Space Heater

Hi,

Run two oil filled heaters on the #2 setting on different circuits.

Be aware that power does go down by the square of the voltage.

I prefer oil filled heaters and here's why.....

I agree that an oil-filled heater is still around 1500-watts, but when the oil is hot the thermostat will turn the element off and the heater will keep on heating (with the element off) for a long time. It's kinda like a car coasting down a long hill and using very little gas.

The time between off and on cycles is way longer than my plain ole electric heater, and that's saving me money. Turn the heater off or unplug it and it will keep heating until the oil completely cools down to room temperature.

Gdetrailer wrote:
5,000 BTU of heat out of one heater is a LONG, LONG stretch for heating an entire RV when considering it is a fraction of the heat a RV furnace can put out
While I generally agree with your point. You have to consider the efficiency of the lp furnace when comparing to a space heater.
Space heaters are 100% efficient. The lp furnace is far from efficient. I believe they are about 70% efficient and maybe as bad as 505 efficient.
If you hold your hand in front of the exterior exhaust discharge you will feel a lot of wasted heat being discharged to the outdoors.
That heat translates to $$$.
Efficiency ratings are a big deal when it comes to residential furnaces. RV furnaces are very inefficient compared to residential models.

If your current 1500 watt electric heater won’t keep you warm, how are your water tanks and lines doing?

Agreed, I only used 100w for the easy subtraction and to make the point obvious. :)

opnspaces wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

1500W IS 1500W worth of heat, doesn't matter the brand (vornado et all)or type (Oil vs fan vs ceramic).

1500W of heat with a fan pushing it can end up making you feel colder the further you are away from it due to cooler temperature of the forced air making it feel drafty.

Your choice, pick your poison but 1500W is 1500W and that is not changing..

To further what Gdetrailer is saying. A portable space heater is limited to 1500 watts. That means if it is a fanless model you will get 1500w of heat output. But if you add a fan, that power has to come out of the 1500W. If the heater fan uses 100 watts, your heater is only going to put out 1400W of heat. (1500-100=1400)

I like to view space heaters like the food at taco bell. It's all the same ingredients, just pick the shape you want.

I used to sell space heaters at an ACE H/W I managed. I also have an engineering backgorund so when the owners wanted the most efficient heater, I had to explain that they were all 99%+ efficient. Look at the specs for a 1500 watt oil filled or fan forced heater. They both put out 5200 BTU. No reason a fan would take 100 Watts in this application anyway. From the specs the fan doesn't make an appreciable difference and most of what ever energy it uses is going to be returned in heat anyway.
An oil filled doen't make anymore heat than a simple milk house heater or one of those fancy $300 units.

Yup all heaters are about 1500 watts or about 5200 BTU. You can have radiant, convection or forced air. Expensive or cheep they all produce the same heat.

If it is that cold we run our 1200 watt convection radiator style on max and supplement with the furnace as needed.

You could run two or more but you might start tripping circuit breakers.

Gdetrailer wrote:

1500W IS 1500W worth of heat, doesn't matter the brand (vornado et all)or type (Oil vs fan vs ceramic).

1500W of heat with a fan pushing it can end up making you feel colder the further you are away from it due to cooler temperature of the forced air making it feel drafty.

Your choice, pick your poison but 1500W is 1500W and that is not changing..

To further what Gdetrailer is saying. A portable space heater is limited to 1500 watts. That means if it is a fanless model you will get 1500w of heat output. But if you add a fan, that power has to come out of the 1500W. If the heater fan uses 100 watts, your heater is only going to put out 1400W of heat. (1500-100=1400)

I like to view space heaters like the food at taco bell. It's all the same ingredients, just pick the shape you want.

ken56 wrote:
We use a Vornado also and find it to be most adequate. You can't beat how quiet it is and it moves a lot of air for a small heater. Right now I'm heating a 224 sq.ft. addition with it until I get the mini split system going and it is doing great. It was 18 the other night and it kept it at 65 just fine.

1500W IS 1500W worth of heat, doesn't matter the brand (vornado et all)or type (Oil vs fan vs ceramic).

1500W of heat with a fan pushing it can end up making you feel colder the further you are away from it due to cooler temperature of the forced air making it feel drafty.

1500W of heat from the oil filled heats up slow and will be really toasty around the heater.

Your choice, pick your poison but 1500W is 1500W and that is not changing..

The only thing the OP or anyone else can do is ADD a SECOND 1500W electric heater to the mix, but with only 30A (3600W) of electric available something must go. Going to be hard pressed to run 3000W off of 3600W of shore power capacity continually without popping the 30A main breaker!

Might be able to squeak by setting one heater to 750W if available but otherwise one will need to run an extra extension cord to the campground shore power in addition to the 30A cord..

Additionally, 1500W is roughly 5,000 BTU, small RVs typically will have 18,000 BTU furnace and larger RVs can have 30,000 BTU furnace..

5,000 BTU of heat out of one heater is a LONG, LONG stretch for heating an entire RV when considering it is a fraction of the heat a RV furnace can put out..

We use a Vornado also and find it to be most adequate. You can't beat how quiet it is and it moves a lot of air for a small heater. Right now I'm heating a 224 sq.ft. addition with it until I get the mini split system going and it is doing great. It was 18 the other night and it kept it at 65 just fine.