Suggestion of small propane heater?
Returned home this past weekend and spent first night in Walmart parking lot. (check off bucket list!!) However, 37 was a tad chilly. I see there are small propane heaters on Amazon, but unsure if ...
Forum Discussion
All the above is good advice. I'd spend the $900-$1000 and get a 2000 watt Honda. If money is an issue, buy a Champion. If it is a major issue, buy a Harbor Freight ET800 clone (although I'd use it with a separate battery charger clipped onto the house batteries since it is not the best for sensitive RV electronics.)
Your RV furnace is the best thing going. It uses air from outside the rig and exhausts it outside, heating the inside air with a heat exchanger.
Of course, there are Buddy heaters. They can be used inside your RV, but you have to know some potentially very dangerous limitations:
1: A couple years back when I was at a festival, a person camping in his tent trailer had his bedding fall on the front of the heater, which caught fire. He and his pet made it out alive, but the trailer (and the 16 ounce propane bottles) went up with a bang (or multiple bangs, one per propane bottle.) The crater is still there. If you use one of these heaters, give it space, especially above it and in front.
2: These heaters use up oxygen and produce carbon dioxide and water. This means that you have humidity building up and you have less oxygen. So, some sort of ventilation (the manual on the heater will state how many CFM you need) is needed. Supposedly the heater has a low O2 sensor, but would you want to trust your life to it? CO sensors don't help against low oxygen levels.
3: These heaters put a lot of humidity in the air, and none of it is good for the camper interior. In some rigs, it can be enough to start delaminating the walls.
I'd look at a propane heater as a last resort. Instead, a generator and an electric heater is far safer. Some rigs have cheap wiring, so it might help to thread a thick extension cable through the electrical cord mouse-hole if it has one just for the heater.
Your RV furnace is the best thing going. It uses air from outside the rig and exhausts it outside, heating the inside air with a heat exchanger.
Of course, there are Buddy heaters. They can be used inside your RV, but you have to know some potentially very dangerous limitations:
1: A couple years back when I was at a festival, a person camping in his tent trailer had his bedding fall on the front of the heater, which caught fire. He and his pet made it out alive, but the trailer (and the 16 ounce propane bottles) went up with a bang (or multiple bangs, one per propane bottle.) The crater is still there. If you use one of these heaters, give it space, especially above it and in front.
2: These heaters use up oxygen and produce carbon dioxide and water. This means that you have humidity building up and you have less oxygen. So, some sort of ventilation (the manual on the heater will state how many CFM you need) is needed. Supposedly the heater has a low O2 sensor, but would you want to trust your life to it? CO sensors don't help against low oxygen levels.
3: These heaters put a lot of humidity in the air, and none of it is good for the camper interior. In some rigs, it can be enough to start delaminating the walls.
I'd look at a propane heater as a last resort. Instead, a generator and an electric heater is far safer. Some rigs have cheap wiring, so it might help to thread a thick extension cable through the electrical cord mouse-hole if it has one just for the heater.
