# Confirm safety of oil-filled radiator



## aless (Jul 29, 2010)

Hi. I just wanted to get some kind of confirmation that it is supposed to be safe to leave an oil-filled radiator plugged in and running in the van while we sleep? Obviously making sure it's not touching anything. It would be nice with EHU to keep the van comfortable through the night without using the gas, since the radiator has a thermostat. Does anyone else have one and use it while they sleep without worries. Thanks for any input.


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## locovan (Oct 17, 2007)

Yes we do everytime we are on hookup in the winter no problems.


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

We've been using a 900 watt rad for three years now. 

We leave it on all the time during the winter, higher during the evening then lower over night. 

We place it between the two cab seats where it keep the seating area warm all day.


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## Sideways86 (Feb 25, 2009)

*hi*

We use it all the time on hook up, in fact its on low outside the house right now

The camper stays nicely aired at around 6-8 C with it on setting number 2

Ours is the Delongi Bambino only 500W, we took to Valkenburg at the beginning of December whe it reached -12C outside

A1 no problems

regards


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## aless (Jul 29, 2010)

Thanks for the answers everyone. We shall sleep soundly tonight.


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## 1302 (Apr 4, 2006)

Never had any problem with ours - we dont use it anymore as we have mains/gas heater but we used it in our old Autosleeper all the time for four years up to last February 

They are the best form of electric heating in my opinion


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## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

*Yes and 24/7*

Yes when we are on hookup.
At the moment we have two alternating over 24/7 to keep our van nice and warm while parked on the driveway.
Works for us!


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## Jennifer (Mar 24, 2009)

Yes mine too is on 24/7 on thermostat control parked on the drive at the moment.

Jenny


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## rosalan (Aug 24, 2009)

I am wondering what advantages the oil rad has over my small greenhouse fan heater.
The only side effect I have had this year, is that over time icicles have formed and dropped onto my car parked behind.
Alan


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## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

rosalan said:


> I am wondering what advantages the oil rad has over my small greenhouse fan heater.
> 
> Alan


No moving parts to possibly seize and possibly cause a fire!


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## Rosbotham (May 4, 2008)

Problems we always found with fan heater were

a) made the air very dry in van, and
b) fan and heating element come on simultaneously. Heating element takes 4-5 seconds to heat up = 4-5 seconds of cold blast of air. Not nice.

Paul


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## rayc (Jun 3, 2008)

I prefer a radiator because the fan heater is either on or off. When the thermostat cuts in there is no heat until the hysterisis on the thermostat is overcome and it switches on again - during that period no heat.
A radiator has residual heat if the thermostat cuts in plus it is silent as opposed to a fan. 
I have got a rad set to 400w on at the moment and the remote radio thermometer I have says it is 9 degrees in there.


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## dovtrams (Aug 18, 2009)

Our delong bambino has been on in the van all of this month at the thermo setting of 2. No problems.

Dave


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## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi

We use a fan heater when we're using the camper, it has a quiet 1KW setting which is fine all the time, not too noisy overnight. You can point it at any bits with condensation, or my cold toes! It circulates the heat better than I think a radiator would, although I think I would use a rad if it was for long term storage.

The risks of it falling over or being covered by something falling on it are avoidable with just adults around. When I worked in Costco there were always quite a few returned faulty Delonghi radiators so anything can go wrong 

Jason


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## Coulstock (Sep 2, 2008)

I've had 2 oil filled ( 500w & 700w) running 24/7 in the van in my drive since late November ( get your EDF shares now) - I like to see the van in double figures when I look in in the morning (it was +11 today). When its -2 or less I still get a frozen 'hot' feed to the kitchen sink ( toilet and shower OK) so I give my Truma an hour or so ( Thermostat set to about 3 ) + my 240v water heating, and that brings the van up to approx + 20 .

The kitchen tap usually defrosts after a couple of hours - I think there's a run up the back of my fridge which is virtually exposed due to the proximity of the fridge upper and lower vents 

Basically -I like to keep the van cosy even in the drive (all overhead locker doors open )- we've been frustrated 3 times in December trying to get away and now we're planning a Hogmanay trip to Kingfisher at Gosport.

Harry


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

One reply is "If its safe at home then it should be safe in the van - providing you don,t put clothers over it!

BUT

Oil burns like buggery.

I have see a local oil cooled electrical sub-station transformer fail in the field adjacent to my parents house. It sounded like an explosion and light up the night sky. At the time I was an apprentice practicing welding in the garage for the first time and you can guess what they thought when all the power went off and dad ran out of the house.

So I prefer tubular non oil filled greenhouse type heaters.

C.


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