Heating units in Aliner or Chalet A frames...

I had an Aliner Expedition and camped in the Colorado mtns at about 25 degrees and the heater did great. I would use what's there and not bother with anything else, as the floor space is small, the heater works fine, and you're already set up for propane.

Aframe campers have a relatively low volume to floor space, so they heat very well. Given the limited floor space, I would skip a any floor standing type of heater in favor of a compact table top model. A smallish forced air ceramic heater should do the job. In really cold weather, the furnace can be set to do the initial warm up and then reset to supplement should the heater not be able to keep up. Remember all heaters are equally efficient at converting electricity to heat.

The furnace will wake you up in the middle of the night so cycling at night is best avoided.

When we have hookups, we use a portable resistance heater with a digital thermostat that keeps us warm down into the low thirties. Our 16k btu furnace will keep us warm down into the mid 20s.

That is in our XL1935. When we had the Alpine (smaller unit), we had a 19k btu furnace that almost worked too well...and was much noisier.

Mine is an off-brand called Arvin, I've had it for many years. Pelonis is the best-known brand and everyone seems to like them.

rexlion wrote:
A cube heater with fan will certainly circulate the warm air around the trailer better than a radiator-type heater. I actually carried one of each in my trailer, but I tended to prefer the (admittedly bulky) baseboard style heater for its silent operation. If you don't mind a little fan noise, the cube heater will do a fine job. You'd want one with a thermostat, preferably.

what brand of cube heater are you using please ?
thanks

Can't speak on the others but the Aliner is made with panels of fiberglass, Styrofoam board and interior panel. That makes for very well insulated walls and roof, better than some travel trailers.

You can use any electric heater that you want to use, the only issue would be a loss of floor space. We use a 1,200 watt electric heater in ours that hangs on the wall rather than using floor space.

A cube heater with fan will certainly circulate the warm air around the trailer better than a radiator-type heater. I actually carried one of each in my trailer, but I tended to prefer the (admittedly bulky) baseboard style heater for its silent operation. If you don't mind a little fan noise, the cube heater will do a fine job. You'd want one with a thermostat, preferably.

Thanks for your answers.... i guess i will think about using the heater that comes with the unit instead of the oil filled radiator.

or.... get a plug in one with a fan.
i have alot of thinking to do about so many things. thanks so much for your opinions.

The A liners seem to hold in the heat really well. Much of the heat loss is actually from wind losses, and not heat leaking out of the insulated walls.

I think they have a smallish 16,000 Btu heater, and my buddy says his stays warm at night.

Personally I would not want a oil filled heater, even if they where not priced $40 more than the others. I use a small fan type heater, that quickly can heat up the area, and will be ready to put into the closet in a few seconds after shutting it off. It is small, quiet, and like said above, all 1,500 watt heaters will put out exactly the same heat. However oil filled heaters will take 15 more minutes before getting warm enough to start warming the room, while a fan type will start heating right away!

Fred.

I will be interested to read the replies on this, too, because I am looking at A frame trailers.

I have used a radiant electric heater (baseboard type, not oil filled, but they all put out the same BTU's at 1500W AFAIK) in my previous 14RB hardside trailer, and it kept up just fine. My 14' box was pretty close in size to the A frames, so I think the difference (if there is one) would be in how well the seals between the panels holds in the heat.