VAN BUILD SERIES | 12V Heated Floor Install
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
- Our 12V heated floor is complete!
After much research, we FINALLY found a 12V heated floor system (Mi-Heat infrared) that has its own thermostat and is compatible with sheet vinyl flooring. They took around a month to ship to us in Canada. FYI, we will have a 600ah 12V LIFEPO4 battery and substantial solar and alternator charging, AND Webasto heater will be used as the primary heat source.
infrarot-fussboden.de/12-48V-...
We installed the Mi-Heat infrared heating pads under our sheet vinyl flooring along the “hallway” and also in the garage under the freshwater tank and battery areas (to prevent freezing in sub-zero temperatures). We chose to keep the pads in the main living area and garage on different thermostats.
Pad sizing and power draw (confirmed with clamp meter) is as follows:
Main hallway pad is 50 cm wide, 130 w/m2 (2.5m long) - 10 amp power draw
Battery bank pad: 30 cm wide, 220 w/m2 (1 m long) - 6 amp power draw
Fresh water tank pad: 30 cm wide 220w/m2 (1/2 meter long) - 3 amp power draw
Testing Results (ambient temperature 2° C)
Initial floor temp: 6.6° C
2 minutes: 12.8° C
5 minutes: 16.7° C
10 minutes: 21.3° C
15 minutes: 23.6° C
20 minutes: 24.1° C
We are pretty pumped with the results because a) these pads heat up quickly, don’t use alot of electricity, and can be controlled precisely via the thermostat and b) you can’t feel the pads even under sheet vinyl! This may be a game changer for you 4-season campers out there. We’re excited to try them out on the road... now all that’s left to do is finish the build.
Products used:
- Mannington Millcreek Sheet Vinyl flooring
- Eco Mapei Vinyl floor adhesive
- Mi-Heat 12 V infrared heated floor pads
-Neutral cure clear silicone
As always, please LIKE 👍🏻 this video, SUBSCRIBE to our channel, and COMMENT below!
Follow us on Instagram for behind the scenes content: @thetriointransit
/ thetriointransit
Thank you for your support! 🙏🏻
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
0:35 Sheet Vinyl Floor Prep
4:08 12V Heated Floor Install
8:58 Sheet Vinyl Floor Install
10:45 System Explanation
12:50 Heated Floor Testing
Dear Katie, Dear Tim,
this is a very good installation guide!
It's so well explained that anyone can do it themselves.
We hope that you are fully satisfied with the products and that it brings the desired success.
A small note from me:
Normally, the 12V voltage is connected to terminal 11 and bridged to terminal 10. The negative lead is then connected to terminal 12.
But since the heating foils are basically resistors, it doesn't matter in that case.
If there are any questions, please feel free to ask.
Great video!
Greetings from the Mi-Heat Team
Markus
Thank you! We appreciate the feedback and have pinned your comment about wiring for others to see as well. We will make this change when doing the final wiring for our system. Thanks again
I was wondering what it pulls off your power station? Excellent idea! 💡 Thanks for the video...
@@TimKatieI have been binging on all your videos... AWESOMENESS
.
I couldn't find any videos on an update for this heated film
It's an upgrade I want to do in my van
Thank you
Your video was helpful in a practical way without all the "fluff" many of the van life videos are becoming prone to. Thank you.
Thank you! 🙏🏻
Hello Tim and Katie, I love seeing fellow Canadians doing the VanBuild thing. I am located in Kingston, Ontario and am just beginning. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your sharing the information your have learned and found. I will be using the 12v underfloor heating in my build and your willingness to share has definitely been a plus. Your explanation and guidelines have been first rate. I have viewed and subscribed to well over 100 builds and travels and there are very few that i look forward to their weekly post. I have viewed some of yours multiple times, and will view them again before I'm done, I'm sure. Thank you very much for all your give.
We’re so happy to hear that you’ve found our videos helpful. We’re slowly working on more and hope to have some up soon. All the best with your van build!
We are also in Ontario… Just wondering about the draw on the solar system… How has it been? We are doing a skoolie so would be much bigger than a van
Smart to use them under the battery and tank. Building from the living room is something I'll introduce to my wife 🙂
Thank you! Haha good luck 😊
@@TimKatie btw, I checked their product and they have a reflective underlayment in the caravan section. Isn't that necessary for this heat mat?
@@RedBatteryHead When I discussed with the Mi Heat rep they said as long as it is well insulated underneath (we have 1” xps under the subfloor) it wasn’t necessary. On their website it seems a major function is the extra thickness to run wiring, but I’d be curious to know if heating performance improves by using them
That sounds like something to add to my van build bookmarks folder. Thanks for sharing!
You just inspired me to create a van build bookmarks folder! That'll be helpful if I'm ever able to buy a van instead of trolling through my CZcams favorites haha
Great video. John here from DadzVanz in Alberta. Will be trying this product out in one of my next builds.
Thank you. We're glad you found it helpful - cheers!
Canadian people. Nice. Enjoy your videos. From a Brampton guy 😊
Thank you! Cheers :)
Heated floor is a brilliant idea
Good to see you with the update on your van
Thanks for watching! 😊
So detailed....and well explained!!!!
That was very well done. You did a good job of breaking it down and keeping it simple. Thanks
Thanks for the feedback! 😊
I'm considering doing a van build in the future and this video was super helpful! Thank you!
Thanks for the comment! We’re happy to hear you found it helpful 🙌🏻
Really smart idea all that & under the batteries brilliant idea for your cold winter climate.
Nice one go steady
Thank you! 🙏🏻
Love how you guys work together. I've always been a "do it myself" guy, but when I do a conversion I'm going to be sure and get my wife involved as much as possible -- I see now how much fun that can be. 🙂
Thanks Rusty! We’re very thankful we get to do these van builds together but it’s not always rainbows and butterflies! 😉
I know its built a long time ago but to anyone doing flooring, personally I would go with carpet spray adhesive over the adhesive they troweled out. I've never seen a notched troweled adhesive for lino. I'd go with perfectly thin, lump free spray adhesive. Spray the base, spray the lino, wait 2 minutes for it to tack off and lay as normal! Nice work though, I'm seriously considering this type of heating over water and pex tubing! Dependent upon the electrical drain.
Glad I found your channel! I just bought an old RV that I'm looking to do radiant floor heating and I'm in Canada, so I'll consider this company :)
Thank you for the comment! Congrats on your RV purchase - we hope the project goes well!
Loved this video! Building out a Skoolie & agree about the single sheet vinyl. Definitely want 12v radiant heat mats. So glad I found you guys! I’ll likely be reaching out for some advice when I get to this stage. Appreciate you sharing this video. Super-Informative!!! Thank you!!!
Thanks for the comment and support! We’re happy to hear you found it helpful. All the best with your skoolie build 😊
czcams.com/video/4x10zbSIx_k/video.html (in German but will get you the idea anyway).
So great to follow your journey! Really helpfull when we are going to build our van. Regards Ellen, the Netherlands
Thanks for the feedback! We’re happy to hear you’ve found it helpful. All the best :)
@@TimKatie would love to see how you installed your shower and made it waterproof.
@@elleneektimmerman2112 Thanks. Will keep that in mind for a future video but it is all detailed in the shower eBook 👍🏻
Excellent video and a lovely couple. Liked and subscribed. Please keep up the good work. I will be ordering the same product from this company in Germany as well.
Thanks so much for the kind feedback 🙏🏻 We’re happy to hear you found it helpful. Good luck with your project
Coming back around to this video as we decide whether we want to add heated floors to our van. I see (from the comments here) that you guys are now using adhesive vs just taping down the film. Can you tell me why this change? If we install this film, it would be between our floating sheet vinyl and the plywood subfloor (which sits on top of 1" XPS foam board).
On a different note, I also saw the comments re the button beeps. This could be a problem for one of our dogs who is unnerved when she hears certain beeps (as soon as she hears the intro for Top Chef, a cooking show with timers, she's pacing the floor until we let her out - all the while shooting us looks of pure disappointment in our leadership decisions). This won't be conducive to making the van a safe space (especially since she can't just go sit in the yard until the show is over). Equally as important, we noted your comments about the film drawing power unnecessarily when being controlled through the thermostat (by heating based on temp not on need). Are you unable to use the power button on the thermostat to turn off the film? Or was the the thought process that there's no reason for the added cost if you're simply going to be turning on when needed and off when not. Is foregoing the thermostat as simple as connecting a switch directly to the wiring? I did notice they have a new thermostat available (infrarot-fussboden.de/M3-thermostat-24V-AC-DC-black - our system will be 24V), but am unable to tell if the beeping is still there or what eco-mode means.
Love your videos, we constantly refer to them. Thanks for all the tips and info!
Cool vid. Attractive couple.
Hey Tim & Katie,
I am currently in the process of installing the pro air system from undermount and will be using an espar heater for our primary heat but decided to go with the heated floor option as well. I elected to go with a 120v system so that we can keep our van from freezing when parked at home in the wintertime in the cascades. We have 900 AH with 800w solar and over 150A of DCDC charging so we can still use it when we are on the road. Just found your page but have a lot of similar ideas. Hopefully our van can get somewhat close to what you two have achieved here!
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing. Sounds like it’ll be a pretty epic setup - good luck with your build!
If you venture south to Washington and come thru Leavenworth have plenty of recreational recommendations!
@@matthewbaker5414 Thank you!
Any update on how this system has been working? Any recommendations, should I do the same thing?
Hi, great tutorial video! How long can you run that on a lithium battery pack? Thx
I wonder if theres something available that heats and cools.
Hi! Would love if you could post how you framed and built the bed!! Thanks for sharing
We actually did post a video about that previously! We also have another video about it coming soon 👍🏻 czcams.com/video/lxvm3k8Y9dY/video.html
Great Video , Handy. Any chance you guys would be able to tell me how long the battery lasted at full heating capacity? Thank you so much
Where did you mount the temp sensor? It seems the sensor would want to know the temp of the floor, not the ambient air correct? If that's the case, wouldn't it be best to install it under the vinyl flooring? I'm installing mine now, but am using different flooring. Thanks for the video and bunches of information!
I’m curious how you like the heated flooring? We just ordered some from Mi heat. Id love a product update! Cheers ❤
We still like them and just installed them again in a new van build 👍🏻 Good luck with the install!
@@TimKatie thank you for the info and content!
Hey guys, can i ask a huge favor, can you link the exact product you used and whatever else you used to make it work (thermostat / transformer, etc.). They recommended another project and it was 48 volt and then shipping to the wrong address so i'm trying again with them but want to make sure it's right! :)
I'm not sure if y'all are familiar with "Quite Warmth" brand, but it looks very similar, but it is the 120v version? Not really sure what I'm trying to get at besides the fact that it is readily available at our equivalent to Home depot. FYI: I would prefer the 12v version.
No we’re not sorry - we wanted to find a 12V version that would work with an adjustable thermostat which is why we were excited to find Mi-Heat 👍🏻
Nice video, could you answer a couple of questions please? Temperature sensor wiring has red and blue leads, which goes to 1 and which goes to 2? Also where precisely and how precisely did you install temp sensor? Thanks
Looks great! I'm assuming you're using the pads under the batteries to avoid low temp charging and under the water tank to avoid freezing. Do you see these issues commonly living in the van full time? I'd imagine you'd only run into those if you're out of the van for a while in freezing temperatures but curious about your thoughts. Thanks!
Thanks. Correct - I would say it depends where you are and where/when you plan to be traveling in or living in the van. We’re based in Canada and in routine -10 temps while the webasto would keep the bed/living area comfortable, the batteries and fresh water tank could easily drop below freezing. Even though it’s insulated the floor gets cold, especially in the garage area under the bed.
So awesome! Can you tell us what you paid for this, including shipping and any international fees? We live in California, so I’m sure it’s different but just curious of what to expect before contacting them. Thx! 🙏 ☺️
how much juice does the flooring use? how many volts/amps before it kills the cars battery?
Awesome video... the van looks great. Can I please ask a couple of quick questions if thats ok? 1) - did the heat matting come with everything needed, such as the thermostat etc, and 2) I'm guessing the matting can't be cut etc to fit spaces? Finally 3) was it hard to get 2 of them to work from 1 thermostat. Thanks guys
Thanks!
1. You need to purchase the thermostats when you order the heating pads (there is an inkbird brand available in North American - Amazon - that is compatible as well if needed)
2. The heating pad can be cut along the cut lines as shown in the video, but you need to order the correct width for your application.
3. A bit tricky but not hard, just need to wire them in parallel 👍🏻
Question, could you not put this under your bed as well and just cover it with laminate?
Hey guys I love your videos, I’m doing my own transit conversion and going to order the same heated flooring pads but my question is did you have to buy additional wiring or accessories from the same website?
Thanks Bo! You’ll also need to order the thermostat if you plan to use one
Hi I was wondering cost on just the thermostat and the thin elect sheets
Hello from the UK! Interesting video for me, very useful. Could I ask, now you've had it a while, how the under floor heating is performing in terms of heating comfort and power usage, and also if you'd recommend the system? Your weather is more extreme at either end than here im the UK so if it works for you im sure it will work here. Great videos btw. "))))
We’re happy to hear you found the video helpful. This van already sold, but during our use of it we loved this heated floor setup and have already ordered more for our new van build, so yes, we’d recommend :) Thanks for your feedback!
Great video, thank you so much from the UK. How is it working after all this time? Would you still recommend it?
I’m also interested if it’s still something that you would recommend 🤗
Good idea. Good job. Where do you intend to put the 2sensors for thermostat? Will they be under or in the box where the batteries and water tanks are? And the ones near the shower? Thank for your time for doing these videos
Thank you! Good question - I meant to discuss that in the video: the battery/water tank thermostat temp sensor will be tucked beside the lifepo4 batteries, and the main hallway thermostat one will be hidden under the toe kick on passenger side 👍🏻
Hi again. You were right. I did order my kit with Mi Heat and Markus was very helpfull. Everthing went smoothly. I should received in 50 days in Ontario
@@francoisloranger1612 We're happy to hear that and we hope they work well for you!
nice install, I think going 48v could save on wire size and save money on cable size overall
Any reason I would not be able to use like soft wood shiplap flooring. Maybe no PUNCTURING the heating coil?
Ha, I am installing the same floor warming sheets in my Transit as well ! Informative install video in English: czcams.com/video/AS26azWte3k/video.html
These are not infrared emitting sheets, at last no more than any good old resistive wire, even though that's the company's name. IR will be notably present only when the sheet is hanging in free air. Instead, since you are sandwidching them between 2 layers of material they'll essentially push heat out via conduction. Then you control where that heat goes with your choice of materials in contact w the sheet.
This is no different than resistive wires as this is a resistive carbon film: same physics, the thermal dissipation mechanisms & paths depend on the immediate environment in contact with the sheet. Not on magic rays pushed by Marketing (Reflectix!) 🤣
So if you want most of the heating to be directed up (into your walkable floor or tanks) you'll want to:
(1) put an insulating layer under it (like cork, foam board, etc. Plywood is not very good and will suck away a good chunk of your produced heat)
(2) and select a material for the top layer that has low thermal resistance (like your thin vinyl, and unlike 7mm wood laminate boards).
Example: let's assume that your top layer has 4 times less thermal resistance than the bottom layer (say R=0.5 versus R=2), then 4/5th of the heat produced will dissipate into your floor and warm your feet, while 1/5th will go into your subfloor and warm the van's subframe.
I hope this helps !
Good info! Thanks for sharing and hope your install goes well! We do have 1" XPS foamboard under the plywood subfloor. The unique thing with these pads (with I tested and confirmed with the manufacturer) is that if left floating or exposed, the pad itself will not be warm to touch at all. This is where the IR claim makes sense to me - but I believe we're saying the same thing
Hi guys! I was wondering if you are planning on adding any other sources of heat or if you think the floors will be enough? I've been reading some people say that the floor ones are not super efficient and kinda hard of the batteries.
Our main source of heat in the van is the webasto air top 2000. I would not recommend trying to heat the battery with electricity only
Enjoyed your video very much. It was very informative and we learned a lot. Love how you guys work together. Did the heated floor meet your expectations? We also like the vinyl flooring. Would you have the exact part number for the Mannington Millcreek Sheet Vinyl flooring? Thanks in advance.
I wish they did a follow up, and actually tested what it could keep the van at if left to run for a few hours time or overnight in super cold weather. No one on youtube actually speaks on how well, or not , that this system works. They dont say if you need extra heating or not
Hey there, 2 questions - First and most importantly and not relevant to flooring: At 8:28 Tim is attempting a bite of candy bar from, I assume his niece. The question is: Did you succeed and follow up, what was it? LOL.. 2nd question: Can these be linked together under 1 thermostat? I have an 11ft run and will need 2 of the 30cm wide for my walkway of 24+ inches. I know it's a year+ old video but I've been planning this build for that long so finally at the stage of heated flooring. Thank you very much - Joe
Hahaha fantastic observation. I don't remember and didn't realize this was on video but thank you for the laugh! Yes these should be able to be linked under 1 thermostat, as long as combined they are under the 20A load rating of these Mi Heat thermostats. We continue to use these in our van builds but now just wire them directly to an illuminated on/off switch and forgo using a thermostat altogether. I hope that helps!
These look great. I’m installing a Rixen hydronic system but not putting the tubes in the floor. This is something I might do. What did this system cost?
Thanks! This entire 12V heating setup (2 thermostats, 3 different heating pads - listed in description) cost around $430 CAD 👍🏻
Hi Tim & Katie, greetings from the UK! Your video may just prove to be a lifesaver!! I own a transit camper conversion that the previous owner equipped with a Chinese diesel heater (very bad plan!) and I am now looking at retro installing 12v u/floor heating. There is a supplier of this product in the UK but they are not fantastically helpful so may I ask a few questions?
1. The mat that you laid is 50cm width? Only 30cm width available from the UK supplier. with the floor area that I am looking to heat (140 x 120cm) would you think a single run of mat would be sufficient or would you advise two runs?
2. When you routed the grooves for wires and connections did you also route for the floor sensor?
3. Did you fit the floor sensor under the vinyl flooring?
4. Again in the UK there is only a single 12v thermostat option. Did you find that was the case ordering from Germany. I would love to be able to use a thermostat that could be accessed via an app on the mobile.
Finally I think you may have saved the day and convinced me to take the plunge and install and warm my feet!
Thanks guys
Duncan
Hi Duncan, we’re glad you found the video helpful. We would discourage installing these 12V pads as a primary heat source, as they will not keep up in cold temps and would draw a huge amount of power to heat the entire van. They should be floor temp comfort only. Yep 50 cm wide for main hall.
We did not put the sensor under the floor, just nearby is fine 👍🏻
I thought u were gonna put the mi-heat links? Lol.
I have 2 buy the thermostat separately. I think iam gonna hook this up to my inverter n use a 110v. Its bout $18 from the Chinese w free shipping.
How much heat do the floor heaters add?
Hi. great video! When you say "substantial solar" what does that mean? I am looking to heat my ~250 sqft camper... thank you!
Thanks! Well it doesn’t actually have to be solar, just substantial charging sources (alternator, generator, solar, or a combination). These heating pads won’t work as a primary heat source though - we use webasto or espar heaters and then the heating pads specifically to keep the floors warm
Very good project and nice explanation! I'm building one also with this pads and I will following the same procedure as you showed :). Just one remark, I think is not advised to put silicone direct to metal because the cure could create rust (there is one type that not do this...something like neutral silicone, maybe you use it...just to let you know for the future). For that it´s better to use Sikaflex, which is silicone free. Keep the good work :)
Thank you! Great remark about the silicone - we should have mentioned this in the video. Thank you for the comment and good luck with your flooring install!
Hi Tim & Katie, I have multiple questions I hope you can advise... did the 2 sided tape stay affixed that you used between the heated mat and the vinyl floor? Do you wish you used 220w on the main walkway? Aside from the heating mats and thermostats dis you need to purchase any additional items from this company? I'm thinking about placing an order this week, I noticed that Canada and USA are not in the order page's drop down box for calculating shipping... your update would be most helpful 🙂
We're about 3 wks away from completing our conversion so we haven't fully tested. However, we have turned them on during the build and we've been happy with them - no issue with the 2 sided tape during the build process with lots of in/out of the van :)
How’s the efficiency of these pads?!
H Tim, can you the Mi-Heat infrared work under Luxury Vinyl flooring (lock together flooring with attached padding) or just the vinyl flooring you used?
I’ve only used it with the sheet vinyl but the Mi Heat technician assured me it would also work well with click in vinyl plank 👍🏻
Thank you for making this video! How has the floor held up over time? Have you noticed any bubbles in the floor where the heating element is? Any recommendations a year later? Thanks!
You’re welcome! We like it and just used it again on another van. This time we glued under and (cautiously) on top of the heating pad which we recommend doing and will continue to do ourselves on future installs 👍🏻
@@TimKatie Did you use the vinyl flooring adhesive or the double-sided tape to glue?
@@simonlambert2246 the vinyl flooring adhesive
@@TimKatie what glue did you use?
This looks inspiring (haven't watched yet!) My Van Vision does NOT involve staying wher it is Freezing hence a Full Hydronic Expensive $ Floor System would be overkill. I just want something to gently give me some floor heat somewhere it might drop to freezing overnight but warms back up in the day time to like 50-60's...
Maybe I would still need Other heating options. However I plan on going all out on my Solar Panel array thinking like 750-1000 Watt but maybe that is Overkill?
hello, thanks for sharing. Can you post the link to thermostat used? I don't see a 12v thermostat you their site. Do the pads come with controllers? I see 230v and battery operated...
infrarot-fussboden.de/Mi-10-Thermostat-12V-DC-AC-20A
Hey, is it still holding up? I read alot of reviews that other similar product do not hold up... Let me know
Another informative and fun video guys : ) Can I ask what model heating pad you used from Mi-Heat? Is it just a matter of picking the width of the pad and then the voltage needed? Katie has way too much fun on your videos : )
Thank you! For the hallway we used the wider 30 cm, 220watt heating pad 👍🏻 Yep exactly
@@TimKatie I was just looking over your video again and noticed that you had noted in the description what sizes you used. So I didn't need to tie you up with my question : / next time I just need to read everything before responding : )
@@brianchetelat6601 No problem. Cheers
May I ask what wattage flooring you used please? I tried the 130w with my eco flow delta 1300 but it draws too many amps. Looking at the 80 wat now.
Great informative video, thank you, Dan
The main center hallway pad is 130 w/m2 (1.5m long) so it can’t run on my ecoflow delta, the other two are shorter lengths of 220 w/m2. Shorter length of heating pad or lower wattage as you said is the solution. I love the ecoflow delta but it is unfortunate that max DC draw is 10 amps
Thanks for coming back to me. Keep up your great work 👍
@@danatherton8380 No problem - cheers!
Updates? How did they end up working?
Hi Tim. Greetings from London. We are converting a 1992 German caravan Dethleff 6 birth and intend to put electric underfloor heating. Couldn’t see the link to the heating company can you send us the link. Nice van convo!!!
Thanks Julian. Here’s the link to their website: infrarot-fussboden.de/Heating-Mat-Gold-160W-15qm
Good luck with your conversion!
How many Watts does all those planks have....??
Can you use plank vinyl flooring with the heating strips?
Yes 👍🏻
Yes 👍🏻
looks like plenty of timers on the web but obviously there is LOTS of considerations
let me know if i can help
Hi Guys. I have just received my pads and thermostats. Did you do a video on how to mount the thermostats in a wall panel or similar? Thanks
Right on. No we didn’t - we just made our own box to house them, but we no longer use thermostats and just wire them directly to an illuminated on/off switch. Good luck with your install!
Thanks for getting back to me. Can I ask why you opted for an on/off switch rather than them coming on with the thermostats at low temperatures? Brian
@@BrianLee-nz3vm No problem. We want to be able to control turning on/off anytime, rather than having them always on at certain temps. That will drain the battery unnecessarily when the heated floor isn’t needed
Ok Thanks again for the quick reply. I am finishing them up today, so I'll take your advice and I think I'll add an on/off switch aswell, to override the thermostats and only use the thermostats when we are away in the van and know we are charging the battery bank up each day. One more question if you have time. What temp does the floor get up to if you don't have a thermostat to control the top end?
you just installed massive emf radiators right under your feet🙆♀
Hey Tim & Katie! Great informative video - we went ahead and got ourselves some of the same flooring from Mi-Heat and are currently doing the install in our Airstream... quick question - did you ever find a way to reduce the volume or, even better, to mute the beeps the thermostat makes when changing the settings etc... turns out our doggo hates that frequency! 🐕😬 ... I guess a workaround might be to have it on the external switch like you guys did. Let me know if poss! I've also reached out to Mi-Heat about it. Anyway, thanks for all your info within the video, really helped us out.
Do they ship in US?
Yes they ship to the US and Canada
how long does it take to heat the actual space of the van up though?
I wouldn’t recommend using these 12V heating pads (or any electric source) to heat the entire van. If you’d like a floor system to do that then I’d recommend checking out hydronic systems. We will have a webasto as the main heating source 👍🏻
The following calculation is only for the living area heater.
• 10A @ 12V = 120W
• Mi-Heat's 50cmx2m (1m²) film is listed at 130W/m²
• A 1m² heating area at 130W/m² equates to 443.3 BTUs, or approximately 434 BTUs at the rated 98% efficiency
4,500 BTU/100ft² is a rule of thumb for heating/cooling in "standard" climates. This is higher for colder climates.
Assuming the living area of the van is approximately 100 ft², approximately 4,500 BTUs would be required to maintain a comfortable temperature.
With the battery and water tank heaters meant to prevent temperatures below 32°F/0°C, the intention is most likely to have them turn on near freezing and cycle off well below a temperature that'd be comfortable for humans. This makes the most sense to me from an energy utilization standpoint.
As these calculations show, the underfloor heating only supplies about 10% of the total heating needs of the van. So, without Tim or Katie expressly stating so, I'd assume that the underfloor heating film is supplemental; intended for comfort, especially in bare or stocking feet in the cold weather.
Tim and Katie's first Transit included a Webasto heater. The layout for van #2 is similar to the first build, and they've stated that 12V underfloor heating would be *added,* so again my assumption is that this build will also include a Webasto heater.
@@ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt Great informative comment. And that's even optimistic for the film, unless we can capture 100% of its produced heat into the living space.
In reality if it is laid down on a layer with a relatively low thermal resistance (like a van subfloor if poorly insulated) or if covered with a material with high-ish thermal resistance (like a 10mm laminate floor) a good chunk of the heat produced will actually vanish into that subfloor.
So, yeah, don't ever assume that a heeating film embedded in a floor could heat up a living space. On the other hand, Hydronic embedded in floors works bc it carries a huge amount of calories (from the van engine or a boiler), i.e. several 1000s of Watt equivalent power, not a couple of 100s.
@@raphofthehills4405 With all this being true, the point of my reply was to definitively answer the poster's question to show that the underfloor heating is a "nice-to-have", and not intended to heat the entire van.
The choice of materials, as well as placement to maximize heat transfer in the desired direction, are also all important.
Interestingly, the second home I lived in as a child in Brockton, MA had in-floor radiant hydronic heating. Those were early days where copper pipes were embedded in the slab. It was later discovered that copper encased in concrete fails rather miserably. At that point, options for repair or replacement are both hugely invasive and expensive.
With that in mind, my mantra is to build vans knowing that the exterior is experiencing a hurricane, while the interior is experiencing an earthquake, as it goes down the road, let alone gravel or dirt roads or forest service roads.
Everything in my builds is removable, facilitating any needed repair or replacement of OEM components, as well as systems I install.
Due to all these factors, I'd never consider installing underfloor hydronic heating; not to mention the cost, complexity and maintenance requirements.
For that matter, the lack of thermal mass in any van, skoolie, trailer, even tiny house, makes them poor candidates for radiant heating.
My first choice is vehicle fuel-powered forced air heaters from Webasto and others. These are incredibly energy efficient, on gasoline/diesel consumption, as well as electricity to power the fan and thermostat. As I design and build my own lithium battery systems, going fully electric is also an option, though I'd not seriously consider it for full-time, cold weather use.
@@ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt Interesting parallels: I retrofitted a house w hydronic (pex, very reliable), call vans 'daily mini earthquakes on wheels' and consequently use camper build techniques focused on reliability & repairability (bolts, no screws/glue), and am building my own lithium battery (Nissan Leaf re-pack). Documented on my blog.
I do not advocate for hydronic in vans. People often confuse floor heating w floor warming. Was pointing out that floor heating w hydronic is immensely more powerful than electric floor warmers like in this video. Now, hydronic in van can work great when the engine is running: free heat and lot of power. But it presents many drawbacks: requires switching to a boiler when engine is off, exhausts combustion gases outside of van for long periods of time, complex, heavy, expensive, takes a large volume.
How about a long term review?
We still use and recommend them. No issue afters ~2 yrs now and we continue to install the same product in all of our builds
what is the budget of your project ?
The 12V heating pad system (2 thermostats, 3 different pads, listed in description) cost around $430 CAD 👍🏻
@@TimKatie sorry, I probably put it wrong, I meant the budget for your entire motorhome project
Great video! Does the radiant heat also heat up the cabin or is it more for just your feet?
It’s just for feet comfort 👍🏻 I wouldn’t recommend trying to heat up an entire van with these