Heating the back of my deuce

[EMD567]

I have always found that a blond and a blanket works at any temperature..........

 

[juddspaintballs]

Has anyone considered running some type of hydronic heat inside the back (like hot water flowing through a radiator with a fan) and a small fuel fired heater (heck, a miniature propane water heater and 20lb tank would work) that is either mounted to the outside or sat on the ground outside to do the heating? That would remove all issues of CO from the equation, give you a very adjustable heat, be pretty silent, and it would be fairly efficient as well.

 

[kennys@wi.rr.com]

I am going to pretrip the heater tonight using wood. Gotta make sure there are no visible leaks and that nothing near it gets too hot. Will report later how it all goes.

 

[dragonwagon]

I sure dont see CO being a problem with this set up , theres a plenty tall chimney which should draft nicely . I doubt the truck is so air tite as to run out of oxygen .

 

[kennys@wi.rr.com]

Well the truck sure isn't air tight. I just fired it up with a few sticks, ok twigs. After the initial burn off the smoke went away from inside the back. Then it got so hot I couldn't stand it back there anymore. There will be no problems for me to stay warm in any weather. Now my only fear is it getting too hot. Will need to invest in those boards you put around fire places or will cement backer board work just as well?

 

[JCKnife]

You'd have to have the engine running to power an inverter - just FYI. A 300 watt inverter killed a large deep cycle of mine in about an hour.

When you say "killed," you mean ran out or damaged in some way?

 

[jollyroger]

Well the truck sure isn't air tight. I just fired it up with a few sticks, ok twigs. After the initial burn off the smoke went away from inside the back. Then it got so hot I couldn't stand it back there anymore. There will be no problems for me to stay warm in any weather. Now my only fear is it getting too hot. Will need to invest in those boards you put around fire places or will cement backer board work just as well?

We use cement backer around the stoves where they are close to the side of our tents. You can't use it inside the heater with coal. The coal burns out the cement backer as we found out this year when we went hunting.

 

[kennys@wi.rr.com]

Well I think I am going to try the concrete backer board and see how that works.

 

[FireFighterHill]

Concrete will absorb the heat if you covered the concrete with foil or tin it would radiate it back .

 

[WARWAG]

If it wont get wet try the concrete board, sheet rock and then another layer of Concrete board. Duck board is a good brand. This will keep the heat from getting to the outer wall and damaging the paint. Well at least for a nights use. You could use also try Concrete board, line the side facing inside the cab with a radiant barrier (reflects the heat)have an air space and then another layer of concrete board. This will keep the heat away from the outer skin for a long time.

 

[kennys@wi.rr.com]

I did end up using two sheets of 1/2" concrete backer board one behind and one on the side. Worked great and I think it even helped to radiate some of the heat back.

 

[JCKnife]

I have some of these heaters for sale on the classifieds right now.

If I'm not allowed to say that in a thread, may Mods have mercy on my soul.

 

[BIG_RED]

Hey JCKnife,
Sorry I took so long to respond. I had said that my 300 watt inverter "killed" my large deep cycle battery (I think the reserve capacity on that bad boy is like 150 minutes at 25 amps.. but don't quote me on that) in about an hour, I meant that it drained the battery to the point you couldn't start an engine with it. My inverter shuts off when the battery voltage drops to 10.7 volts or around there, so that it doesn't totally discharge the battery. I had been using it to run a 2.5 amp vent fan in a box trailer i was using as a mobile tool storage that was approaching 9999* on a hot summer day. I came back to a dead deep cycle an hour later. It could run lights dimly, but I highly doubt it could've started anything.

 

[andystamey]

Deep cycle batteries are not designed for starting uses anyway, something about the way the plates are designed versus a normal (the kind you put in your 2002 pickup truck or whatever) lead acid battery.

 

[wikallen]

I have a Mr. Heater Big Buddy that works really well in my M109a3. I did not use it when I was sleeping, I just had my electric radiator heater on for that. It was -4 F in the morning, and it was around 52 in the truck with the electric heater on medium, but soon after putting the Mr. Heater on low, it was 65 inside.