Alaska Daily Drivers: Hydro Blue 80A and Bright White JTR

[Turnswrench]

I bet the liner will fix it.
I didn’t see where the heater hose goes or how long it is, are you losing a lot of heat through that? Maybe some kind of hose sleeve or blanket?

Yeah, I'm thinking so, too. The hot duct is 5' and is made out of APK. I'm sure that since it's not insulated that there is some loss there. Good point!

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[chorky]

Lucky indeed. An extra body creating heat was a plus! ?

I did expect that this heater would be ripping and it was, it just didn't translate to warmth. I would love to cold weather camp up north and see the Aurora in a completely dark environment. I love how it looks from my house. I can't imagine what it would be like in the wilderness.

I decided to order some gear and see what I can do. I'll have to think on most of it and formulate a plan.

I am pleased to say I can't share how much battery was used because the Redarc battery monitor has been awful. The victron that I took out was a much better device and it had a better app. So irritating.

For the propane, I will need to throw the gauge on it. If I had to guess, it was most of the 5lbs.

Yeah that is true. Maybe it would be worth testing a diesel heater just in the event it is in fact hotter? I know a guy would would buy your propex if you didn't want it lol.

Seeing the Auroras is a bucket list for me. I have never seen them in real life!

Thats a bummer about redarc - but I have seen a lot of documentation on their products not working in cold temps. Even just below freezing I hear they don't do so great. Maybe a more simple setup of just checking voltage would be sufficient? Although it would be nice to know where the battery capacity as a whole is and how much power you are using with individual items. It seems redarc and victron really are the only players in that department.

m thinking so, too. The hot duct is 5' and is made out of APK. I'm sure that since it's not insulated that there is some

Oh man yeah you are definitely loosing heat from that. 5' for the hot side? Thats quite a distance.

 

[Turnswrench]

Yeah that is true. Maybe it would be worth testing a diesel heater just in the event it is in fact hotter? I know a guy would would buy your propex if you didn't want it lol.

Seeing the Auroras is a bucket list for me. I have never seen them in real life!

Thats a bummer about redarc - but I have seen a lot of documentation on their products not working in cold temps. Even just below freezing I hear they don't do so great. Maybe a more simple setup of just checking voltage would be sufficient? Although it would be nice to know where the battery capacity as a whole is and how much power you are using with individual items. It seems redarc and victron really are the only players in that department.




Oh man yeah you are definitely loosing heat from that. 5' for the hot side? Thats quite a distance.

Hard to be shorter than that. The diesel heater setup I have is 16'.

 

[chorky]

d to be shorter than that. The diesel heater setup I have is 16'.

Could you get some insulated flex duct from the hardware store? That might help quite a lot I would think.

 

[Turnswrench]

Could you get some insulated flex duct from the hardware store? That might help quite a lot I would think.

Possibly ? Going to consider and review some options. May even test out a few.

Wife, are you up for more chilly camping?

 

[NGNERD]

Adding floor insulation sounds good, wonder if you can add anything to the roof which you may have already said. I have not used my propex in temps that low, you two are tough. Let us know, hoping the insulation is a win for you two.

First test of the Propex is still happening ? I'm in the tent, the furnace is running, it's cold outside, but I'm in the driveway so the Wi-Fi is awesome. ?

The wife and I weren't prepared enough to get out on the road this weekend. It was the plan but with some extreme temperatures around, we decided to play it safe and test the setup in our driveway first. Better safe than sorry.

It was warmer at our house than up north, so that's a bonus for a trial run.

Sleeping attire:
Grey sweatpants, T-shirt, wool socks, hoodie/zip up. For Hudson, a sweater.

Weather conditions:
2-4° with wind chill down to -15°.

Tent preparation:
Exped dual person sleeping bag, good for 40°. No insulation liner, just the tent. No condensation mat, just the iKamper thin mattress. Large fuzzy blanket for Hudson. Fullsize pillows.

Time of setting up camp:
11pm Alaska time. Tear down TBD since I'm still out here.

Carbon Monoxide:
The detector read between 2-10ppm throughout the night. No alarms. It was hung center of tent at the top.

Thermostat:
Started with the thermostat at the bottom of the tent near our feet and the main door. Checked it throughout the night and it was showing that we were losing temp. I moved it to hanging over our knee area from a bar and got more stable readings. It was too close to the tent wall previously in my opinion.

Propex heater duct setup:
Heated air coming in through window on one side and the return air heading out the window directly opposite the heat. They are set at two different planes.

Comfort:
I'll sum it up. Feet frozen. Torso okay. Wife and dog left around 6am. The hot air does not sufficiently warm the tent at these temps with no tent insulation. The aluminum floor of the tent is ice, ice, ice cold. The noise it the heater is basically nothing. You just hear the forced air coming into the tent like you do your furnace at home (if you have forced air.) I don't hear the exhaust at all.

The heater has been running non-stop since 11p and it's chilly in here. Right around the heater duct is wonderful, but it never got the sqft warm enough for the thermostat to kick off the heater. The air is hot, dry, and forceful out of the duct. No concerns with the output. It just isn't enough to cover the lost heat through the tent and the freezer floor.

There is no condensation. Zero. This is not a propane buddy heater with wet heat.

Where do we go from here?

• The floor of the tent needs addressed. Either a coating, flooring, or a better mattress that insulates the body from the cold material. Currently iKamper is sold out of what they say their solution to this problem is, an inflatable mattress.
• The insulation tent liner should have been installed. This would have cocooned the heat in and kept us much warmer. I honestly believe this may be all that is needed to solve any challenges we had overnight. We own the insulation liner and have used it with great success. I just thought the Propex would be too much heat for the liner. It is not. Now we know.
• The heat duct needs split. I plan to run the heat into the tent in two places next time to balance the temp across the tent. Propex says you can split it up to 3 times. This will help the toes stay warm. But again, the insulation liner may solve for this.
• Different or better provisions in the tent. We kept it simple with the blankets and sleeping bag because I was confident that we'd get baked up here if we brought too much. That didn't happen.

This is why we tested things out to learn the boundaries. The tent is in the 60s right near the vent. I'm getting a reading now of the temp at the feet, update, it's 20°.

The amp draw was 2.4-2.5 amps consistently. This is running the heater, the fridge, the switch panel, the Redarc battery monitor, and the heater circuit for the battleborn lifepo4 battery.

I haven't gotten out to check propane, but it's still running non-stop. We're at 8 hours now using a 5lb tank.

Overall I'm still happy with the convenience of this. Once I sort out some details (or simply put the insulation liner in ?), it's going to be the perfect package.

Heading up to bed:

Checking out the Propex exhaust sound:

Getting the tent warmed up:

Okay, let's try to sleep now that the CO detector says it's safe:

We woke up every hour to review everything. It was far too cold for Hudson ?

Note the times and the temps for reference:

Man that's cold, hope the tent insulation makes the improvement, let us know, you two are tough

 

[Turnswrench]

Adding floor insulation sounds good, wonder if you can add anything to the roof which you may have already said. I have not used my propex in temps that low, you two are tough. Let us know, hoping the insulation is a win for you two.

Thank you. I think we throw the insulation liner in and test again this weekend. We'll see how the week goes. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[Turnswrench]

Project on deck for the blue Jeep:

 

[Turnswrench]

Didn't feel too hot this week. The wife did a great job keeping the house going and me alive ?

We got some garage therapy today though!

Put the Teraflex Speedbumps in the blue Jeep.

Rears were super easy. Twist out the old, twist in the new. I do need to replace the lower bump stop riser with something shorter.

The fronts are more involved, but not too bad. Started on the passenger side.

Yanked the spring:

Measured 2" up from the bottom to prepare for the cut:

I used a heavy metal blade on the meat carver for the cut. Cleaned it up with a grinding stone on the angle grinder:

File the cut and paint:

Modify the bump stop risers to work, shaved off .75":

Silicone the speedbump:

Throw it in, clean up the excess silicone, and tighten the clamp up top:

Do the other side and button it all up. Cycle the suspension with jack to confirm clearances.

Not too bad. Looking forward to trying them out.

In other news, additional parts for the Propex heater setup have arrived. More to come on that setup.

 

[Rusty PW]

I used the JKS hydraulic front bump stops. They do make a difference over the oem bump stops.

 

[Turnswrench]

I used the JKS hydraulic front bump stops. They do make a difference over the oem bump stops.

I hope these are as good as hydraulic.

 

[chorky]

Didn't feel too hot this week. The wife did a great job keeping the house going and me alive ?

We got some garage therapy today though!

Put the Teraflex Speedbumps in the blue Jeep.

Rears were super easy. Twist out the old, twist in the new. I do need to replace the lower bump stop riser with something shorter.

The fronts are more involved, but not too bad. Started on the passenger side.

Yanked the spring:

Measured 2" up from the bottom to prepare for the cut:

I used a heavy metal blade on the meat carver for the cut. Cleaned it up with a grinding stone on the angle grinder:

File the cut and paint:

Modify the bump stop risers to work, shaved off .75":

Silicone the speedbump:

Throw it in, clean up the excess silicone, and tighten the clamp up top:

Do the other side and button it all up. Cycle the suspension with jack to confirm clearances.

Not too bad. Looking forward to trying them out.

In other news, additional parts for the Propex heater setup have arrived. More to come on that setup.

Really curious to see what you think of the teraflex speedbump. I just did their progressive bump stops on all 4 corners like you did just the rear. They have worked amazingly so far. I could immediately feel the difference. How much lift do you have? Can't remember.... I would consider keeping whatever extended bump stop base that came with your lift on the rears. Thats what I did, and it seems to allow the progressive bump stops work more effectively although it causes them to take impact more often of course, just because they are longer than the factory ones. Yours looks like theres not nearly as much gap as I had though.

 

[Turnswrench]

Really curious to see what you think of the teraflex speedbump. I just did their progressive bump stops on all 4 corners like you did just the rear. They have worked amazingly so far. I could immediately feel the difference. How much lift do you have? Can't remember.... I would consider keeping whatever extended bump stop base that came with your lift on the rears. Thats what I did, and it seems to allow the progressive bump stops work more effectively although it causes them to take impact more often of course, just because they are longer than the factory ones. Yours looks like theres not nearly as much gap as I had though.

I'm on a 2.5" Clayton lift. I think it needs a half inch more space for travel and it'll be good.

The parts are still in the lock box up the road. It's dark and -7 out. Dragging my feet ?

 

[Turnswrench]

Alright. Some stuff happened, finally.

Swapped the copper hard line over to flexible hose. I'm much happier with this and it holds pressure 100x as long as the hard line did. The added benefit is being able to route it to a different propane tank in a pinch if needed. If you Propex, do this instead.

Connecting the ducts to the heater wasn't as easy as it should be. These 90° elbows will make for quick connections at camp. I needed to place another order for some couplers, clamps, and two 60mm rubber caps. Once that order comes in, the "easy to connect the ducts" project will be over.

 

[Turnswrench]

Some work on the white Jeep tonight.

RockHard 4x4 FAD skid and rock rails:

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