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1614 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Aaran, Jun 12, 2009

124472

Discussion Starter · Jun 10, 2009

Hi, I am looking to buy my 1st MH and have a few questions..

1) Does the living area get cold for passengers while travelling or can the blow heating be used.

2) I have been looking at a Auto-Trail Frontier scout for around 30K (2004 model) It has a good spec but seems a lot of cash for something nearly 6 years old. Do you get many problems with older vans.

3) Normally how long would a battery last without hookup, or is it cost effective to have the van ticking over to generate power..

Im sure these topics have been covered many times, but i have only started looking within the last week...

Many thanks,

Mark

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Grizzly

· #2 · Jun 10, 2009

Aaran said:
1) Does the living area get cold for passengers while travelling or can the blow heating be used.

Hi Aaran and welcome.

We don't carry passengers but we don't find the living area gets cold as we travel. With some of the newer vans you can use the gas heating as you travel but, to be honest, this has never struck me as a good idea.

You can't use the blown air heating on 12v as you travel however. We have a 2 year old Fiat X250 and that has a blown air heater using engine heat fitted under the driver's seat and directed at the back of the van. When that is switched on we find things get too hot.

Normally how long would a battery last without hookup, or is it cost effective to have the van ticking over to generate power..

It depends what you want to do with your battery ! If you have lots of devices running then a winter night is about max - bearing in mind that it is not a good thing to run the battery charge down too low. If you only use lights ( and LED ones are better), the heater fan and the water pump then you can go for a couple of days or more.

Running your engine to charge the battery is not very effective and not that good for the engine and likely to make you unpopular if you are on an aire. If you think you might use a lot of battery power then consider a solar panel or a larger/ extra battery. If you are going to wild camp away from others then a generator might meet your needs.

G

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lgbzone

· #3 · Jun 10, 2009

Hi

I personally wouldn't leave a vehicle ticking over to charge the batteries, the alternator relies on the air passing over it, due to the vehicle moving, to keep it cool, i saw a car where the contacts on the alternator had melted, because the battery was flat and the owner left the car stood running to charge it. i'm sure newer vehicles and motorhomes can handle this better, but i wouldn't do it.

Lee

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iconnor

· #4 · Jun 10, 2009

The living area. In my van we have a radiator type device fitted that uses the engine temperature to heat the back while we are driving. It gets too hot if you use it but it is very useful when you arrive on site as you can then turn it on and it heat the back very quickly.

Its not a good idea and not cost effective to leave the engine on tick over.

We have 110amp/h battery and can last comfortably for two nights in winter no problem. We use a lap top for our tv that has its own battery of course, it last about 2.5hours using it as a dvd player and lots longer when just being a telly.

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bigbazza

· #5 · Jun 10, 2009

Hi Aaran, 30K isn't silly money for a good specimen with a reasonable mileage. The Autotrail range are quite expensive but like most cars you get what you pay for

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citroennut

· #6 · Jun 10, 2009

hi mark,
most 'vans of this age are well insulated and the cab heater should be able to heat the whole 'van. older 'vans i would class as over 12-15 yrs and if they were expensive to start with will probably have been well looked after.
higher specced 'vans will have solar panels and more than one battery which will help with elec. output.
finally as i'm selling an older 'van than the one you're looking at for more money, you get what you pay for.
cheers
simon

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124472

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 12, 2009

Thank you all for taking the time to reply to my post..

This has been most helpful..

Regards,

Mark

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