep, but once we got setup with the curtains down the weirdness went away. It felt like I was hanging out in my room at home listening to music and watching movies".

As far as hanging the curtains, I didn't find any magnets locally that were strong enough for cheap. I went to the hardware store to try and figure out the best way to use velcro, but then I saw these adhesive hooks. I purchased them and a pack of safety pins at the Dollar store.


I put the hooks at the corners of the windows with an extra 1 or 2 at the top of the big windows.



Then I used the safety pins to hook the curtains to the window.



Overall it worked pretty well. The hooks can be removed without and damage when I switch to snaps and the cost was $15 total. I will say that with the curtains hanging, they did let some light in around the edges, but it was very minimal and gave a lot of privacy. Adding more hooks would have held it tighter over the windows, but overall it served its purpose.

 

Looking back on how to improve the setup, there are a few things.
1. Better/More organized way to store our gear. While we weren't sleeping would stack both mattresses on one bed and use the other one to put our luggage/supplies.

While this wasn't too bad (actually better than it looks in the pic), next time I think I will spend some time looking for better storage solutions. Maybe just some stack able totes for all the loose items. When it was time to sleep we would move the bags to the front seats to clear the bed area.
2. Some kind of an exhaust fan system would be nice. For air flow and also for any cooking. Most of the cooking I did like this with the barn doors open.

However, the weather didn't cooperate one evening and I ended up using the stove in the van. I did keep the barn doors open and use my camp fan to blow any smoke/fumes etc out the door.


Overall it was pretty relaxing once we setup for the night. Spent the first night at a Wal-Mart and the second in the parking lot of the hotel the rest of the team stayed at. Got to hang out with some snacks and watch movies. I asked my boys how they liked it and they both said we should do it more often.

 

Great set up Jayro with lots of great ideas!
How did you convert your Colman stove to use the flexible hose?
I want to try to mount my stove permanent but that metal tank connector is in the way..

 

I saw those flexible hoses too, and was wondering the same thing.

I don't use propane any though... I switched over to all the dual-fuel style items now.