Unattended furnace

Thanks all! I overwhelmed with the amount of responses so quickly.

I should probably make a couple of things more clear. We would be either checking it everyday or turning it off everyday and turning it on again at night. We live in an area where it isn't unusual to get below freezing at night and then warm up 25-30 degrees during the day. There is no electricity at the site. I understand I would have to monitor the battery carefully. I do have a charger at home. If we're not in the trailer, the temp could be kept lower and save battery/propane. I don't know at what temp though.

OH48Lt: I'm concerned about your comments. We hope to be out in this trailer at times that may be cold for extended periods when we're on trips. I don't know if our trailer is "4 season" or not. you seem to be implying that safeguards need to be installed for cold weather.

Insure it and let it run. Turn it down to the lowest temp possible and leave every cabinet door and acess panel open. If however you do not have electric power, it ain't going to work for long. The chance of anything happening is slim to none. I'll bet there ain't two RV's in a year that burn down that can be traced to a furnace malfunction.

Huntindog wrote:
The furnace will be perfectly fine running unattended... It is designed to safe to run when the unit is occupied, even when sleeping.

They may be "compliant" to be safe, but that does not mean it is safest to leave it run for days, a week, or weeks without monitoring it. The OP said it is not on their property and I take it as they won't be seeing it everyday.

If they checked on it daily, my opinion would be different.

My HW water tank was backfiring out of it when it malfunctioned and the burner assembly is outside. Thus the fireballs were outside. I could not fathom that occurring if it was the furnace, which is inside, and I was not around.

I wouldn't do it and leave it, not on an RV.

Every time I go to bed in my trailer my furnace is left unattended. If it could not run unattended it would be worthless. Do understand though that if you do not have electricity where the trailer is, it will run only as long as the battery lasts. For a single 12 volt this is often less than one night. If you do have electricity it will run unattended until it runs out of lp gas. Might be a better option in that case to put a small electric heater inside. Just be certain it is well away from any combustable materials. We run ours sitting on the open oven door.
Good luck / skip

An alternative is to blow out your water lines instead of winterizing with pink-stuff. Although I am a "pink stuff junkie", blowing would provide better protection than nothing at all. The miniscual droplets of water in the pipes won't hurt anything, but if it got much below 30 for any length of time at all, you'd be best protected with the "pink stuff".

About heat. If you're storing off site, you'll need to be hooked to shore power, as your battery will drain pretty quick running the furnace. Depending upon temperature (say 70 degrees inside when it's 30 outside), will probably drain your battery running the furnace within a day or two at the most.

If you cannot monitor it, accessable 24x7, immediately, I would recommend do not attempt to heat with anything.

Depending on your RV, some piping containing water is located in areas where the heat from a furnace or other device won't reach, such as under the unit. That would include at least the fresh water tank drain and the low-point drains. Even if you did leave a heat source on unattended (highly un-recommended), it wouldn't do any good there. Many so-called "four season" trailers have minimal heat ducts to the underside of the trailer, most have none at all -just a thin covering.

I would not at a storage site. How cold for how long are you talking. If it is not going to be to far below 32 F and not for very long you can always just leave your faucets open and drain at your low point. I do this on the elk hunt here in UT. I take my TT up to my uncles cabin in October the week before the hunt and have not had any problems. It has benn in the teens at night doing this as the cabin is about 8000 ft.

I remember reading several years ago an RVer in an area where it's cold and snowy throughout the winter would use moisture asorbing granules in a 5 gallon bucket. Plus keep a 25 watt bulb on inside the rv with all interior doors opened to maintain a warmer than outside temperature inside the RV. They claimed it worked well and have done it for many years.

Good question and you will get MANY replies. If you store at home , I would say perhaps set it low so you can monitor it.

BUT not at a storage site. A fire will change your whole life (esp) with several other involved.

If at home get a small elect heater and set it on low so the temp stays around 50Dgs. It will stay dry and ready at all times.
Cheers and good luck