Unattended furnace

B.O. Plenty wrote:
I doubt that your battery will last one whole night with the furnace running. It powers the blower as well as the burner. In addition it runs any lights, the CO2 detector, the LP gas leak detector, the radio memory, the circuit board for the fridge and I don't remember what else. It will take about 10-15 minutes to properly winterize. Don't forget to drain the water heater...

B.O.

I agree with this and in fact if you leave the battery connected it will be dead in a week or two.

If my furnace were unsafe there is no WAY I would ever sleep in the trailer. It's ONE thing to have a problem while I'm somewhere else and something FAR more serious to have the same problem while I'm sleeping. If in doubt have the furnace inspected so you know it's sound then leave it run as much as you like. Since you now say there is no electricity you will get very little time from a single battery running the furnace. What happens when it no longer spins fast enough to have sufficient air flow? It simply shuts down.

I doubt that your battery will last one whole night with the furnace running. It powers the blower as well as the burner. In addition it runs any lights, the CO2 detector, the LP gas leak detector, the radio memory, the circuit board for the fridge and I don't remember what else. It will take about 10-15 minutes to properly winterize. Don't forget to drain the water heater...

B.O.

I agree that you can leave it unattended and running. But, I also agree that you are going to drain your battery so quickly that your idea won't work. Blowing your lines with air is your best option.

Blower on gas heater take alot of battery power and I think using the furnace is unpractical. I use my rig on rare occasions during the winter - I winterize with air which allows me to "add water" and hit the road - should work for you.

Probably should also check the rules and regs at the place you're storing. That may be your answer right there.

We're in West TN, which is milder that you are. Plus we store at home. If the overnight temps drop below 32 degrees, but then warm up in the morning, you're most likely fine. Much longer than that, I would say winterize and then re-do it if you decide to venture out. We're getting ready to winterize even though is was an awesome 71 degrees here today - convertible top down day. But this time of the year you don't know from one weekend to the other and we have a mile long list of To-Do's, so we're calling it quits. Darn, hate that! But if you get out again, enjoy!

I have a gas furnace in my house. It runs unattended for 3 months at a time when I go to Florida.

The RV furnace will run unattended without any problem. If it should fail, you will not have any heat. The chance of it causing a fire or other damage while unattended is less than winning the lottery two times in a row. They are designed to fail safe.

However, the propane supply is very limited and if using battery to power the furnace, that supply is even more limited.

If you want to leave on an unattended heat source (and sleeping in the trailer does not define "unattended"), get some insurance on it. Enough to pay for your trailer and everyone else's property that was also damaged. IF everything operates like it is supposed to, it'll be OK. When a safety device fails, bad things happen.

Most RV's have furnaces that are in very close proximity to combustibles. Home furnaces generally are not situated inches from combustibles.

I've been to numerous house trailer fires. They burn fast and are deadly. Almost always caused by a faulty furnace, leaky propane, or electrical at the CB box. Or some idiot using a kerosine heater.

Frankly I don't understand the paranoia surrounding leaving a furnace on. All over the country there are houses with gas furnaces and gas water heaters (including ours).

There is not some magical difference between the burners in an RV and the burners in a house.

FWIW, I leave a small electric heater on in the RV because I have shore power available. If I didn't I would fill up the tanks, set the furnace as low as possible, and try and position in a sunny spot to get a much solar charge as possible for the batteries.

WINTERIZE,it is cheap , takes me 15 minutes .