Ideas for a more electrically efficient heater?

Check your ducting is not restricted. My fan run time was at least double what it should be due to a restriction. If your burner cycles when the fan is blowing you have an issue.

Otherwise more battery and some solar. Could be your battery is weak or your charging system is inadequate.

Gdetrailer wrote:

wrybread wrote:


I may just wall mount a catalytic heater like the Wave 6 or even just a Buddy Heater. I'm in coastal NorCal and the coldest I ever have to deal with is like 45 degrees. And my camper is small enough (24 feet) that a big central heating system is a bit overkill.

I personally will never consider the usage of any non vented gas or oil burning device in a small enclosed space.. I don't care just how many "safeties" that device has, all it takes is one single flaw in a "safety" and you wake up DEAD..

X2. Add a blanket.

wrybread wrote:
My furnace kills my batteries because of its blower. It's older (1989), does anyone have any experience swapping it out with something more efficient? Or any other ideas?

I may just wall mount a catalytic heater like the Wave 6 or even just a Buddy Heater. I'm in coastal NorCal and the coldest I ever have to deal with is like 45 degrees. And my camper is small enough (24 feet) that a big central heating system is a bit overkill.

Have you ever thought about better batteries?

If you are using group 24 or 27 "Marine/RV batteries" that IS your problem..

Those types of batteries have very little capacity Less than 80 Ahrs and half of that is usable) and with a lot of conservation (IE an hr of lights and no water pump, no TV, No entertainment) you will only get 8-10hrs of furnace usage before needing to recharge..

Bump up to bigger batteries and you will not have a problem running a furnace.. One pair of 6V GC batteries will get you about 210 Ahrs and using only half of the capacity for longest life gets you 105 Ahrs which is double or even triple the capacity of a group 24..

I personally will never consider the usage of any non vented gas or oil burning device in a small enclosed space.. I don't care just how many "safeties" that device has, all it takes is one single flaw in a "safety" and you wake up DEAD..

it takes a xxx amount of energy to move yyy amount of air
you can get a furnace with lower btu and smaller fan motor

or you can eliminate all fan power use by getting the Wave cat heater

thats what we did, use to have a wave 6, now have a wave 8

we are 34ft DP, the bed sets over the engine compartment and gets COLD