Frost Protection / General Heating - Oil Filled Rad?

[NewForestKnight]

We have an older (T5 / 2008) Cali which is not used so much in winter, maybe once a fortnight or less at times. I keep it on EHU to keep things topped up, but it does get quite a bit of condensation inside the windscreen particularly with the freeze/mild cycles we've been getting.

Was thinking of getting a small oil filled radiator to keep on frost protection setting generally to help with condensation and avoid freezing van bits, but also to use for overnight heating if we're away and its cooler - rather than a fan heater which can be noisy.

Has anyone tried this, and has any recommendations? Is the frost protection likely to work and reduce condensation? Any thoughts welcome!

 

[motoYAKA]

If we are staying at site with electric hookup, we use a small oil filled rad. This keeps the van lovely and toasty when camping in the cold (-4 over a previous new-year stay) and despite the heat escaping when the door is opened, it does come back up to temperature reasonably quickly.

For using to keep the condensation down, the heat option is a good one, but you will need some air flow to allow the moisture to find a way out of the van. If you have condensation causing problems when not staying in the van, that would suggest some moisture sitting in the van itself (a problem I have with the car). Would be better to find the cause and fix that, and dry out the inherent damp issue first.

 

[jimmywease]

Expensive and ungainly, but I would consider a desiccant dehumidifier to seriously dry out your van. Unlike refrigerant dehumidifiers, they work in unheated environments. Unless you have the van in a garage, I think it will be tricky to get it sufficiently ventilated for a radiator to help.

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/meaco-dd8l-zambezi-desiccant-dehumidifier-white-10170824.html

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Ventilation will help; Just leave the driver. /passenger window open a little bit.

Make sure nothing damp has been left in the van.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Ventilation will help; Just leave the driver. /passenger window open a little bit.

Make sure nothing damp has been left in the van.

Heating without ventilation will make the issue worse.

 

[sidepod]

We have an older (T5 / 2008) Cali which is not used so much in winter, maybe once a fortnight or less at times. I keep it on EHU to keep things topped up, but it does get quite a bit of condensation inside the windscreen particularly with the freeze/mild cycles we've been getting.

Was thinking of getting a small oil filled radiator to keep on frost protection setting generally to help with condensation and avoid freezing van bits, but also to use for overnight heating if we're away and its cooler - rather than a fan heater which can be noisy.

Has anyone tried this, and has any recommendations? Is the frost protection likely to work and reduce condensation? Any thoughts welcome!

What’s wrong with programming the night heater to come on every day for half an hour?

 

[Almost bought a california]

Expensive and ungainly, but I would consider a desiccant dehumidifier to seriously dry out your van. Unlike refrigerant dehumidifiers, they work in unheated environments. Unless you have the van in a garage, I think it will be tricky to get it sufficiently ventilated for a radiator to help.

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/meaco-dd8l-zambezi-desiccant-dehumidifier-white-10170824.html

I have the slightly cheaper DD8L junior version and have found it ot be excellent over the last 4 years. I originally bought it for the garage as I have a lathe and mill, etc and it works down to about 5°C however I have found it to be far more useful as I also use it in the van when we've been away and it's been wet, in the utility room to dry clothes (far cheaper than the tumble dryer!) and also in the house - it's suppressing how much warmer a house feels for a given temperature when you reduce the humidity. The 2 setting use about 270 and 500W all of which is released as heat so you get a bit of background heating which can make a huge difference in a van or small utility room!

 

[Hawthorn37]

As posts above from @sidepod and @Ch1pbutty if you’re trying to battle condensation, you need both heat and ventilation. Just having heat doesn’t help. So I’d suggest 3 things.:
1. Fit windshields to the driver and passenger windows (we’ve used the VW branded stick on type)
2. Crack open at least one window (we open the downwind window if there’s strong wind and rain) - only about 10-20mm.
3. Programme the diesel heater to run for say 20 minutes at a time.

Edit: just thought to add a note for owners of 6.1 Cali’s with the more complex heating controls!!. The programmed timer for the diesel air heater can be set for the time on a day “09:00 Thursday” , there are 3 timers you can set. It will then run for say 30 minutes. But, if you set “At” instead of a day, it will come on every day at this time. I’ve added a video at the bottom to explain, skip to 07 min 20sec

A cautionary note: the programmed heater function run time is the same as Heat Immediately, in that the max run time (single or cumulative) is 120 minutes, after which, to use the function again you need to give the van a 10 minute run around. So if you use this as a daily heat-up, set the run time for 20 minutes, and once a week give the van a run (which probably isn’t a bad idea - prevent brakes seizing etc).

We’ve done this and it does help, but not necessarily a 100% solution. A further option to tackle minor condensation is to buy absorbent desiccant packs like these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I3VKBJS?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_29V2CY4YZ5F7Q8MJQF3V&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_29V2CY4YZ5F7Q8MJQF3V&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_29V2CY4YZ5F7Q8MJQF3V&th=1

Regarding freeze-ups, if we aren’t using the van regularly and the forecast is for an extended sub-zero period, I empty the fresh water tank and run the pump till no water comes out of the tap. Everything else has been fine (for the past 3 winters). If you live in the Scottish mountains, then maybe more measure will be needed.