Is there an electric heater/furnace that runs on dry batteries? I looked at camping equpiment on rei.com, but couldn't find any.
2006-10-26 05:08:01 · 5 answers · asked by Junefeely 1 in Consumer Electronics ➔ Other - Electronics
I'm afraid the answer basically is no.
The longer answer is that electric heaters / furnaces are usually making power in terms of kilowatts - a "small" fire might "only" by 1000 watts (1 kw).
Now if you look at an Alkaline D-cell battery, it is typically rated at 1.5V an 15 AH - ignoring for a moment that the rating is optimisitic and looking at a BEST case, this means a QUALITY alkaline D battery can generate around 22.5 watts for 1 hour - and then it is dead.
Looked at another way, 10 D-cell alkaline batteries would run a small 1kw heater for around 13 minutes before being flat. In practice it would last less than 10 minutes because the voltage falls off considerably as the battery weakens. (You would also need to have a heater designed to run at this voltage too - 15v in this example)
Even using "wet batteries" like a 45AH car battery, you would only be looking at around 30 minutes before it too was empty.
About the closest I have seen is "cigar-lighter" plug in heaters for defrosting the screen. These run of 12v and are around 240 watts. (less than a quarter of a "one bar" fire), a full car battery might drive this for 2 hours if you were lucky. 8 D cell alkaline batteries might last for about 30-40 minutes. An extremely expensive way of taking the chill from your tent!
NiMh (Nickle Metal Hydride) batteries would cost more but would at least be re-usable - but agan, expect to be carrying around many kilos of batteries if you want more than a few minutes of VERY low heat levels.
I take it that gas is not possible/safe/practical for your application?
Hope that helps a little.
2006-10-26 05:26:32 · answer #1 · answered by Mark T 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, the 11 9V batteries will give you 99V of juice (+ some due to batteries being over the voltage they say they are) which is close to the 110V out of the wall. The problem you're going to face is that most hair dryers that I've seen run on AC power and not the DC that you get from the batteries. You would need to either use an inverter to get back to AC or find a hair dryer that runs on DC out of the box. The heating element should work with either power, but the fan will not. Either way using batteries to generate heat is a loosing proposition if the system wasn't designed efficiently for battery use.
2016-03-28 08:15:01 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
electric heaters are not practical for camping as they require too many batteries and the weight factor is too great.plus they would run down too fast. best to look at gas fired heating there are some very good ones out there
2006-10-26 05:19:23 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Batteries and electric heaters just don't go together. Sorry!
They do have gas heaters that don't put out carbondioxide.
2006-10-26 05:18:41 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Electrical heating devices require HUGH amounts of power! :-)=
2006-10-26 05:15:50 · answer #5 · answered by Jcontrols 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋