Heating 38ft fifth wheel

[melissajean0]

So, it's going to be cold pretty soon here in UT. We're looking for another floor heater. We have propane and two other floor heaters, but last year when we were in Wyoming we noticed it was unbearably cold. To be honest, it was like no heat was on. Of course we were having -40 degree windchills, so I'm sure that didn't help. Our RV is 38 ft long. We need a heater that is electric. Any suggestions? (Yes, I already know about insulating.)

[Dayle1]

donn0128 wrote:
1500 watts aint much, but you might try a couple of the oil filled heaters. They tend to radiate heat even when off once the oil is warm.

That is what we use. Rather than rely on the cheap thermostat (really just variable power) we use Lux, WIN100 controllers with their own thermostat. With these plugged in at the exterior walls, they 'see' the worst case temps and control the heaters.

[kimbo1]

you need to move are build a igloo around your trailer. just saying lol

[avvidclif1]

newman fulltimer wrote:
The only thing that will keep the floor warm is to use insulation around the bottom all your heatloss is through the floor

Last time I checked heat went up but I've never seen anyone talk about more roof insulation??? Or how.

[alboy]

I upgraded to a 40000 btu from a 32000 in a 35ft fiver.The Dimensions were the same.The difference was day and night,also the new one is there Quiet series that you can hardly hear run.Worth the 1000 bucks!!

[SteveAE]

Here is a link to help size your heating system. Just select "Poor" insulation, input the size of your RV and the difference between the coldest exterior temperature expected and desired interior temperature. Push "calculate" and you get the total capacity of the heating system you need. Now subtract the amount you get from any other heaters you may have (if propane, use the BTU to Watt converter) (negate efficiency losses for now) and you are left with the amount of supplemental electrical heat you need.
Next you need to determine if your electrical service and circuits can handle this additional load. A portable electric heater uses (and generates) roughly 1500 watts (the same as a hair dryer). And you should only use one such heater per circuit (not outlet, but circuit breaker). So if you have two circuits available, that's roughly 3000 watts (or two hair dryers) of heat. Additionally, this example (two portable heaters) would require that you have a 30 amp service avaliable. More heaters would require a larger service and more circuits.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

[azrving]

You can only run X amount of electric heaters so where are you going to get the supply amperage? In those types of temperatures you have to throw fire at the problem. LOTS of fire! jimo

I was in Colorado last year in November when it dipped to 5 degrees. I have a reglur ole FW thats not made for winter and I was using 30 pounds of propane per day and also running a 1200 watt electric heater. On the worse nights I was running another 1500 watt heater on my gen under the holding tank area. I had boxed the tank area in with black celotex(?) board from the Depot.

I cant image what you go through in the winter but if I had to do it again I would concentrate on building skirting wall all the way around with foam panels and spray foam every gap. 2" foam board or more. It may only give R7 or so but it would probably help a lot. I also covered the windows and vents with that silver looking roll insulation from HD. It was like living in a cave but it helped a lot. At night we put a quilt over the door area.

[donn0128]

1500 watts aint much, but you might try a couple of the oil filled heaters. They tend to radiate heat even when off once the oil is warm.

[fitznj]

Can't say that I have used my camper in those kind of temps but when it get's down to 20F-25F, I use the propane furnace to get the interior temps up to about 65 and then use an electric cube fan heater (from Home Depot) to maintain the temps. I keep a second electric cube heater to supplement the first when it gets really cold.

Each heater is rated at 1500W, so you can do the math and figure out how many heaters you will need.

When we are boondocking, I use the small propane "coleman type" heaters to supplement the furnace. They take the chill out first thing in the morning.

You can always put on an extra sweater !!! works every time.....

gerry

[melissajean0]

newman fulltimer wrote:
The only thing that will keep the floor warm is to use insulation around the bottom all your heatloss is through the floor

Yeah I know. The floor was insulated and we had underpinning up last year. So the only other thing we can do is get another heater.

[newman_fulltime]

The only thing that will keep the floor warm is to use insulation around the bottom all your heatloss is through the floor