Heat Strip In A/C

Most Motorhomes have a minimum 32,000 btu furnace(some have 2- 32k furnaces)===64K BTU's
The HP on a motorhome will be 15,000 EACH. Usually 2== 30k BTU's
The heat strips are 5600 BTU- EACH. 2 = 11,200 BTU's.
So, they are NOT designed to do anything other than take the chill out of the air, so you do not have to run a large forced heat source like a furnace or the HP. Doug

Our 1988 Xplorer had heat strips in both ceiling A/C units..They worked very well for taking the chill out on those fall camping trips... this was not a ducted system, just 2 individual ceiling mounted A/C units....

Mr.Mark wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but heat pumps (which we have) will work down to 40 degrees like several posters have stated above.

Now, if you have electric strips, they should give you heat all the time as that is 'electric heat'.

Our home in Southern California (desert) has heat pumps for heat (rarely used).... but, we also have a selection for 'supplemental heat' on the thermostat, which is the electric strip that will 'drink' the electric juice!

MM.

This is correct. RV Heat pumps have a thermostat that will shut them off at around 40F outside air temp, to protect the compressor and keep the outside coil from freezing.

A home heat pump has a defrost cycle, and it will switch to the cooling mode and shut off the outside fan motor for about 5 minutes every 45 minutes. This way they can run very effectively down to about 5F on a new R-410 system or 12F on a older R-22 system.

The reason they have back up electric heaters on homes is to provide some heat if the compressor fails, or for those rare times when it is below 15F and you need additional heat that the heat pump can not provide.

As for the original post, I would not spend $90 for a electric strip heater for two reasons.

The fan is noisy compared to a compact portable heater.

The portable heater is able to blow just into the bathroom while I am showering, or just into the bedroom while I am sleeping, and this saves energy. Sure many times you are at a RV park with 'free' electric, but the owner is paying and will have to adjust their rates at some point to pay off the electric bill.

So I have 3 portable heaters. I can run 1-3 of them on low heat, or two on high heat with my 30 amp service. I was able to use my 3 electric heaters while living in Portland OR one winter with temps as low as 25F overnight, and did not need to use the furnace other than warming the RV from 45 to say 65 when I got home.

Portable heaters are less expensive, and will not be directing heat to the very coldest part of the RV - the A/C ductwork next to the very cold roof while trying to warm the room!.

Good luck,

Fred.

I had Heat Strips on one MH. Do not work as good as a Heat Pump. Neither one is as good as a gas furnace.

I would buy a good electric heater before wasting money on Heat Strips

Correct me if I'm wrong, but heat pumps (which we have) will work down to 40 degrees like several posters have stated above.

Now, if you have electric strips, they should give you heat all the time as that is 'electric heat'.

Our home in Southern California (desert) has heat pumps for heat (rarely used).... but, we also have a selection for 'supplemental heat' on the thermostat, which is the electric strip that will 'drink' the electric juice!

MM.

I agree with old guy, to much air movement not enough heat.I have ducted ceiling heat. My old MH had 2 single units that blew into area and the heat strip worked better.

I am old guy , ops with old guy ;)
Had the strip in 1 coach and remember it being 1200W, so pretty good power, but even on low, the AC blower produced too much noise.
$19 ceramic heater is much quieter and nicer to use.
I think the only advantage of heat strip is that is harder to start a fire with it, so if you have habit of droping clothes on the floor, you better don't use floor heaters.

well I hate to be the one to spoil the posts above, but I put one in our TT and I think the AC moves too much air even on low to make a difference. the air always felt cold to me. I very seldom used it after that.

I added them to the A/C units in our first motorhome and as mentioned above they work well when the outside temperature was above 40 degrees. They really saved on furnace propane consumption. Our current coach has heat pumps we use in the same manner.

Years ago I had them and as I can remember they did a good job of taking the chill off and keeping the place warm until it got really cold. If it is freezing outside you will want to use the furnace.