Suggestion of small propane heater?

Get another battery. ($75-100). Set thermostat to something like 50-55 on your camper furnace and use good heavy blankets. The lower temperature on your furnace will cause it to work not as hard and make it more comfortable. Next day, charge your batteries. Cheaper and safer.

beachlovingmom wrote:
Bipeflier, Thanks so much for your concise answers.

As I did not know that the furnace could be run without electricity as provided in the campground, in the future, that would certainly seem to be our best option. I did have plenty of blankets (even 1 for the dog!!) but getting out of bed in the 37 degree morning, it was a little bit uncomfortable getting dressed.

Also thanks for explaining why the electric blanket would not be a good choice or simply not work.

The simple answers (for me) were a big help!

Without knowing how big your camper is, nor how big your battery is, I can offer the following.

I had NO problem keeping my 24' M/H at 60+ deg. overnight when the outside temps are in the 20 -30 deg. range, depending on how late we stop, wind speed, etc., etc. on a single 'deep / marine starting' battery.

I now have a pair of those batteries and have no problem with a single overnight, regardless of the ambient temperature, or the time I stop for the night & start in the morning, keeping the M/H at 65+ deg., regardless of the ambient temperatures.

beachlovingmom wrote:
I did not know I could turn on the furnace without electricity. I know my husband put a new "deep cycle" battery in a few months ago, but thought we were only allowed to use the lights sparingly. Just out of curiosity, would an electric blanket work on battery? I do have our old one in the camper.

Regarding this: And if you don't have the funds for an expensive generator, HF has a unit for less than $100 that is enough to keep your battery up while running the furnace.

What is HF and what am I supposed to be looking for?


Thanks for all the advice.

The furnace runs on 12 volts and propane you do not need to be plugged in to use. It will run the battery down, how quick depends on how much you use it.

Raften wrote:
A lot of warnings but no real hard facts or reports of heater caused death. Still plan to use a cat heater as I have for 15 years.

I posted about 3 killed last year… if that’s not enough for what can I say…

As far as links this is a new heating season and most news reports have been archived from previous years and would be hard to search for without specific info, even then may require membership to access… most people here would not have a reason to archive stories just in case you ask a question sometime…

Strip the promotional marketing and none of them are safe except under strict conditions that few follow that closely…

A lot of warnings but no real hard facts or reports of heater caused death. Still plan to use a cat heater as I have for 15 years.

Olympian wave heaters are designed for this and are perfectly safe when used correctly. I know many people that use them.

For ANY RV I recommend using a good quality CO detector which means something beyond what the manufacturer provided. Something like a ProTech 7035-SL which displays actual CO levels is a good one. I have one in addition to my OE unit.

If your CO detector is over 5 years old it needs replacing anyway.

Your furnace can kill you. An electric heater can kill you. Your generator can kill you. Your neighbor's generator can kill you. All have happened.

Be careful.

Bipeflier, Thanks so much for your concise answers.

As I did not know that the furnace could be run without electricity as provided in the campground, in the future, that would certainly seem to be our best option. I did have plenty of blankets (even 1 for the dog!!) but getting out of bed in the 37 degree morning, it was a little bit uncomfortable getting dressed.

Also thanks for explaining why the electric blanket would not be a good choice or simply not work.

The simple answers (for me) were a big help!

A 49-year-old Hatfield woman who used a propane heater to warm her home was found dead on her kitchen floor early Monday morning.
Two more people, 57-year-old Alan W. Stevens and 22-year-old Billie Ann Luna , died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the Bondsvile section of Tuesday after using an adapted propane tank as a heater inside a trailer.

The use of unvented heaters that use fuels such as kerosene of liquid propane gas (LP gas) are illegal in Massachusetts because of the huge risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coin said.



CO, O2 depletion, C3 accumulation are all part of the problem… poor choices when using any of these heaters could have bad outcomes…


It can not be stated enough in the confined space of a RV all of the associated problems are magnified many times…




CONCLUSIONS
CPSC staff tested a catalytic heater as part of a project to document the CO emissions from
currently available camp heaters in order to determine if the heaters complied with the combustion
requirements in the voluntary standard Portable Type Gas Camp Heaters (ANSI Z21.63-2000). Although
the catalytic heater is not within the scope of ANSI Z21.63, it was included as part of the project since the
catalytic heater was being marketed for use inside tents and other indoor areas. The voluntary standard
applicable for catalytic camp heaters is ANSI Z21.62, but the standard was withdrawn in 1992. A new
standard is currently being written for catalytic camp heaters.
Although both ANSI Z21.62 (draft) and ANSI Z21.63 (2000) are for camp heaters (e.g., small
portable heaters that typically use a disposable 1-pound bottle of propane), the two standards have
different combustion requirements. ANSI Z21.62 (draft) limits the CO and hydrocarbon emissions at
specific O2 concentrations, but does not limit the depletion of O2. ANSI Z21.63 (2000) limits the CO
emissions and O2 depletion throughout the entire test.
The following is a summary of CPSC staff’s findings on the testing of the catalytic heater:
• The peak CO concentration ranged from 68 ppm to 125 ppm and the steady state CO
concentration ranged from 67 ppm to 109 ppm. Assuming a limited exposure time of up to 6.5
hours at these CO concentrations, the catalytic heater does not appear to pose a serious CO hazard
to healthy adults when the CO concentration is considered by itself.
• When the catalytic heater was operated in a closed room (ACH ~ 0), the oxygen was depleted
from an ambient concentration of 20.9 percent to 8.8 percent. Because the catalytic heater can
deplete the O2 concentration to such low levels, the heater poses a serious risk of hypoxia. The
degree of hypoxia is further exacerbated by the moderate CO concentration and by an increase in
the carbon dioxide concentration that accompanied the depletion of oxygen.
• As the oxygen decreased in the chamber, the catalytic heater became less effective at converting
the propane and oxygen to carbon dioxide and water vapor. This was reflected by an increase in
the hydrocarbon concentration in the chamber, which ranged from 1,050 ppm to 13,440 ppm (5 to
64 percent of the lower explosion limit of propane in air). The unreacted propane further
increases the degree of hypoxia.
• The heater’s catalyst did not appear to degrade over time. This observation is based on operating
two identical heaters on 100 disposable 1-pound bottles of propane (approximately 650 hours).
19
Emission tests were performed on each heater after every 20th bottle of propane (approximately
every 130 hours).
• The catalytic heater did comply with the combustion requirements currently specified in the draft
version of the standard for catalytic camp heaters (ANSI Z21.62).
• The catalytic heater did not comply with the combustion requirements specified in the standard
for infrared radiant camp heaters (ANSI Z21.63-2000). The heater depleted the O2 concentration
below 16 percent in the test chamber and also exceeded the 100 ppm limit for CO in the test
chamber.

beachlovingmom wrote:
I did not know I could turn on the furnace without electricity. I know my husband put a new "deep cycle" battery in a few months ago, but thought we were only allowed to use the lights sparingly. Just out of curiosity, would an electric blanket work on battery? I do have our old one in the camper.

Regarding this: And if you don't have the funds for an expensive generator, HF has a unit for less than $100 that is enough to keep your battery up while running the furnace.

What is HF and what am I supposed to be looking for?


Thanks for all the advice.

Seems everyone jumped over your question trying to defend or ban the use of heaters LOL

As you know by now, HF means the Harbor Freight Salvage stores or on-line store. Mostly Chinese junk but if you only need something once or very infrequently it may be an option.

YES you can run the onboard furnace from your 12 volt deep cycle battery. That is what it is for. It should run the heat and some lights for overnight. It should recharge during towing the next day.

NO the normal electric blankets will not run off the battery without going through an inverter that changes the 12 volt DC to 120 volt AC. It must be sized properly to handle the wattage of the blanket and because of the losses in the conversion from DC to AC it will be less efficient.

Best solution in my opinion is use the furnace as the RV manufacturer intended.

Catalytic heaters consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide, and very little carbon monoxide.