Kovea little sun heater update
Submitted: Monday, Jul 23, 2007 at 18:15
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gonebush SA
hi, I'm doing the promised update on our new purchase of a Kovea little sun heater which we tried out on our recent holiday from-Thread ID: 47588.
well we only wished that we had bought one ages ago, we were worried on how much gas it would use but we only put the cheapy type cans in it and put it on in the pop top for around 1/2 hour before we went in and the van had the chill taken off it lovely and because the van is insulated once the chill was off then it seemed to hold it's own. I think on the coldest night we only needed it on for around an hour and all's fine. we certainly didn't have any trouble lighting it either.
Any queries just ask.
Reply By: Robin Miller - Monday, Jul 23, 2007 at 20:01
Monday, Jul 23, 2007 at 20:01
They sound ok for that eviroment Gone Bush , but I had occasion to
test them where they are meant to be used (outside) and they had about as much heat as about a 750w electric heater at 500mm in front of it.
A 1 bar 1kw heater was warmer. This was interesting as Kovea tend to make good products and they claim 1700 watt output.
Appears that most of the heat is not radiated but comes out as hot air rising from the flutes. Not a lot of good outdoors , but would certainly add to warm as you describe.
Robin Miller
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Follow Up By: howie - Monday, Jul 23, 2007 at 23:14
Monday, Jul 23, 2007 at 23:14
i agree that a lot of heat rises from the top as
well as radiated, but i never dreamt of using the heater outside (ie in the open air).
maybe it would be of some benefit in say, an fully/partially enclosed annex, but outside - no.
i just got
mine out and the instructions say "FOR OUTDOOR USE ONLY".
the box says for 'indoor/outdoor use". mmmmmmmmmmmmm
anyway, so long as we all follow the correct procedure for any gas appliance in or around vans & tents we should be ok.
it also has a "revolutionary oxygen depletion switch" (apparently!).
it works
well inside, but if anyone is thinking of buying one for outside heating, forget it. (unless you have one each of course)
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Follow Up By: Robin Miller - Tuesday, Jul 24, 2007 at 07:59
Tuesday, Jul 24, 2007 at 07:59
Hi Howie
Gotta luv the way those instructions change - and they also warm against use the cheaper less than 30% propane gas cans.
I get that way now that before we actually buy anything we open the packet and
check it out in the store - my wife has learnt to dissappear during this process - perhaps because when I needed to
check out a battery charger at K-Mart I had to unplug a coke machine to find a power point , and next thing she heard was a security announcement.
Actually
mine was used at recent Warrareena gathering outdoors in the cold still air before everybody got up. Made some toast on it and it worked , but of course just one person huddling over it.
Robin Miller
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Follow Up By: gonebush SA - Tuesday, Jul 24, 2007 at 17:03
Tuesday, Jul 24, 2007 at 17:03
about the gas cans, the store that we bought the heater from didn't even know that they had different types of cans recommended for the heaters until i said some thing.
we always
check things out before buying them, when we were looking for a heater we phoned first to make sure we could see/feel one working.
we wouldn't even think of trying to use the heater outside, it might be good but it's not that good, give me a
camp fire anyday. we spoke to the salesman and he said that they have to put the outside use bit on them to cover themselves, and yes if your not silly about it it's fine the way we used it. I would never use it in a tent or with the vent closed off.
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