Two For Texas: A Tale of a 3,000 mile journey

67avion wrote:
My Avion guys...especially you Garry. I think I wrote on the Avion string that I decided I had made a mistake in keeping the exterior original. Well, "original" in the sense that the reproduction lights made in the People's Republic of China were appropriate. They are not. I need to have much brighter and reliable lights on the outside of the coach...and I intend to do that right away. As I mentioned, I had some real issues with the Wave catalytic heater. You may remember that I mounted it on a door in the cabin.



I attached a long hose to the Wave so that it could be placed on the countertop. The thing never heated up all the way. However, our CO/propane detector sounded off continuously. As a result, I spent some quality time in Artic conditions.

D

I would have your Wave checked out, because at 16F i could keep the camper comfortable in the 65 to 75F range, as long as I had the Reflectix over the windows. Those windows a HUGE heat sink... At -10F we had a ceramic 1500W heater and the wave on while eating dinner and before bedding down. we had to turn down the wave, of course there were 6 bodies in there too ;)
At night we would turn off the wave, and keep the Ceramic running all night. We did have ice on the ceiling and walls, but the air temperature was 65 in the camper the next morning even with the outside temp being below zero! The bathroom though was COOOLD, but still flushed thanks to the recirculating toilet utilizing windshield washer fluid as the flushing medium.

Look into the Reflectix if you ever go on another winter trip. We just used aluminum duct tape to tape the reflectix to the screen frame of the windows. I also have "foam tape" on the edges of the screen frame to the wall of the camper, to seal up drafts when teh reflectix is mounted. also minimizes rattles.

Hope this helps, and definitely keep that Wave covered when not in use! Dust will kill the matting on these catalytic's!

Garry