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Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:40 am

Is it safe to sleep in a Westy with a BA6 gas heater running on shore power?

I'd install a CO alarm but still, does anyone do this?

jim

Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:10 am

I don't know if it's safe or not, but personally I wouldn't risk it. As a chronic bus-camper/bus-liver-in, if I had regular shore power, IMHO I'd go with a nice fluffy electric blanket under the sheets. You'd get more ability to fine-tune your comfort without leaving the bed, too.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:16 am

DO NOT DO THAT.
Those heaters are made to work the way they were designed, and they work great if you use them the way they are supposed to be.
Easy to get dead or burnt to a crisp by trying to rework one.
Just buy a Heater Buddy and leave the BA6 alone.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:28 am

I can't see why it wouldn't work if the heater was in 100% condition and all the safety switches were functioning, but it would sure be noisy :shock:
I agree with the other posters, bring a little electric heater if you have shore power available.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:58 am

mightyart wrote:
Just buy a Heater Buddy and leave the BA6 alone. I love my Heater Big Buddy but it has one fundamental flaw. When the fuel gets low and the flame goes out, it continues to pump the rest of the raw propane out. Won't kill you but sure does smell. It has a flame sensor so it may just be a WTF in mine.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:37 am

Even w/out electricity available there are 12v electric blankets and a coleman or heater buddy (I have the 55$ coleman) is more than enough to cook me out of my bay.

Insulate your nooks and crannies and a small heater does wonders!

Personally I would only use the bn4 (and it eats as much juice as a 12v electric blankey) only when I was awake.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:22 am

Anyone ever heard of using sleeping bags to stay warm? Only weigh about 4-8 pounds apiece and can keep you toasty down to 0°F easily enough. When the wife and I travel in the winter we just take a couple of cheap synthetic fill bags and then lay another cheap rectangular bag over the top for a comforter. We do have a 500 Watt electric heater which we will use if we have power, with it running we are more willing to crack the windows wide to keep it dryer inside.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:24 am

Years ago my wife had an Antiques business and we did an annual weekend long outdoor show. It drew thousands of dealers. They lined the vendors up in a holding area the night before the show. Next morning as they directed us in, the Ford Van behind us didn't move. Turned out the people inside were dead from CO poisoning from their supplementary heater accumulating and backing up into the vehicle while they slept. I wouldn't risk it.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:31 am

71_georgia_beetle wrote: mightyart wrote:
Just buy a Heater Buddy and leave the BA6 alone. I love my Heater Big Buddy but it has one fundamental flaw. When the fuel gets low and the flame goes out, it continues to pump the rest of the raw propane out. Won't kill you but sure does smell. It has a flame sensor so it may just be a WTF in mine.

mine does this to but i only think for a few seconds, but it has always shut off with the tip sensor and i turned the heater on and chucked it in an old fridge to see if i could get the CO sensor to trip, which it did after about +- 5mins, i'm quite happy and feel safe with my heater buddy, just think about how the flow of CO works it's a heavy gas so it fills a room from the floor up, for best effect have the CO alarms mounted lower than your head is where you sleep, that way the CO alarm will sound before the gases are in your face.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:14 pm

Yeah sounds like it's not a good idea to sleep with it on even though it's all rebuilt and functional. It was designed for a moving vehicle I suppose.

I used to work in the bush in the winter and I ate my lunch at -20'F with a BN4 running. Sleeping is a whole different thing.

I like the electric blanket idea. No need to heat the whole bus. I could turn on the BA6 just before I get up to warm up the bus.

I thought it would be OK with a CO alarm but fire is a possibility I didn't think of. Smoke alarm might not give enough time if it erupted in flame.

Thanks guys

jim

Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:42 pm

Give those engineers at Eberspacher a little credit, that heater has safety features on the safety features. If you are satisfied the heat exchanger is solid and the the exhaust system is intact and installed as designed there's no reason not to run it. VW was obsessed with safety and the only warning they ever gave about heaters was it will kill your battery and don't run a BN-4 while the bus is riding on a train backwards because the exhaust may blow back.

But I'd still use something quieter with a built in thermostat if I had power available.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:43 pm

This thread should have been called:
Ever sleep FOREVER with a turned on gas heater? :roll:

Don't risk it, Bro.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:47 pm

Why Bill? all Eberspachers have the combustion completely isolated from the heated air and a BA-6 (late BA-4's too) has the added advantage of recirculating inside air so no exhaust can get in, please explain the danger.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:56 pm

busdaddy wrote: Why Bill? all Eberspachers have the combustion completely isolated from the heated air and a BA-6 (late BA-4's too) has the added advantage of recirculating inside air so no exhaust can get in, please explain the danger.

I understand the principal of how they work. It's just a personal preference of mine to fear these things.
Then again what do I know I'm from Florida and a warm Dachshund under the covers is just right. :) (Insert obscene comment here) 8)

Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:28 pm

well i have to say i too have a mr buddy propane heater.and i have 3 friends that have the same heaters and buses of coarse.we all sleep running these.with a front window cracked 1/4 of the way down.and they work great.even with my poptop up and 10 degrees outside.ive tried all kinds of other rigs and a mr buddy is by far the best so far.even on low it will run you out after a while.

Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:54 pm

Get a propex and you will never go back!

Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:54 pm

busdaddy wrote: Give those engineers at Eberspacher a little credit, that heater has safety features on the safety features. If you are satisfied the heat exchanger is solid and the the exhaust system is intact and installed as designed there's no reason not to run it. VW was obsessed with safety and the only warning they ever gave about heaters was it will kill your battery and don't run a BN-4 while the bus is riding on a train backwards because the exhaust may blow back.

But I'd still use something quieter with a built in thermostat if I had power available.

The BA6 has a thermostat and a second one can be hooked up in the back. I have had gas heaters in all my Beetles, buses and Ghia and they worked great but I never slept with them running.

I know intimately how they work that's why I think it's possible, but I'm asking in case I didn't think of something. Like riding on a train (or ferry?) backwards. :lol:

Always better to ask right?

jim

Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:58 pm

jamesdagg wrote: Like riding on a train (or ferry?) backwards. :lol:

I drove through a carwash backward in my bus before, a very odd feeling indeed :lol:

Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:01 pm

I always tell people that I sleep just fine with my Mr. Buddy cranked up full and the windows duct taped shut. It's fun to see their reactions :wink:

Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:17 am

yea from the reading you can be in a completely sealed room with only the opening of 4inchx4inch and be perfectly safe according to the users manual.
so when i think about my wind tunnel of a bus when i'm driving down the road i'm pretty sure you can duct tape your windows closed and still have enough ventilation. they really are great little units and much better than spending $1k for a propex system (i don;t have a mountable lp tank)