Forum Discussion
- PUCampinExplorerI am fortunate, my 22ft trailer has a ducted furnace that only draws around 4.2A when running. It's an Atwood 8520 20KBTU Unless it is really cold we leave it off at night, I am a light sleeper and it wakes me up even though it is actually very quiet. If we do need it, even using a 40/60 minute duty cycle, for 8hrs only 22.4AH are used. I know most larger trailers have larger furnaces with larger current draws
- korbeExplorer
SpeakEasy wrote:
Wow. I feel like I'm reading about a parallel universe here.
Last weekend I was boondocking. I have nothing special in terms of a battery. Outside temps overnight were in the low 40's or upper 30's. I had the TT furnace keeping me relatively warm (set at about 55 degrees) all night. Furnace was running as needed; no where near constant.
I had started out with my battery fully charged. In the morning, my charge was down to about 3/4 or 2/3 depending on which gauge I looked at. (I didn't measure with my voltmeter.)
After 2 hours of bright sunlight (7:00 AM to 9:00AM) my 100-watt solar panel had the battery back up to full charge.
It sounds like I used a lot less power than some of you are reporting.
This is in a 23-foot TT. Ducted.
-Speak
Yes. That is why those rules of thumb of one battery per night is just too general because of differing batteries and the furnace cycling times. Running my batteries from a full charge down to 50-percent is using about 110 amps. And with my furnace using about 7 amps it would take about 15 hours of constant use to get my batteries down to that 50-percent. And if the furnace cycled off half the time then it would take 30 hours.
But if you are trying to conserve battery power while dry camping, that 7 amps can be a large portion of overall battery usage. - SpeakEasyExplorerWow. I feel like I'm reading about a parallel universe here.
Last weekend I was boondocking. I have nothing special in terms of a battery. Outside temps overnight were in the low 40's or upper 30's. I had the TT furnace keeping me relatively warm (set at about 55 degrees) all night. Furnace was running as needed; no where near constant.
I had started out with my battery fully charged. In the morning, my charge was down to about 3/4 or 2/3 depending on which gauge I looked at. (I didn't measure with my voltmeter.)
After 2 hours of bright sunlight (7:00 AM to 9:00AM) my 100-watt solar panel had the battery back up to full charge.
It sounds like I used a lot less power than some of you are reporting.
This is in a 23-foot TT. Ducted.
-Speak - allen8106Explorer
korbe wrote:
I tested my furnace fan and it measured 6.7 amps.
Mine draws 6.4. with no gas flow like on cool down and draws 6.9 when gas is flowing. - westendExplorerThe better idea is to have a heating appliance that doesn't use electricity.
This "Sportsman" stove is in it's third RV:
No longer sold, BTW.
When the stove was installed in a deer camp trailer near the Canadian Border, we usually dialed it back to idle on even the coldest nights. The input rating is 20K BTU. There are similar fishouse stoves that are also vented. - manualmanExplorer II
rhagfo wrote:
manualman wrote:
Why are full size RV furnaces such power hogs? Our popup furnace will keep our camper (24' when open) at 50 degrees overnight when the outside is 30 for 4 to 5 nights (off in the day) on one G29 deep cycle! And we have ZERO insulation with those canvas walls. Just how hot you guys trying to keep it in there? And why? Get some blankets.
Or maybe popups just have magic furnaces...
while you may be 24' when open, you are only heating to 50 degrees. I heat to about 60 degrees.
Then there is the measurement, it isn't the length you are heating it is the cubic feet of space. I would guess a 24' TT would have at least twice the cubic feet of space to heat as a popup. Then a 32' 5er like we have way more cubic feet.
I think another poster nailed it. Pups aren't ducted, so our total draw is only about 3.5 amps. Double the amp draw seems a steep price to pay for ducting. I'm surprised more makers don't offer an efficient furnace unit in fixed height RVs like the popups have. There have to be plenty of people out there who want to dry camp and would rather have a few nights worth of furnace run on one battery than even heat distribution for 6 hours of ONE night! - StraboExplorer
bikendan wrote:
BigSur2 wrote:
A friend and I are planning a trip where we might have to stay overnight in a parking lot the first night in. We both have TTs. Can we run our furnaces off of DC Power?
In case you don't know, the furnace runs ONLY on 12vDC power, not shore power.
The furnace fan and lighting are 12vDC. Shore power only recharges the battery.
Of course you also need propane.
No it doesn't, the converter manages the feed in. - rhagfoExplorer III
manualman wrote:
Why are full size RV furnaces such power hogs? Our popup furnace will keep our camper (24' when open) at 50 degrees overnight when the outside is 30 for 4 to 5 nights (off in the day) on one G29 deep cycle! And we have ZERO insulation with those canvas walls. Just how hot you guys trying to keep it in there? And why? Get some blankets.
Or maybe popups just have magic furnaces...
while you may be 24' when open, you are only heating to 50 degrees. I heat to about 60 degrees.
Then there is the measurement, it isn't the length you are heating it is the cubic feet of space. I would guess a 24' TT would have at least twice the cubic feet of space to heat as a popup. Then a 32' 5er like we have way more cubic feet. - mr__edExplorerI agree that the draw on the batteries will be fairly heavy. Perhaps running the temp as low as practical may extend the time the furnace may be run before drawing the batteries down.
Another consideration is if the blower slows down, the sail switch may not actuate, thereby shutting off the gas to the furnace. Of course, any heating would then stop while the fan motor continues to draw down the battery. - rbp111ExplorerBigSur2 mentioned that he has a portable propane heater that is safe to use inside the trailer. I have a Mr. Heater-Big Buddy which I use in my fifth-wheel trailer. I would advise BigSur2 that is the way to go. You can utilize the devise which refills the small propane tanks from a larger one, say a 20lb tank. That is much cheaper than have to purchase the small tanks. Or he could do what I did, that is have a quick connect put in the trailer and go directly to the two 30# tanks.
I would recommend a the use of the portable propane heater because, in my case, it has a battery (3 D cell batteries) which operates the fan. And if you don't have the fan, that is ok, it still heats up the trailer in time. But as the people have said before me, the trailer heater will use up the battery power in no time.
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