Is it safe to use a fan heater in a tent? What wattage can you use without tripping the EHU? My kids sometime get cold at night before bedtime and don't really want to use a gas heater. Went camping for the 1st time this school holiday and loved it apart from a couple of really cold nights.
I've used a cheap fan heater in a tent before with no problems, the best electric heaters are the ones with a built in safety switch for if they are knocked over.
As for whether it will trip out the EHU it depends on the EHU supply. Most campsites I've been too have either been 6A or 10A. The way to work out what the maximum power draw you can take is P=IV (Power = Current x Voltage)
Using 240v 10A supply as an example:
Max Power draw = 10 x 240 = 2400W
However I would always factor in some margin for error just to be on the safe side. I would advise a heater with a maximum power rating of 2000W preferably with a switchable setting say between 1000W and 2000W that way you can get away with using on it's lowest setting on a 6A supply.
Always remember that you need to keep track of the power rating of all the appliances you have plugged in.
I use our 1kw fan heater and find this is more than enough to heat our Khyam Ontario 8 tent. Also run a small fridge/cooler and an electric light at the same time and have never had a problem on site.
As said above, we've used our fan heater on 1Kw with no problems. (We use a 1.6Kw George Foreman grill on Caravan Club sites and that's been fine.)
The only thought is that fan heaters tend to be noisy at night. A lot of people use those halogen heaters, but I reckon they give off too much light. I'm thinking of getting a small oil filled radiator heater for cold nights.
We have used a fan heater several times this year already. I also run a fridge and a low wattage kettle, all at the same time, and never had any problems. I've even left the fan heater going all night in our bedroom pod before with no problems. It just cuts out when it gets too hot, then starts again when it has cooled down, and it never wakes us up either. This is the first year we've used one, and I think it makes camping so much more comfatable, I don't even worry about the weather forecast anymore, we just go camping regardless, knowing we will be warm!
we have an ebay jobby fan heater, brand new and we paid 13 quid for it with delivery included. 1kw and a 2kw and a cold setting. thermostat on it, nice design, On the 1kw it takes the chill off nicely on a damp evening and in the day we had ours on cold recently to cool us down!!
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we have always used a standard cheapy heater and they have been great - ALTHOUGH I have just bought a delonhgi dhvn2532b and it's a compact fan heater that is oscillating - then it will reach both sides of the tent - always felt a bit selfish havin the heater blowing into our pod while the kids slept the other side of the tent!
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Quote: Originally posted by Grad Sailor on 09/6/2010
The only thought is that fan heaters tend to be noisy at night. A lot of people use those halogen heaters, but I reckon they give off too much light. I'm thinking of getting a small oil filled radiator heater for cold nights.
I took an oil-filled radiator with us last week. Brilliant. No noise, and more than warm enough at night. In fact had to turn it down a bit during the night, as we were too hot, lol :)
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Quote: Originally posted by Grad Sailor on 09/6/2010
As said above, we've used our fan heater on 1Kw with no problems. (We use a 1.6Kw George Foreman grill on Caravan Club sites and that's been fine.)
The only thought is that fan heaters tend to be noisy at night. A lot of people use those halogen heaters, but I reckon they give off too much light. I'm thinking of getting a small oil filled radiator heater for cold nights.
We have an Outwell fan heater, it's good but noisy, so invested in an oil filled rariator this year (from Argos)1000W, works realy great, leave it in the sleeping pod at night, nice and warm
For the first time we took a fan heater on the spur of the moment at May BH, whne it got cold agin, and I had the space witht he trailer. It was just the one we use in the greenhouse
We di use it and it was useful, esp in the early evening when the kids were sitting around and chatting playing before bed time.
Noise wouldn't bo0ther me though as we didn't have it on once in bed. We are plenty warm enough in our sleeping bags anyway.
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Topic: Fan heaters
- then it will reach both sides of the tent - always felt a bit selfish havin the heater blowing into our pod while the kids slept the other side of the tent! 
