Forum Discussion

marpel's avatar
marpel
Explorer
Dec 12, 2022

Heated Floors

Have read a number of threads over the years about heating an RV in cold weather and the issues with things like propane requirements as well as condensation etc. And along with those posts, a number of suggestions from others to mitigate these issues.

However, I can't recall ever seeing a post/discussion about heated floors (either electric or liquid) and wonder why this is not a viable option available to the average RVer (I understand some highend RVs have in-floor heating).

Why is that? Are there problems with this type of heating, and would this type of heating reduce condensation?

Marv
  • Heated floors,(liquid or 120 volt grids), ARE NOT designed to heat an RV. They are designed to keep the cold floor from bothering you. The ONLY heated floors I have seen are under tile floors. Doug
  • Hi marpel,

    My first class C was a Citation Supreme. It had a heated basement. It was great in cold weather.

    I've winter boodocked at -37 C (-34 F)

    You may find this thread has some excellent advice.

    https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24160748.cfm

    Since my current class C does NOT have a heated basement I use these:

    https://www.tempurtechmanufacturingllc.com/heated-magic-carpets
  • Lots of RVs have heated floors. If you walk up the path where the heating vent runs under, the floor is usually warm.

    While you certainly can install heated floors there are some issues:
    - They aren't particularly efficient with much of the heat going down and being blown away (ducted heat loses a bit but most comes out into the interior space).
    - Electric heat is generally pretty limited. 1500w heater is roughly 5000btu. Your average RV furnace is 20-40,000btu. Even with a 50amp rig, you are going to be limited to maybe 15-20,000btu but 50amp rigs tend to be larger and have the larger furnaces.
    - Liquid would be time consuming and expensive to install. Then you would have to develop a propane powered boiler system to feed it (electric would still face the btu problem)

    Reality is most RVs get little or no cold weather use, so there isn't much market push to improve the heating systems.
  • Google RV heated floors. Lots of info on it including electric vs hydronic, solar powered, and do it yourself options.

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