? about boondocking with furnace

Furnace electrical consumption is not necessarily 7-10 amps. It depends on make and model, and you should look up yours. Some RVs come with documentation from the various appliance makers and that info could be in there. You could also try google make/model number. My 19500 BTU furnace takes about 3.5 amps when burning and blowing. The higher amp draw models are generally larger RV furnaces.

We use it everytime we camp, even in the summer. You do have to crack an upper vent. I guess I need to read up on the platinum cat as well.

The furnace fan sucks 7-10 amps from your batteries. However, it is, by far, the safest way to heat your rig, on par with the Platinum Cat, which has less of an amp draw... but it throws all the combustion exhaust outside.

I have not read much about the Olympian Wave heater... I wonder how it compares to a Buddy heater, especially for long boondocking runs.

Get an Olympian Wave heater. It runs off of propane only and does not eat batteries. I put one in two years ago and haven't used my heater since. I can go about 4 times longer in the cold now because my batteries aren't draining my batteries in a day or two! Best thing I have done to the camper since all we do is boondock.

luberhill,

Your RV's furnace fan (and the furnace's wall control and the flame igniter) is powered from your RV's battery ... while the furnace's heating flame is of course fed by your propane. When you're on hookups or running your generator, either one of these sources is also keeping your battery topped up at the same time that the battery is powering the furnace's fan and it's wall control and it's flame igniter - so that the battery is not getting depleted while it's powering the total furnace system.

However when not on hookups or running your generator, the battery is getting run down at a rate of 6 to 8 amps every hour that the furnace is running if the furnace is running all the time - which it only does in real cold weather. Usually the furnace is cycling ON and OFF several times per hour whenever you have the furnace turned ON ... hence, the fan does not consume 6 to 8 amps out of the battery every hour. For instance, if the furnace is running about 1/2 of the time, it will consume only 3 to 4 amps (one half of 6 to 8 amps) out of the battery every hour. When not on hookups or running your generator, for best battery life you should only use about one-half of your battery's capacity before recharging it. A single Group 24 RV battery has only about 65 to 75 amps of total capacity in it when fully charged.

What this all means is that IF you have only a fully charged single Group 24 battery in your RV and IF the furnace is the ONLY thing that the battery is powering (this is highly unlikely), and IF the outside temperature is such that your furnace only has to run (cycle ON and OFF) about 1/2 of the time ... then your single Group 24 battery should power your furnace for around 8 hours (~65 battery capacity amps divided by 8 furnace consumption amps per hour) to 12 hours (~ 75 battery capacity amps divided by 6 furnace consumption amps per hour).

HOWEVER:

1. Your Group 24 battery may not be fully charged when you turn your furnace ON.
and/or
2. Your Group 24 battery probably also powers other 12 volt things in your RV.
or
3. You may have more than one Group 24 battery in your RV.
or
4. You may have one or more batteries in your RV that are a larger 12 volt size than Group 24.
or
5. You may have two, four, or six batteries in your RV that are 6 volt instead of 12 volt.

For example, we have two Group 31 12 volt batteries in our RV that can easily power the furnace in moderately cold weather for many, many hours ... plus power other things in the RV at the same time. In my opinion, no RV owner should attempt to camp in weather requiring use of their furnace when their RV has only a single 12 volt Group 24 "Marine/RV" battery in it. Our RV came with two Group 24 "Marine/RV" 12 volt batteries and only a few months after buying it I replaced them with two larger 12 volt "Deep Cycle" batteries.

How many brys do have?? Google 12volt side of life, read and LEARN

As an Rv-camping person, you need to know this....your style of camping..in an RV, requires power in one of 3 ways. You go to a camping place that has hook-ups or you have a generator or you have a solar array and battery array that will support your needs. That furnace cannot run all night on batteries....whether you have one or 3...a full night with the furnace coming off and on will kill your power supply. Those of us that camp in colder weather learn how to deal with the wet/cold times. That learning curve starts here...if you were to post questions in General or even Boondocking, you will get guidance on how to deal with it.


Gary Haupt

Your furnace runs off of your coach battery and the furnace fan tends to be a battery hog. How long it will last depends on the size and quantity of your coach batteries ... as well as how often your furnace comes on (temperature). Many Class C's come with one type 24 battery which won't last much longer than one night in cold weather - you can recharge the battery with your generator but I suggest you start your engine b4 trying to start the generator because you don't want to end up stranded with both dead coach and chassis battery.