Truma is finally selling in the US now
Link. I've grumbled about this before when Truma only sold their propane level meter, but apparently they are dipping more than just a toe in US waters with their Combi forced air LP gas furnace/wa...
Forum Discussion
I'm skeptical. I wonder what the BTU output of a little trailer water heater actually is. Not that great, would be my guess, like 15 or 20 Amps at 120 volts. What is the breaker size for heating water with electricity I wonder?
I remember when one of my HVAC managers got the idea of heating a home with in-floor hot water using two full-size (40 gallon) electric water heaters. It couldn't do the job, because the BTU capability was only, if I remember right, 10,000 BTU's each, and 20,000 BTU's couldn't do the job when it got really cold.
If the water heater in a trailer is 15 amps, then it could produce about 5,000 BTU's, and if run on gas, it isn't likely to be much greater than the heat output from electricity.
So: if you can only get 5,000 or so BTU's out of a water heater, then you'll need further heat sources when it gets cold. My 30-ft 5th wheel needs TWO 5000 BTU space heaters when it gets down to about 30 degrees. (I can't stand my furnace, and haven't used it even once since verifying that it worked, 5 years ago.)
One final point: running the H out of your water heater may lead to scaling, carboning, oxidizing, etc and otherwise shortening the life of the heater. Trailer water heaters are quite expensive. For that reason alone, I'd opt for a couple electric space heaters.
I remember when one of my HVAC managers got the idea of heating a home with in-floor hot water using two full-size (40 gallon) electric water heaters. It couldn't do the job, because the BTU capability was only, if I remember right, 10,000 BTU's each, and 20,000 BTU's couldn't do the job when it got really cold.
If the water heater in a trailer is 15 amps, then it could produce about 5,000 BTU's, and if run on gas, it isn't likely to be much greater than the heat output from electricity.
So: if you can only get 5,000 or so BTU's out of a water heater, then you'll need further heat sources when it gets cold. My 30-ft 5th wheel needs TWO 5000 BTU space heaters when it gets down to about 30 degrees. (I can't stand my furnace, and haven't used it even once since verifying that it worked, 5 years ago.)
One final point: running the H out of your water heater may lead to scaling, carboning, oxidizing, etc and otherwise shortening the life of the heater. Trailer water heaters are quite expensive. For that reason alone, I'd opt for a couple electric space heaters.
