Blue Flame vs Infrared

[MandMkuzie]

I am adding a heater to our home to have in addition to the furnace. I am looking at the thermablaster 10,000 Btu wall mount. Since we are hearing 440sf this should be enough... I think.

I am debating between the blue flame vs infrared, but leaning toward blue flame.

Any suggestions or experiences?

[FF286]

We have a small 5er that we use for hunting. I bought a blue flame heater that works great. Some of the other guys have the infrared heaters. They do work good but personally I think the blue flame iheats the area better. I do leave a window cracked for ventilation, and bought a CO detector for the camper. Best advice I can give you is be sure to get one that is controlled by a thermostat or the room can get very hot.

[crcr]

garyp4951 wrote:
I would use an electric heater type fireplace with a fan, and keep a Little Buddy on hand just for a back up if you lose power.
I think you are making a huge mistake considering a gas wall heater in a rv.

We bought a Little Buddy and had to return it. Even though we cracked open a couple of windows, it was giving me headaches. I have a migraine history, so am very sensitive to things like reduced oxygen in the air. It may not bother others, but it did me.

[garyp4951]

I would use an electric heater type fireplace with a fan, and keep a Little Buddy on hand just for a back up if you lose power.
I think you are making a huge mistake considering a gas wall heater in a rv.

[rhagfo]

Besides the issue of O2 consumption, you have also introduced a very hot surface within the 5er. This a source of potential burns and FIRE inside your unit.

[jtbuilds]

mike-uswest wrote:

RoryTek wrote:
There is a reason why they are illegal in California. Not safe at all.

The Olympian can be used in California from all of the sources that I have found. Check with your local Camping World. Give them a crack in the window and they work great. I have gotten very little CO on my meter from mine. I have used them for 40 years. There are a ton of them sold every year.

Mike

Illegal in Canada also.

CO alarms are made to prevents deaths not to keep people from getting sick. The alarms go off when the max 24hrs exposure level is exceeded

Anyone exhausting CO indoors should use a digital CO meter to monitor the long term exposure level.

[Alakey]

Plus for the infrared heater. As for me, it is more convenient.

+ Saving electricity with an infrared heater is very significant. If an ordinary heater consumes thousands of watts, then, in this case, the bill will go to hundreds.

+ The speed of heating the RV is very high, infrared radiation does not heat the air, but walls, furniture, etc., which then return heat to space. Also to the pluses of this type of heating is the fire safety, the fact that they do not burn oxygen in the room and do not dry the air.

+ There are still film heaters, they are usually used to heat the floor. (BTW they are really good)

So as I said before - the infrared heater is a good choice considering that there a lot of options where to place it, how large it would be.

Here are some pretty cheap models suitable for RV - https://www.bestadvisers.co.uk/infrared-heaters. However, I would advise you to choose smth from Pion, it's not the most famous manufacturer, but nevertheless, I use it, It showed him the best in 2 years of using.

[crcr]

We tried a Buddy heater once. We cracked a window or two for ventilation, but still, it always gave me headaches, so we returned it. I have a lifetime migraine headache history, and am thus very very sensitive to any depletion in oxygen levels, or rise in carbon monoxide levels. However, it didn't cause my wife any effects that she was aware of.

When we are camping with power, we use an electric space heater with a built in fan, and never experience any of the symptoms I did with the Buddy heater.

[mike-uswest]

RoryTek wrote:
There is a reason why they are illegal in California. Not safe at all.

The Olympian can be used in California from all of the sources that I have found. Check with your local Camping World. Give them a crack in the window and they work great. I have gotten very little CO on my meter from mine. I have used them for 40 years. There are a ton of them sold every year.

Mike

[RoryTek]

There is a reason why they are illegal in California. Not safe at all.

[MandMkuzie]

Yes I am fixing the furnace as well. I do understand the risk of a propane heater. I also know that where we will be set up here in Tennessee it's a possibilty to lose power for a week at a time in the winter, so I do want something that can run with no electricity if it is necessary

[Sam_Spade]

MandMkuzie wrote:
Right now the suburban furnace doesn't ignite, I'm assuming the orifice needs cleaned. Working on that tomorrow.

Eventually we will most likely put in a new furnace,thanks alboy for the recommendation.

I suggest that you put just a little time and effort into fixing the furnace. Igniters often go bad. It needs 12 V power for the controls.
It runs off the batteries during a power failure.

Despite your best efforts, ventless heaters in a small space are always risky. As a temporary fix, small electric heaters are much better, if you have shore power of course.

[MandMkuzie]

Thanks for the input. Everything in this rig is original (from 1996), and could use updating. Eventually we will replace it all, but finances dictate doing it systematically. We are full time in our RV and are stationary at a campground. Right now the suburban furnace doesn't ignite, I'm assuming the orifice needs cleaned. Working on that tomorrow.

I've been doing quite a bit of research on the ventless wall units, and not seeing a problem, provided we open a window. I'm also trying to plan ahead provided we lose power.

Eventually we will most likely put in a new furnace,thanks alboy for the recommendation.

[BarneyS]

I found this article which may give you some help. It discusses just about all the various heating methods that can be used for RVs. I found it quite interesting.:)
Barney

[SkiSmuggs]

While the furnace is fine while connected at a campground, the fan uses up a lot of battery power when dry camping as well as sending a lot of heat out the exhaust vent. I got a Mr Buddy to take the edge off while WalMart or other dry camping when just covering distance. It gets shut off at bed time and a comforter is added to the bed. I have gotten up after a good night of sleep to find it was 40 degrees in the RV. That is when I turn on the furnace.