Space Heater

Lynnmor wrote:
1500 watts is about the maximum allowed in an electric heater, all of them will put out the same amount of heat. When choosing the brand or style, you just decide how you want to direct heat. If one is not enough, buy another if you have adequate wiring and power available.

To be clear, 1500W is the MAXIMUM ALLOWED FOR "PORTABLE" space heaters.

You CAN buy electric heaters higher than 1500W but you will need to install a dedicated circuit for it and directly wire the heater to it.

Once you go pass 1500W then the electric heater MUST be wired to a dedicated circuit just for that heater.

Typically though, wired electric heaters above 1500W will be 240V so won't work with any 30A 120V RVs.

30A 120V RV electrical service is your limiting factor in the equation 30A only gives you 3600W to work with, fridge uses 300W, converter uses some power, water heater with electric heating element if equipped takes 1200W and all of your electronic toys takes out wattage.

Typically only ONE 1500W portable space heater is all you are going to get away with.

Some enterprising folks will sneak out a extension cord to the campground shore box (making sure it is on a different breaker) in order to connect a second 1500W portable heater. If you do, make sure you use a 14ga or 12Ga extension cord and not the typical 18 ga cords folks tend to gravitate to..

mooky stinks wrote:
We use the oil filled radiator type. Although they're also 1500watts, they produce more heat than our ceramic heater ever did.

Your bones may believe otherwise but the fact is there's a direct correlation between electrical energy in and heat energy output, the equation being expressed as 1500 watthour = 5,118.2122198 Btu. ;)

1500 watts is about the maximum allowed in an electric heater, all of them will put out the same amount of heat. When choosing the brand or style, you just decide how you want to direct heat. If one is not enough, buy another if you have adequate wiring and power available.

I purchased this unit back in 2017 and it's been quite good. We've had our trailer down to the teens and woken up sweating because it managed to get it up to 80 (I've since learned that anything over about 3.5 dots will eventually get too warm, they are only to be used for initial heatup). YMMV based on a bigger trailer, more complex airflow, and perhaps worse insulation (though I doubt that, my unit is very entry level).

If you're a subscriber of KISS, this basic heater from Walmart is hard to beat. I have several.

I dumped my ceramic heater and got The Vornado

I like the way it heats air in whole RV.

We use the oil filled radiator type. Although they're also 1500watts, they produce more heat than our ceramic heater ever did. They have 3 heat settings and a thermostat and the best thing is they're completely quiet except for a click when they turn on/off. We have 2 in a 31ft trailer and they'll keep it very comfortable down into the 30's.