Radiant heater in open cab UTV?

Although I have a windshield and roof which helps keep the wind-chill effect down, I don't have a cab.

Since radiant heaters apply heat to objects and not the air, what are your thoughts of installing a radiant heater?

I'm thinking of a couple options. A single tube 4' unit that would mount between the ROPS, just inside the lower part of the windshield. It could catch my hands on the steering wheel and heat my upper body. Possibly another one down low (under the dash) for the legs/feet.

These can be powered by either electric or propane. I have a spare (large) deep-cycle marine battery with inverter I could use for going electric. For propane, I could use either 1# or 20# tank to supply the fuel.

I would probably only use them on occasion to take the chill off or on really cold days.

Thoughts?

I think propane is dangerous, and I think the radiant heaters really draw a lot of power. I think the heaters that work off the cooling system on the liquid cooled engines are the best way to go. I am just waiting for one that I am going to test and see how it works. I want to install a Water Temp Gauge too, and see if it affects the running temp of my Rhino.

You been quiet lately. How you doing??

Loki,

I don't (didn't) think the propane would be too dangerous.
The ele. radiant heaters I'm thinking of draw about 1000w.
Using an inverter, at 1000w that comes out to about a 9 amp draw.
I don't have my battery specs handy but think that would give me at least 10 hours of running the heater. A lot more than I would need before charges.

I really can't use the heaters off the engine coolant. With no cab, the heat would just float into the air.

I'm doing OK. Not really quiet and have read all the posts that come in on RSBS but it's all Rhino techy stuff for which I have no answer/comment.

Brian

bczoom said:

Using an inverter, at 1000w that comes out to about a 9 amp draw. I don't have my battery specs handy but think that would give me at least 10 hours of running the heater. A lot more than I would need before charges.

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I know you have mentioned that you run battery/inverter setups before, so you probably know this...

For a standard lead-acid automotive (tractor) battery, you don't really want to run them down to anything less than 90%, so 9 Ah for 10 hours = 90 Ah/90% = an 810 Ah capacity battery. (I doubt if a tractor battery can handle this, mine cant!). If you use a high quality deep cycle gel battery, they can tolerate 50% or even less, so this works out to 90Ah/50% = 180 Ah capacity battery...very doable, but the battery will still set you back a couple hundred, plus mounting the battery and inverter (why an inverter? I would suspect they have DC resistive heaters). Oh, and this does not include the inverter inefficiencies, so add another 10%-15% to the battery capability for that.

Propane sounds good to me!

Dave,

I already put a deep-cycle in the RTV due to the draw of all the lights, stereo, amp...

I also have a spare (very large) deep cycle battery sitting on the shelf dedicated to the inverter. Mounting shouldn't be much of an issue as I already have it in a marine box and such that I can just mount somewhere.
I concur that you don't want to try this with a regular battery.

Since I have everything except the heater, the out-of-pocket cost shouldn't be too bad. I have a 750/1500w radiant heater in my garage but the footprint is wrong (approx 18"x32") for mounting in the RTV. I may pull it down and hook to the battery/inverter just to see how it goes (and how long it'll run). The inverter has a low-voltage shutdown so I can see how long it'll run in the 750w setting.

I'll look into a DC radiant heater.

If you are going to go to all that work why not just put on the doors and the h2o hearter.

Deerlope,

Welcome to the forum!! Glad you joined.
I really don't want a cab right now. I'm on and off way too often. So far, I still think the OEM cab appears the best but if I recall, it's a few grand.

Brian

Build your own, you have built just about everything else.

Deerlope said:

Build your own, you have built just about everything else.

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If I do get a cab, I will probably have to make my own.
There's no way an OEM cab can accomodate all the "stuff" I put on it.

After listening to your plans, I think I would go with the propane. Just a tank and a hose to worry about. A small bottle would last a long time i would think.
I have two inverters of 1000 watts each and some golf cart batteries in series about 8 of them. I used to run my house on 12 volt before I got power, and I left my system in place. I now run all my computers (3) and TV and SAt dish off of the inverters, so when the power goes TU I still got my toys. But I digress. I thknk the propane will be simpler and lighter. Just don't blow your self up. I am still waiting for the heater, one from Todd, but I could die of old age before that gets here.

loki2 said:

batteries in series about 8 of them. I used to run my house on 12 volt before I got power

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I assume you mean parallel. In series would give you 96vDC.