Generator Powered Heat Sources

[tbro16]

Follow up- I ended up with a De'Longi Dragon heater to match with my generator. Was disappointed with a few things. First, it sucked the gas big time. Only ran 5 or so hours on a full tank of gas to power the heater that wasnt even on full power. Second, even on full power it didn't kick out near enough heat as I would have liked. Wont be running that set up again.

My next truck will be a 6'6 box and turned into my new portable camp, hopefully by this spring. Diesel heater is looking like its going to be my best option. That said, propane is still incredibly efficient and will have a time and a place for certain hunts, especially those when I find myself back in my large hub shelter. Thanks for the replies!

 

[hikenhunt]

Thanks for the follow up. I'm curious, what is your generator tank size?

 

[Johnny Tyndall]

I think @taskswap made the point, but running a generator to power an electric heater is always going to be inefficient. You can only get something like 30% of energy in the fuel back as heat from your radiator. There's no way around that (other than a heat pump). Much more efficient to burn fuel directly to heat. Of course be careful not to asphyxiate yourself.

 

[*zap*]

Oil filled radiator is the most efficient electric heater that I have found.

 

[wyosam]

Follow up- I ended up with a De'Longi Dragon heater to match with my generator. Was disappointed with a few things. First, it sucked the gas big time. Only ran 5 or so hours on a full tank of gas to power the heater that wasnt even on full power. Second, even on full power it didn't kick out near enough heat as I would have liked. Wont be running that set up again.

My next truck will be a 6'6 box and turned into my new portable camp, hopefully by this spring. Diesel heater is looking like its going to be my best option. That said, propane is still incredibly efficient and will have a time and a place for certain hunts, especially those when I find myself back in my large hub shelter. Thanks for the replies!

Diesel heaters are pretty dang efficient. I have one mounted in the back of my pickup. I use it to heat a rooftop tent for sleeping. Also have a hose run through the back of the cab and it warms the inside of my truck in the morning so I don’t freeze while the diesel engine takes forever to warm up enough to start making heat. It rubs off a 3 gallon boat fuel tank, and has a dedicated battery that’s isolated to protect starting batteries.


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[tbro16]

Thanks for the follow up. I'm curious, what is your generator tank size?

1.2 gallons. Main purpose of the generator is to charge my phone, ipad, headlamp, trolling motor remote, and two lithium trolling motor batteries while on fishing trips. Able to charge all of that to a full charge on its "eco" mode overnight on the small tank. As mentioned by others in this thread, the heater and generator is an incredibly inefficient set up, so even on half power the heater would only run for a handful of hours on just over a gallon.

There is an attachment for another $250 that could connect a 6 gal tank directly to the generator but even if the heater ran on full power it still wouldnt have heated it nearly as well as a propane heater would. Not even close.

 

[BBob]

https://www.amazon.com/8KW-Diesel-Heater-Air-10-Temperature/dp/B0F83ZZQC8. I do not own the new version so I can't speak for it

That one comes in two formats, a vertical one that’s linked and a more rectangular box. Any thoughts as to which might be preferred one over the other? I ask because I’ve thought about trying one of the diesel heaters but have no experience at all with them.

Maybe it just comes down to what would fit in each individuals space retirements but anyone’s thoughts would be helpful.

 

[*zap*]

I run a 600 watt oil filled electric radiator heater, 2 heating pads, electric light, charge phone/tablet and a 12 volt battery bank with a 1400 watt predator inventory generator.
Runs 5-6 hours on .65 gallons.
I supplement heat with mr heater buddy as necessary.

 

[tbro16]

I run a 600 watt oil filled electric radiator heater, 2 heating pads, electric light, charge phone/tablet and a 12 volt battery bank with a 1400 watt predator inventory generator.
Runs 5-6 hours on .65 gallons.
I supplement heat with mr heater buddy as necessary.

Nice! Sounds like you’ve got the set up dialed.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Follow up- I ended up with a De'Longi Dragon heater to match with my generator. Was disappointed with a few things. First, it sucked the gas big time. Only ran 5 or so hours on a full tank of gas to power the heater that wasnt even on full power. Second, even on full power it didn't kick out near enough heat as I would have liked. Wont be running that set up again.

My next truck will be a 6'6 box and turned into my new portable camp, hopefully by this spring. Diesel heater is looking like its going to be my best option. That said, propane is still incredibly efficient and will have a time and a place for certain hunts, especially those when I find myself back in my large hub shelter. Thanks for the replies!

I'm not familiar with that particular generator, but check to see if has a fuel pump and not just gravity fed. If you have a fuel pump, look into the Bergs system that allows you to draw from a tank, I use a 3 gallon boat engine tank and my little 1000 will run for a week.

 

[*zap*]

Nice! Sounds like you’ve got the set up dialed.

Thanks.

Works for me, severe cold and I run higher output electric heater and a bigger Honda invertor.

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

This. Put in technical terms, what makes you warm is BTU's/hr. Say you need 20,000 BTU's/hr to heat some arbitrary camper space. Propane contains ~21,500 BTU per pound. Assuming no efficiency loss (and there always is), a 20lb cylinder will heat that space for 21.5hrs (21500*20 / 20000, the math just happens to work out neatly here that's all).

Now consider electric. 1 watt is 3.41 BTU, so you would need to produce ~5900 watts to run an electric heater to produce the same heat. And it's actually far worse because a gas generator -> its AC output -> the heater will have more losses - most generators are only around 20% efficient, so multiply that by 5 and suddenly you need a 25kW generator just to get by. It doesn't matter whether you have a direct radiant electric heater or an oil-filled one. The oil filled ones just store some heat so after they're shut off they keep warming a room. The heat that went into the oil still came from the same source - it doesn't put out MORE heat, it just stores some for later.

Electric is just about the worst way to heat any space unless it's literally your only option or you have a special case (like in-floor radiant, which still isn't that great). It's not that the heaters are actually all that bad - they're pretty close to 100% efficient, actually, because literally all they're doing is converting angry pixies to heat. What they lose goes to making the filament red which is why they glow. They're just crappy light bulbs.

If you want something efficient and simple, stick with a Mr Buddy or anything in propane land. If moisture is your main concern, look into diesel heaters. They're incredibly efficient, sip fuel, and put out very dry air because of how they're designed. They're cheap, too. They do take power but just to run their fans and glow plugs while starting, so even a modest sized 12V car battery can run one for a week or more. No generator required.

Anyone else camped near you will thank you.

Thanks for saving me all the typing