Forum Discussion

inseinej's avatar
inseinej
Explorer
Nov 21, 2015

Space Heater in Chinook RV

So I'm trying to help out my father in-law with a question regarding the best way to heat their RV.

In the next week or two we are getting a cold front, down to the mid 20's. They're parked in our driveway for awhile until they leave for Arizona and running off of an extension cord from our house.

Just wondering what type of Space Heater if any would be appropriate for them in this situation. I was thinking a small fan based propane heater with a 750w mode would work?

Father in law thinks that unless he's hooked up to a 220v line at a RV campground he can't run any space heater from the outlets in the RV, just wondering what options he has.

The other option he was considering is getting another heater and running a separate extension cord from our house to run the heater exlusively (run the cord through the window or something) but most heaters say to not run it from an extension cord.

This is a 2004 Chinook Concourse.

Thanks for any input!
Class C
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Nov 21, 2015
    Hi,

    RV plugs are never 220 volt.

    I have three shore power cords. The OEM 30, a 20 and a 15 amp. That lets me heat 100% electrically.

    That said, the "stab" connectors for the outlets in RV's do not do well with heavy loads. I've replaced all but one of mine with screw terminal type.

    With the oem wall plugs it may be better to not exceed 750 watts on any circuit. However there may be several circuits on different breakers so the potential is there to do quite a bit of auxiliary heating. My favorite heaters are electrical carpets. My next favorite are 1/2 size oil filled units (about 440 watts each).
  • lc0338's avatar
    lc0338
    Explorer
    Nov 21, 2015
    I have my RV on an extension cord and running the RV heater on propane. I'm not in the RV, just not completely winterized it so I'm keeping the heater going. If you are trying to run everything including the micro-wave and heater it might be a problem on just a house outlet and extension cord but just to keep the RV warm the extension cord should work ok.
  • drsolo's avatar
    drsolo
    Nomad
    Nov 21, 2015
    Dont they have a furnace in their RV? Mine doesnt keep the RVan warm enough with temps below 30 or so. I have a quartz IR heater that can heat if the circuit will take my overhead heating strip and the quartz heater. But recently I got an electric blanket. I do have a wave catalytic heater that runs off propane really heats the place up. I crack the window an inch when using. I think some Buddy heaters are catalytic.
  • mockturtle's avatar
    mockturtle
    Explorer II
    Nov 21, 2015
    You can run a small space heater on 110V. I did it for several winters. Make very sure your extension cord is rated for the load.

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