Tomorrow I'm trading my 2013 Apex 268 for a 2014 Arctic Fox 25p. I'm so stoked. Wife and I want to do winter camping. The question is I'm looking at supplementing the regular heat with an electric heater. It is 1500 watts and pulls 12.5 amps. Most OD the lights in the Fox are LED. Will the heater overload the inverter? I'm in South Carolina so we're talki about temps in the low to mid 20's. Hopefully no colder. Thanks.

I am assuming you will be camping at an electric site. We use our 120VAC oil-filled electric heaters all the time when camping. I will run a second 120VAC Extension Cord into the trailer running off the pedestal 20AMP Service connection. This way I get get to use my Electric Heaters off a separtae 120VAC circuit. Doesn't affect the regular 120VAC Pedestal connection.We hate our propane heater with a passion. It is way to loud with the GRRRR SOUNDS the fan makes and eats up the Propane. Better to use the site 120VAC Electric verses my propane haha...Roy Ken

Captain Skippy wrote: Will the heater overload the inverter? Are you dry camping or plugged in to a 120volt service?If plugged in, you should have no problems.If running off just the inverter and batteries, you will not last long.

Electric heating via an inverter is a very bad idea. The 12.5 amps at 120V will be at least 125 amps at 12V and more because the inverter is not be 100% efficient. Assuming 80% efficiency, the amp draw will be 156 amps. That would deplete two batteries in about an hour.A much better idea is to use the propane heater. Even that will require a backup source to charge the batteries every day or two because the fan in the heater uses a lot of electricity.

Are you adding an inverter as I'm not aware of an Arctic Fox 25P having one. Are you confusing it with a converter? If so the heater will not be in anyway connected to the converter. The converters function is to convert 120 volts to 12 volts. The heater will plug into a 120 volt outlet which is no way connected to the 12 volt system. Hope this helps.

Captain Skippy wrote:Tomorrow I'm trading my 2013 Apex 268 for a 2014 Arctic Fox 25p. I'm so stoked. Wife and I want to do winter camping. The question is I'm looking at supplementing the regular heat with an electric heater. It is 1500 watts and pulls 12.5 amps. Most OD the lights in the Fox are LED. Will the heater overload the inverter? I'm in South Carolina so we're talki about temps in the low to mid 20's. Hopefully no colder. Thanks.Perhaps you need to give a few more details..Is the boondocking (IE no commercial power)?If boondocking running 1500W heater from battery (IE an INVERTER which takes 12V battery and gives output of 120V AC) you will need a considerable battery bank and an inverter which has at least 1500W capacity.The big limitation is battery capacity and then you must recharge the batteries as soon as possible or risk damaging them (IE they lose capacity when partially or fully discharged and left in that state for any length of time).If you have shore power then you simply use an extension cord run out to the campground power box to run the heater from..

Electric Heater Question | Good Sam Community

43 Replies

wgriswold
Explorer
Nov 16, 2014
Electric heating via an inverter is a very bad idea. The 12.5 amps at 120V will be at least 125 amps at 12V and more because the inverter is not be 100% efficient. Assuming 80% efficiency, the amp draw will be 156 amps. That would deplete two batteries in about an hour.

A much better idea is to use the propane heater. Even that will require a backup source to charge the batteries every day or two because the fan in the heater uses a lot of electricity.
rv2go
Explorer II
Nov 16, 2014
Captain Skippy wrote:
Will the heater overload the inverter?

Are you dry camping or plugged in to a 120volt service?
If plugged in, you should have no problems.
If running off just the inverter and batteries, you will not last long.
RoyB
Explorer II
Nov 16, 2014
I am assuming you will be camping at an electric site. We use our 120VAC oil-filled electric heaters all the time when camping. I will run a second 120VAC Extension Cord into the trailer running off the pedestal 20AMP Service connection. This way I get get to use my Electric Heaters off a separtae 120VAC circuit. Doesn't affect the regular 120VAC Pedestal connection.

We hate our propane heater with a passion. It is way to loud with the GRRRR SOUNDS the fan makes and eats up the Propane. Better to use the site 120VAC Electric verses my propane haha...

Roy Ken

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