How much can it be? The right dimmension of parking heater in your Van!

How much can it be?

Almost all camper van builders or other users of parking heaters will at some point be faced with the question of the correct size of the parking heater. We would like to briefly explain which factors you should include.

The vehicle size
In principle, one can to a certain extent distinguish between “small” and “large” parking heaters. All 2kW heaters are small in nature. The "big ones" are, for example, the 3 and 5kW LF Bros and the 4kW Calor parking heater.

The small ones should definitely be installed in all vehicles with a maximum length of 4.5m and a height of less than 1.80m. So in the so-called "mini campers" (e.g. VW Caddy). With vehicles up to 7m in length and a higher roof line, you have to differentiate. For example, a 3kW auxiliary air heater is originally installed by VW in the T4, T5 and T6. Now that brings us to the next topic

insulation
If your vehicle (up to 7m) is well insulated, the 2kW heater (by the way, the Calor even has 2.5kW heat output, i.e. 0.5 more than the LF Bros) is still easily sufficient even when the temperature is well below zero. In the case of non-insulated panel vans, which may also be fully glazed (normal vehicle glass => poor insulating effect), we recommend a larger heater. Whether it's the Calor or the LF Bros doesn't matter too much. Ultimately, however, the Calor can be better adapted to the vehicle.

The 2kW heater is even suitable for up to 8 or 9m in mobile homes in sandwich construction with insulating windows. This construction has a very dense shell without large thermal bridges.

Now there is one more important factor and that is the…

conditions of use.
Anyone who wants to spend the night in a Bulli in Norway at -20°C is well advised to choose the Calor CA4. This has enough reserves and has parameters that can be set accordingly so that even a smaller van is not overheated. And if you only have to run at a low level, it automatically cleans the combustion chamber every 10 operating hours.

The LF Bros E5.0 heaters (3 and 5kW) are unfortunately less suitable in smaller vans because they can only be regulated down to 1.4kW (comparison: Calor CA4 = 1.0kw) and cannot be adjusted to the size of the vehicle .

Operational safety:

If you want to be “redundant” (i.e. failsafe) on the road and also want to make optimal use of the heater, you should use 2x 2kw air heaters. Especially on a trip around the world it is extremely unfavorable when the heating suddenly fails in the Georgian mountains in winter.

If a case should arise that cannot be remedied by simple means: we ship spare parts or entire heaters worldwide and to almost any location (with address).

Here is a "rough" overview (which is not set in stone):

Calor CA2 and LF Bros E2.0/EC3.0:

Mini campers and vans up to 7m
Motorhomes partly and fully integrated up to 9m
Cabins of construction machines up to 8m³
Smaller boats
Calor CA4 and LF Bros E5.0

Panel vans from 4.5 m in length, especially with a high or pop-up roof (depending on the situation)
Very large mobile homes or touring trucks
Customer service or measuring vehicles (energy suppliers, etc pp)
Medium and large boats
Etc.