Here is an article I posted a week or so ago when I decided to buy a Olympian WAVE 6 catalytic heater.http://rvbprecision.com/shooting/olympian-wave-6-propane-heater-review.htmlNow that I've been using it for over a week in near freezing weather out here in the Arizona desert I have some comments.......FANTASTIC! Couldn't be happier.......Keeps my 20' trailer easily at 70 degrees. Sips propane......Used it every night for 10 days and still have plenty of propane.NO NOISE!!!! The trailers furnace sounds like a 747 taking off every 20 minutes. Totally silent.Three temperature settings allows the heat to be very easily regulated. Never too hot, not too cold...Just right!No condensation....The furnace created condensation on all the windows and the aluminum frame around my toy haulers ramp. ZERO with the WAVE 6. (now this most likely is because I opened the side vents on the toy hauler to give the WAVE 6 the needed fresh air it needed) Extremely fast heat up of the interior. Within minutes, the trailer is warm. And being radiant heat, sitting in front of the heater you are warmed immediately. No blast of cold air for a few minutes like the furnace did.These devices should be the standard way that these small RVs are heated rather than a complex furnace.

I been using them for 34 yrs.Desert, great, but in higher humidity, you will have condensation.Now are you ready to get hammered on,.....most all by ignorant people that have never had one ? !!

“These devices should be the standard way that these small RVs are heated rather than a complex furnace.”So why are they not standard equipment? Couldn’t be cost or efficiency. Ventilation? Hopefully you are very careful but others are not.

Something was/is wrong with your furnace if it was creating condensation. Combustion byproducts are vented outside unless your heat exchanger is damaged.

if your in a dry climate, the wave and similar heaters can be nice and also help get humidity up. Now go to the oregon coast in the fall/winter where outside humidity is near 100%. Then the wave isn't so great. inside humidity goes up and you can end up with fogged windows almost all the time.Eastern oregon, great, nice and dry.that's the biggest issue I had using the wave heater where the normal humidity is high. Quite, YES, efficient YES. oh, and a place we often use the Wave in the cooler weather is to put it out under the awning in the evening so DW stays warm when we are outside under the awning with no fire going.Or when not camping it's on the back patio to keep me warm when I'm running the BBQ.And if your gas furnace is raising the humidity in the trailer, you have a real problem. all the combustion gas is vented outside in a properly working furnace. It won't add ANY moisture to inside air so RH will go DOWN as the air heats up.

i used a wave heater in the Safari for 7yrsit worked very well

Olympian WAVE 6 ...A review | Good Sam Community

Rbertalotto
Explorer
Mar 02, 2018
There is lots of concern about rigid piping of propane in RVs that shake , rattle and roll. Some would suggest a well engineered flexible line might be better long term.

In my case, since I wont be using the heater but for a few trips a year, I simply ran a hose through one of my Toy Hauler vents and leave a 20# tank outside.
pnichols
Explorer II
Mar 02, 2018
Lantley wrote:
Running a LP line for a ventless heater is no different that the LP lines that are already run in most RV's. There are already LP appliances in place, running a additional line can be done safely without issue

Like I implied above ... I'll bet that most folks have a flexible line running over to their portable heaters (some/most probably with quick-disconnect fittings) sitting on the floors of their rigs so they can move/turn their heaters around a bit.

It's these flexible lines and their connectors that I'd never have installed within the interior living area of our RV. Our propane cooktop, furnace, water heater, and refrigerator get their propane via rigidly held-in-place steel or copper piping ... as it should be for ultimate long term safety over the years.
Lantley
Nomad
Mar 02, 2018
pnichols wrote:
One of my main issues with ANY of the portable (not built in) propane heaters being used inside an RV is .... how does it get it's propane?

I really don't feel comfortable having either: A small propane tank inside the RV to power the heater (obviously a big no-no) or ... a flexible hose from the RV's main tank piping somehow making/snaking it's way over to the heater. That's a leak waiting to someday happen.

All propane appliances in our RV get their propane supply via solid steel or copper tubing and I certainly want to keep it that way.

IMHO, millions of RV owners so far getting away with a flexible hose transporting propane within the living areas of their rigs is a long way from making engineering safety sense.

While I do believe the unknown combustion by products produced by ventless heaters is an issue. The LP lines are not.
Running a LP line for a ventless heater is no different that the LP lines that are already run in most RV's. There are already LP appliances in place, running a additional line can be done safely without issue
pnichols
Explorer II
Mar 02, 2018
One of my main issues with ANY of the portable (not built in) propane heaters being used inside an RV is .... how does it get it's propane?

I really don't feel comfortable having either: A small propane tank inside the RV to power the heater (obviously a big no-no) or ... a flexible hose from the RV's main tank piping somehow making/snaking it's way over to the heater. That's a leak waiting to someday happen.

All propane appliances in our RV get their propane supply via solid steel or copper tubing and I certainly want to keep it that way.

IMHO, millions of RV owners so far getting away with a flexible hose transporting propane within the living areas of their rigs is a long way from making engineering safety sense.
Almot
Explorer III
Mar 02, 2018
ktmrfs wrote:

The amount of water from combustion is slightly less than 1 gallon of water for every gallon of propane burned. Now on a wave 6 that's 15 hours or so of full heat, but combined with vapor from breathing, stove, a few wet clothes can aggrivate a marginal condition.

This is a theory, for a room where air is being constantly introduced but humidity is not removed. I real life trailer has a ventilation, some water vapor is added and some is removed.

Also, snowbirds in AZ don't run Wave 6 on Full for 15 hours. Here is how it goes in my trailer in Baja Norte, mostly dry, not too warm - could be few degrees more than in AZ but plenty of cold wind form the sea, so in the end it's the same. Screen door is open all day, on most days. No heater. After sunset I turn Wave 6 on Med or Low until bedtime, total 4 hours, sometimes closing screen door and sometimes not. Then half an hour to one hour in the morning, again on Med or Low. High setting is used only occasionally when I feel like getting hot fast. Overnight use of Wave 6 is very infrequent - it almost always ended in waking up and shutting it down, so I opted for a thick duvet instead.

Wet clothes happen rarely, mostly after laundry, and are drying outside.

In these conditions Wave 6 generates less than a pint of water daily, and some of this water is removed through ventilation at the same time. Honestly, I notice more humidity when cooking rice or beans on the stove.
RJsfishin
Explorer
Mar 02, 2018
Quote:

My main gripe about Olympian 6 is that it doesn't cycle. In North Mexico winter it will pump heat in my 170 sq.ft box beyond imaginable even on the Low setting, if left On overnight.
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Perhaps a wave 3 would have been a better choice
If mine gets too warm, I open the vent a bit more,....to simple ?
Almot
Explorer III
Mar 01, 2018
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Carbon monoxide is a product of incomplete combustion.

Folks having a phobia against CO must deal with the fact that cooktop stoves and ovens are used inside tiny dwellings sans ventilation. Which do you think develops less CO -- a catalytic heater or burners on a cooktop stove.

Exactly.

Keep windows and/or roof vents slightly open. More air = better combustion.

My main gripe about Olympian 6 is that it doesn't cycle. In North Mexico winter it will pump heat in my 170 sq.ft box beyond imaginable even on the Low setting, if left On overnight.
With one person and in climate not nearly as wet as in PNW the humidity is not a concern.
RJsfishin
Explorer
Mar 01, 2018
RJsfishin wrote:
I been using them for 34 yrs.
Desert, great, but in higher humidity, you will have condensation.

Now are you ready to get hammered on,.....most all by ignorant people that have never had one ? !!

Well, at least I warned you !
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Feb 28, 2018
I hope folks caught ktmrfs answer to my rhetorical question, Chemistry is not magic. The dynamics of combustion involve hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. Not to be missed are products of carbon and oxygen CO and CO2. Nothing is "destroyed" that's impossible...atoms combine and recombine.

With combustion and health an objective can be made for creating CO2 or H2O whie avoiding CO. Carbon monoxide is a product of incomplete combustion.

Folks having a phobia against CO must deal with the fact that cooktop stoves and ovens are used inside tiny dwellings sans ventilation. Which do you think develops less CO -- a catalytic heater or burners on a cooktop stove. Check the BTU production.
ktmrfs
Explorer II
Feb 28, 2018
Almot wrote:
Air on a highway is more hazardous than any heater, catalytic or not. Though it drops rapidly as you're moving away, 100-150ft is several times better already. If only they didn't build stupid little motels 50ft from highway.

allen8106 wrote:

All gas burning furnaces create condensation, homes or RV's.

Furnaces don't add water vapor to room air, burning process takes place outside.
Furnaces create condensation on cold windows not because they are propane-burning, but because you can see this condensation when air is getting warmer.

Catalytic propane heaters add very little water vapor, hardly worth discussing.

well, how much water from a Cat heater and it's effects depend a lot on location. In eastern oregon, normally dry, a cat heater isn't much of an issue, and in fact can make the dwelling more comfortable by rasing the RH to a comfort level.

Western Oregon, on the coast in the fall winter, the moisture added can lead to uncomfortable living and condensation when the RH outside is already high and still high inside.

The amount of water from combustion is slightly less than 1 gallon of water for every gallon of propane burned. Now on a wave 6 that's 15 hours or so of full heat, but combined with vapor from breathing, stove, a few wet clothes can aggrivate a marginal condition.

so, depending on location and local conditions, an unvented heater can be anything from a blessing in disquise to a pain in the butt for indoor humidity and condensation.

When we camp in the winter on the oregon coast pretty much need to run a dehumidifier to keep humidity level comfortable, let alone to avoid condensation. I typically pull 5-8 GALLONS of water out of the air every day with the dehumidifier, and that only keeps the RH down around 50%.