The Gas Heater

The new gas bottle was connected to the heater, this time with the pressure regulator which has a pressure gauge.

With a gas sensor I try to find out if there are leaks.

There are no leaks - status is "green".

The pressure of the gas bottle is OK.

Now there is nice heat in the van - and I can continue working.

Staying in Munich - meeting friends and relatives

Camper again in travelling mode, then in living/camping mode. Travelling to Munich. Annual meeting with the former team of UniBwM around Prof. E.D.Dickmanns. 

A few of the team members at dinner.

The gas cooker which I had bought a few years ago, came in handy for making a good cuppa (= cup of tea). And the gas heater provided a good and pleasant heat in the room.

I also visited the Starnberger See (Lake Starnberg) for a bit of sightseeing. Nice view of the Alps!

View of the Alps towards south, over the Lake Starnberg.

The camper at a parking near Starnberg.

Also visited my friend and colleague Winfried in Munich. We had breakfast together.

And in the evening I had dinner with my distant relative Klaus and his wife Helga. I had not seen him since 1972!

 

A Gas Heater

Usually I am with the camper at a campsite, where electricity is available. And so far I had only used electric heating and electric stove. But in the future I want to be able to stay "off-the-grid", without access to external electricity.

Therefore, I needed a kind of heating. Originally I was considering a diesel heater, which burns diesel fuel and blows hot air into the cabin.

But I would need also gas: for the water heater and for cooking plates. Therefore, I would have gas in the van in the future. And so I looked what is on offer for gas heaters.

I found one that is suitable for indoor use, but for a "well ventilated" space. This gas heater does not have a chimney; instead it just emits the exhaust gases into the room. Not so healthy, especially the CO emissions and the eating up my oxygen. But the heater is approved for indoor use and has a detector which switches the heating off in case of too little oxygen.

This heater also has a glass door so that one can watch the flames. There is an insert which converts the usually plan blue gas flame into some reddish flicker.

And while on travel, I was able to test this thing.

It needs 50 mbar gas, whereas the usual standard for camper gas is 30 mbar. I did operate it at 30 mbar, and it had slight problems in starting the fire. Also a few times it went out, possibly because of too low pressure. I will need to operate it at the 50 mbar for which it is designed. 

The gas heater in action. A gas bottle is inserted at the back of the heater and can be moved together with the heater on its wheels.

The gas heater flames at night.

 

The heater creates a good heat - kept me warm during the first night of my travel, when the temperature outside was below 10 deg. The 2nd night it was much warmer, so no heater was needed.h