heating electrically a "back yard" report
Hi, This is a test of a cold soaked RV, ambient temperature -31 C (-23.8 f) The test started at 2:00 but I had difficulty getting the cords "run". I'm plugged into one 30 amp and two 15 amp outlets...
Forum Discussion
Well, I think a lot of money is being spent trying to heat 45 degree interior walls up to 50 degrees. Most RVs are poorly insulated and coated in highly heat-conductive materials. In the winter my windows drain heat to the outdoors, and in the summer my corrugated aluminum skin radiates heat inward through the evening and much of the night. This is why I gave up trying to heat (or cool) my TT and focused on heating/cooling me.
Tuna mentioned radiant heat earlier, and I am a big fan of this. I have a pair of heat lamps under my desk, and I have run reflectix all around the footwell of the desk. With a jacket on, 250w on my legs takes care of me in most lower-48 weather. (I get the part that Tuna's in a much more formidable climate.)
In that environment there could easily be a 10-20 degree difference between the insulated/reflective wall my seat backs up against, and the wall on the far side of the TT, near the door. BTW, "far" is relative, my cabin is less than 15 feet long.
In the mornings with temps in the teens, the interior cabin temp is in the low forties. I have spent a very comfortable night under layered open sleeping bags used as thermal blankets, but it's time to heat up the cabin, so I use a single 1500w space heater set on my bench seat six inches from my torso while I fire up my computer.
In minutes I am hot and the cabin is "getting warmer", and I turn the heat down to 1000w. I might let it run an hour at 1000w before turning it down to 500w, while still running 250w of heat lamps. I don't use ANY thermostat regulation, but simply use less heat than I "need", and more clothing. It is far easier and quicker to take off a jacket than to turn down a thermostat.
When I first put in electric heat, I went with a 1500w baseboard unit, thermostatically controlled. For starters, the 1500 watt inrush current was the biggest drain in my RV, and unpredictable. Secondly, the warm air coming out of the baseboard seemed to be carried straight to the far side of the TT where it was cooled by the walls or simply escaping through cracks in the door.
I used to use an electric blanket, but found it was way too powerful. For somebody in the frosty north, it might be just the thing to keep humans at 75-80 degrees and the bedroom at 40 degrees. If there is no plumbing in there, there is no sense in paying to heat the walls.
While I realize that most people on a "camping" website have no interest in wearing a coat indoors, I myself cannot imagine sitting in a camper in -30 degree weather, so I suggest that desparate times call for desparate measures.
Tuna mentioned radiant heat earlier, and I am a big fan of this. I have a pair of heat lamps under my desk, and I have run reflectix all around the footwell of the desk. With a jacket on, 250w on my legs takes care of me in most lower-48 weather. (I get the part that Tuna's in a much more formidable climate.)
In that environment there could easily be a 10-20 degree difference between the insulated/reflective wall my seat backs up against, and the wall on the far side of the TT, near the door. BTW, "far" is relative, my cabin is less than 15 feet long.
In the mornings with temps in the teens, the interior cabin temp is in the low forties. I have spent a very comfortable night under layered open sleeping bags used as thermal blankets, but it's time to heat up the cabin, so I use a single 1500w space heater set on my bench seat six inches from my torso while I fire up my computer.
In minutes I am hot and the cabin is "getting warmer", and I turn the heat down to 1000w. I might let it run an hour at 1000w before turning it down to 500w, while still running 250w of heat lamps. I don't use ANY thermostat regulation, but simply use less heat than I "need", and more clothing. It is far easier and quicker to take off a jacket than to turn down a thermostat.
When I first put in electric heat, I went with a 1500w baseboard unit, thermostatically controlled. For starters, the 1500 watt inrush current was the biggest drain in my RV, and unpredictable. Secondly, the warm air coming out of the baseboard seemed to be carried straight to the far side of the TT where it was cooled by the walls or simply escaping through cracks in the door.
I used to use an electric blanket, but found it was way too powerful. For somebody in the frosty north, it might be just the thing to keep humans at 75-80 degrees and the bedroom at 40 degrees. If there is no plumbing in there, there is no sense in paying to heat the walls.
While I realize that most people on a "camping" website have no interest in wearing a coat indoors, I myself cannot imagine sitting in a camper in -30 degree weather, so I suggest that desparate times call for desparate measures.
