using electric heat
hello there ,,,,new to this way of life so here comes the dumb . my rv has been sitting in the driveway sense dec. i go out and start it ,,gen also,, run the heat from propane . problem is ,,,with the...
Forum Discussion
elle8 wrote:
so thank you all who have helped me out so far ,,,, now i need to know does the heat when plugged in electrically use propane also ....
The on-board furnace will use propane to heat. But it takes electricity to run the electronics behind it.
My parents had a travel trailer and the heater in it was propane. It was all radiant though, no fans, no electronics. Older heaters were designed to run with no electricity. I know we use to have one.
In your camper, the furnace will run from the 12 volt (DC) side -- your battery. If you do not have a house battery, it will run directly through your converter. But if you looses AC power and you have no battery, you have no power to the furnace. So, your on-bard furnace needs both propane and DC electricity. Your on-board furnace will have a blower too. That blower also runs from the battery.
You can plug into any normal household plug a stand alone electric heater. As stated above, depending upon the outside temperature, they are only good to a point. I think most people use electric space heaters, oil heater, or radiant electric heaters to help supplement their on-board propane furnace.
In fair weather (55 - 70 degrees), an electric heater will keep the camper nice and toasty. When you start dropping lower than that, electric usually doesn't keep up too much. So you set your furnace to your desired temperature, then crank the electric heater.
About the wiring in your camper, as someone suggested above, your camper sounds like a newer one, so the wiring is probably OK, unless you have a reason to suspect otherwise. You can test very easy by using the electric heater. After some time, feel how hot the plug is, then check how hot the trailer plug is. If they are cool, your OK. If they are excessively warm, then you might want to use a lower wattage heater.
I hope this helps, and makes some sense.
Also, as stated above, if you're not living in the camper over the winter, there's really no reason to keep it heated. Just warm it it up when you do intend to use it.
About wintering your water lines, if you live in snow country, and if the camper has not previously been winterized, it's too late anyway. This has been one horrible winter for most of the country. Once things thaw out, you'll need to check each "system" in the camper, especially the water and drains. I guarantee you, once you've had the camper throughout the upcoming summer, next winter you'll KNOW where the camper stands and you'll have no problems. Getting one that had a previous owner, especially in the middle of the winter and you cannot start working with it immediately, IS frustrating. But be patient... you'll get there!
