Wolffarmer wrote:I think it is the 513 model that you turn upside down until there is a spot of wet fuel appears on the material. I wonder how much those flare.
Randy
I was driving a VW bus (bay window model) in Omaha in the early 80s and needed to make a long winter road trip. I was complaining about freezing to death when a friend offered to loan me his Coleman heater. Must have been that model.
Before leaving on the trip, I turned it over to get the wet spot, then turned it upright and lit it on the ground. The flame was a foot or so high, burned quietly, and quickly died down leaving the top of the heater with a faint glowing hot spot that slowly spread to cover the whole top of the heater.
I put the heater on the floor in front of the front passenger's seat and hit the road. Heater worked well, I was comfortable, and there were enough air leaks in my bus to keep things safe. I remember a faint smell, but nothing bad. I checked for a while and nothing near the heater got too hot.
(Added) I left the heater running during pit stops and it was nice to get back into a warm bus. I don't remember any problems with condensation/frost forming on the inside of the windows. (Without the heater, I often had to scrape frost off the inside of the windshield and front side windows caused by my own breath---ice scraper was kept handy. Only way to prevent that problem was to keep a little fresh winter air blowing onto the windshield while driving.)
When I got where I was going, a metal cover put over the heater easily extinguished it.
The heater worked just as well on the return trip.
The trip was about 17 hours one way and held enough fuel for that long. I don't remember if I needed to refuel it before the return leg, but probably did.
by Wolffarmer » Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:24 am 
