electric toe kick heater

Dusty R wrote:
In '03 or '04 I added an electric toe kick heater in our new motor home for heat while spending thee winter in Florida. There were not very many on the market, but I found one at W.W. Grainger with an optional low voltage relay, 12 volt I think. That let me use a battery operated programal thermostat.
This year we have a newer motor home and again I'm looking for an electric toe kick heater with low voltage relay.
There are a lot more heaters on the market, but I can't find with a low voltage relay.
I would like one rated at 1,500 to 1,800 watts at 120 volts. With low voltage control.

Dusty

You do not "need" any "special" heater..

You can use ANY 120V heater and use it with a regular T stat by adding a simple relay which has a 12V coil AND contacts rated for use with 120V with 20A rating.

Plenty of those out there, real popular are the "ice cube" style like the pix below..



Has easy to use terminals so you can use push on faston connectors..

That one can be found HERE for $15.

If you dig around you can find them cheaper but you should get an idea of what I am talking about.

You DON'T want "Bosche" style automotive relays, those do not have contacts rated for 120V usage.

You simply wire the power (hot) to the common contact and the heater to hot to N.O. (Normally open). When relay coil is energized the contacts are pulled together and allows the heater to get 120V..

The coil gets grounded on one end and the other goes to your T stat which when turned on will supply 12V to the relay. Don't forget to fuse your 12V side..