Does the PRIMUS STOVE and HOT WATER BOTTLE count, it was effective and always worked. Eddie.
Yes, Eddie, it worked in a B-series ERF with one of Mr. Jennings’ nest boxes. But the Eberspacher in my next motor- double-glazed DAF- worked even better!
After 2 years driving & no night heater I, a lad left and I got his G reg Leland roadtrain with a 12L rolls Royce eagle 325 !
A palace after an older roadtrain !
Leland roadtrain with a 12L rolls eagle 325 ! Heaven !
Hey, Eberspächer D1 wasn’t the best but much better as nothing. And already a lot better as the earlier tube model.
If you had a spare glow spark and especially an electronic steering box,and let run it sometimes in summer,and best opened to clean out the carbon fur. The EberspächerD1 was very welcome.
Surely better as a gas heater,or liquid stove.
But the Webasto was the better but the more expensive.
Waterheaters ok but take care of your batteries.
cheers Eric,
owd billy bowker was best,if a driver complained about being cold in the cab he would throw them an ex army greatcoat and say that will fix it.lol. 
erfguy:
Does the PRIMUS STOVE and HOT WATER BOTTLE count, it was effective and always worked. Eddie.
Amen to that one , this worked every night with blankets hung up round the windows & me across the bench-seat in my Dodge Commando 
Regards Chris
First strike I was ever involved in back in the winter of 1964 was over lack of heaters in the cabs, these were not night heaters, but just ordinary cab heaters on Thames Traders, we all refused to take the motors out unless heaters were to be fitted as soon as possible, which the boss immediately promised, and true to his word when we got back to the yard that night the workshop was stacked high with the heaters ready to be fitted. The first night heater came 40 years later working for a supermarket chain, no nights out nice warm modern cab and a flaming night heater…….
Ossie
I Won a nightheater in a comp Truck & Driver 1987 fitted it into SA 401 D507TTY
Any body remember the Thermexine heaters you could buy in France really worked a treat and you could do a nice bit of toast on it, no flame but kept the cab nicely warm. My heaters long gone,
But still have the jerry can for the Thermexine.
Ossie
After doing 4-5 nights out a week in an Iveco 7.5tonner 79-14 day cab for 3 years, i got pu thru my test and my first motor before i got an artic was this brand new FL6, it had a bed as well!!! not a very big bed, but better than sleeping across the seats
lespullan:
Hi, Scania 82H night heater, sleeper cab and curtains absolute heaven, but what did you do before, sleeping on ropes and sheets to make a bed in the cab ok if you were empty, or a tent under the sheet, oh and the old faithful board and foam rubber, never risked the flee pits, at least if I was sleeping in muck, it was mine, no wonder we used to run night and day.
Les.
Some truth in that. Rather than risk of a night in a flea pit or the unreasonable expense of some clean digs (even if I was parked near anything) I did many a night across the seats of TK and TL Bedfords and D Series Fords, sometimes waking up to an iced-over windscreen - on a couple of occasions it took 10 minutes to dawn on me the the reason I couldn’t get the windscreen to clear with the ice scraper was cos the ice was on the inside. If I got sick of being cramped up over the seats I’d move house and sleep up in the luton (nbg if I wasn’t in a luton wagon of course) using all the spare furniture blankets I could find, some as a pad and the rest over my sleeping bag. I learned to pick my spot, as to do this risked some clever [zb] clogs locking me in the back, but at least I could get a decent night’s kip… up until some some [zb] parked his fridge unit next to me.
My first wagon with a night heater? Well in 1986 the TM told me they were going to put some on order and… well, that was the last I heard of it.
my first "night heater " was when i overnighted at onllwyn opencast . the nightwatchman had a stack of firebricks round his stove and if drivers were there over night he would put two or three in your cab on an old shovel blade . it was nice and cosy when we got back from the pub and they stayed warm all night .
Had one of them there portable heaters that ran on some kind of meths.
Belted the heat out but used to wake up with a blinding headache.
No, i did not drink the fuel before anybody asks.
ParkRoyal2100:
lespullan:
Hi, Scania 82H night heater, sleeper cab and curtains absolute heaven, but what did you do before, sleeping on ropes and sheets to make a bed in the cab ok if you were empty, or a tent under the sheet, oh and the old faithful board and foam rubber, never risked the flee pits, at least if I was sleeping in muck, it was mine, no wonder we used to run night and day.
Les.Some truth in that. Rather than risk of a night in a flea pit or the unreasonable expense of some clean digs (even if I was parked near anything) I did many a night across the seats of TK and TL Bedfords and D Series Fords, sometimes waking up to an iced-over windscreen - on a couple of occasions it took 10 minutes to dawn on me the the reason I couldn’t get the windscreen to clear with the ice scraper was cos the ice was on the inside. If I got sick of being cramped up over the seats I’d move house and sleep up in the luton (nbg if I wasn’t in a luton wagon of course) using all the spare furniture blankets I could find, some as a pad and the rest over my sleeping bag. I learned to pick my spot, as to do this risked some clever [zb] clogs locking me in the back, but at least I could get a decent night’s kip… up until some some [zb] parked his fridge unit next to me.
My first wagon with a night heater? Well in 1986 the TM told me they were going to put some on order and… well, that was the last I heard of it.
Hi, remember one night in Stirling, in October early 80s, absolutely Baltic, sets up the bed in the glass body single skin aluminium, goes out for a few pints and back to bed, wagon’s covered in frost, eventually got the lock of the shutter, slept all night , when I woke up in the morning the top of the sleeping bag was frozen solid, didn’t take long to get dressed as I had only taken my boots of, took me over half an hour to get the shutter up, never slept in the back again, got a TM after that and then the luxury of the Scania.
Les.
I never had a motor with a night heater !!
When I had my 141 I would leave it running with the hand throttle at 850-900 RPM with the cab heater and fans on full blast. crack the windows open an inch or so or open sky light to let some fresh air in.
Same with my 112.
I did buy some funky contraption once that ran off the gas bomb, it used to glow when you lit it, looked a bit like an old toaster, I think I got it in Turkey, trouble was when it was really cold the flame used to go out because the gas bomb was too cold !! so you ended up gassing yourself. That soon got chucked out the window. !! Elf ans safety !
shirtbox2003:
owd billy bowker was best,if a driver complained about being cold in the cab he would throw them an ex army greatcoat and say that will fix it.lol.
Owd Fred Chappell was good at that, I think he bought a bulk lot of surplus army greatcoats.
My Jaguar has a little Webasto in it, it’s called “an auxiliary fuel fired heater” , it works automatically through the air con system when the weather gets a bit chilly. It’s a great little thing…when it’s working 
this poxy thing that I have has a mind of it’s own and recently it has had the hump and refused to function at all.
After spending many years crashing across the seats in first an A series then a D series and an F7 after that I made it to an F12 Globetrotter it had both a night heater and built in air conditioner. When I first got it neither of them worked, the night heater was an easy fix but no one in the Scottish borders even knew what an air conditioner was so it took a while to sort that one out, worth the effort though.
The first truck I ever knew with an extra heater was Chappies Atki Borderer from Galashiels in the early 70’s, Chappy was very keen on DIY so he got an Atki Borderer unit converted it to a 6x2 with a 24 foot body and did his own sleeper cab conversion. It featured wall paper, a 21" black and white tele and a wood and coal fired pot belly stove which doubled as a cooler. He also shortened a trailer and made his own dolly, All done in his back garden with out a shed. He was always parked up for a fry up to watch upstairs down stairs.
Galashiels to Aberdeen return was 4 days. He always complained that the ministry had it in for him.
Jeff…
GS OVERLAND:
I never had a motor with a night heater !!
When I had my 141 I would leave it running with the hand throttle at 850-900 RPM with the cab heater and fans on full blast. crack the windows open an inch or so or open sky light to let some fresh air in.
Same with my 112.
I did buy some funky contraption once that ran off the gas bomb, it used to glow when you lit it, looked a bit like an old toaster, I think I got it in Turkey, trouble was when it was really cold the flame used to go out because the gas bomb was too cold !! so you ended up gassing yourself. That soon got chucked out the window. !! Elf ans safety !
Hey Overland,
In my last years I did the same,let run the engine; Not for nights out but for waiting hours and hours (5-6 and more).
If it is too expensive for a heater then let run it with more fuelwasting as a heater. While the boss is sitting with central heating in his office.
In our first company we mounted them from the beginning which came standard for all at the end of the '60’s.
Dispite the first Webasto and Eberspächers gave a lot of troubles,after a while all got a spare spark and unit with them.
What a time when the units were still repaired but cheap,the metalbox was easy to open. Today they are closed made,but still cost half of a new heater,luckely better made as in those days.
At first all got a selfmade gasheater in the mid '50’s,company payed as was a radio and not the driver had to pay for.
Cheers Eric,
