How to stay warm
Just purchased a 2016 Forest River Rockwood 2304DS and almost froze last night. Temps are 27degree and furnace will not even get close to keeping us warm. Purchased a 1500watt Oil electric heater tod...
Forum Discussion
DutchmenSport wrote:
When temperatures are cold (below 30) and the trailer has not been heated, I have found attempting to warm our Outback (35 feet long) with the furnace is a VERY slow process and burns a lot of propane. It takes time to warm it up, even supplementing with electric heat at the same time.
A trick I've found that works VERY well (and I know I'm going to get criticism for this, BUT .... think about this a minute).....
When the camper is still cold, I turn on all 3 burners on the stove for about 10 minutes. This warms the living room / kitchen area very fast. With the furnace heating, it takes 10 minutes just to warm up the cold air ducts under the floor before it pushes any heat.
Now you may say.... oh that awful to use your stove top to heat! What about the potential for monoxide and the danger of a flame and all of that! Hey! Don't you use your stove to cook on? And when you do, are the doors and windows often shut? So what's the difference! HUM? If it will make you feel better, put a pot of water on the burner. The extra heat from the stove will warm the camper quicker, then the furnace will be able to keep up.
Notice I recommend using the stove for only a short time! NOT indefinitely! But it's not uncommon to have the stove running for an hour preparing meals ... isn't it? (depending on what you are fixing?)
Once the camper reaches a warmer temperature, the furnace will keep up. It's just the initial heating in the first place that seems to take forever.
I've also been known to cook something in the oven right away to help bring the heat in the TT up initially . Once warm the furnace or electric heater should be able to keep up.
