Heating options/opinions for the winter camping season.

Hi--we find electric heating to be much less hassle than propane. Not only do you not have to fill up your tanks, you don't have the wide temp swings or the noise that you have with propane. We use our electric fireplace and some small, well-placed electric space heaters and remain comfortable in even the coldest weather. If we get cold, a quick warm-up with the furnace usually solves the problem. As far as the basement, we find that using a 100 watt incandescent bulb (that gives off heat) does a good job of keeping the basement warm. We have also used a "milk house" heater when it is really cold. This heater has a calrod encased in a metal housing with holes to let out the heat. Plugged in to a temperature sensing outlet (available in hardware stores), it turns on when needed and does a great job. Hope this helps!

We use a "Olympian Wave 6" in our 35 ft MH. Ours has feet on it and is on a 6 foot flexible hose. That way you can move it to where you want the heat. You have to plumb propane to a convenient location, but the whole job took about 2 hours.

They also make a smaller model, and a larger model as well. They're silent, use no electricity and far less propane than the furnace does.

Number 2 but use a light bulb in the basement.

The forced air heater set at 58 degrees just in case the electric heaters can't keep up.

Our Mobile Suites has the RV Comfort Systems Cheap Heat system, which basically consists of electric strip heat added to the propane furnace to give the option to run the furnace either on electric or propane heat. Used in conjunction with the electric fireplace, the Cheap Heat system has kept us warm and toasty down into the low 30s with reserve capacity remaining as the furnace and fireplace were both still cycling.

To us, the advantages of the Cheap Heat system are:

1. Free heat if electricity is not being metered - we typically don't stay long enough at one place for metered electricity to be a problem.

2. No filling of propane cylinders.

3. Since the Cheap Heat system uses the existing furnace blower and ducting, it keeps the basement and plumbing system warm in sub-freezing temperatures.

The latter is the primary advantage over electric space heaters, which we've also used in the past.

Rusty

X2 on using ceramic heaters.

Yup we pay big bucks for an RV with a furnace but in reality most of do not use it.

For me when the manufactures figure a way to make them so they don't sound like a freight train running thru every time they fire up is when I'll start using the furnace in an RV.

omextreme wrote:
I though I might ask those wiser then I a few questions about heating options for our 5th wheel.

We started camping last fall in a TT and really enjoy camping through the winter. Being in GA winter is not bad, few nights in the teens here and there but most nights only get as low as 30ish.

In the TT we ran the propane furnace and aside from the huge temp swings between on and off it worked just fine.

For this new 5th wheel I am curious my best options, Here are the 3 that I can think of.

1. The ducted propane furnace, at 40' with the high ceilings I dont think the temp swings will be so bad but I suspect we will use a lot of propane.

2. A combination of the built in Electric fireplace for the main area and 2 smaller room size space electric heaters. As well as a small heater for the basement since the furnace would usually heat that area.

3. Heat strips added to the roof AC units and the small basement heater.

I know that they make an electric conversion / adapter for the furnace but that seems like a huge amount of work plus they are pricey.

Thanks!

No personal experience from me, just sharing some things I've read here from those who have.

1. You need to circulate air under sinks and in cabinets to be sure any plumbing (or anything else) doesn't freeze, so you may need to run your furnace fan, even if heat is off.

2. You need to have air circulating into the basement areas to keep the lines =there= from freezing. If you have heater pads on the holding tanks, you're golden, but your dump lines can be an issue in especially cold weather. Same issue with furnace fan. Yes, I saw about putting bulbs there and that helps.

3. A lot of people like to use the oil-filled radiator electric heaters as they have much more residual heating effect after the element shuts down, so you tend to have more even temps. We use one at home in our bedroom, so the rest of the house can cool down while we stay toasty at night. :-)

4. Skirting seems to help a lot with heat loss, especially if you're in a breezy/windy area. A couple 100w bulbs right near your dump lines can't hurt here, either.

5. If you are going though a lot of propane, and are in a fixed spot for a while, you can rent 100 lb tanks and have the gas truck come by to fill them. A lot of people report that this can be =much= cheaper, and it's certainly a lot less hassle, than schlepping your tanks to the fill station. Even more so, if there are others in the same park that have large tanks and the truck is already coming in 1 or 2 times a week to fill them.

Lyle

Hi,

Do not forget to protect your fridge if the temperature will be below -4 c (20 f).

I use:

electric heated carpets
1/2 size oil filled heaters tucked away in otherwise unused space
600 watt fan based heater for the waste tanks on a mechanical thermostat
60 watt bulb in the exterior fridge vent controlled by a thermocube. I do restrict the air flow by taping off two of the three vents.

I replaced the cold air return for the furnace with dual window fans. They are controlled by a mechanical thermostat and happily for me, do flow some air through the furnace duct work. This prevents interior water lines from freezing. If the furnace has a duct to the basement it would keep that area from freeze up as well. My waste tanks are enclosed but someone at the factory forgot the connection to the furnace which is why I have the 600 watt heater.

I use an electric mattress pad for comfort reasons.

I've used this configuration at -37 c (-34 f).

At those temperatures the peak demand was 7000 watts, so a 50 amp service is needed. I have added 2 auxiliary shore power cords, and use a break out box on the 50 amp pedestal.

I leave the propane furnace on as a back up should the power fail.

The majority of trailers are drafty/poorly insulated and as you have discovered the furnace may cook you when it is on and then you will immediately feel the chill when it shuts off. We use two oil filled heaters and these put out a steady flow of heat even as the element turns off and on. With them placed near windows or outside walls they do a reasonable job of uniform heat without a fan constantly running.

However, I do not depend on the cheap 'thermostat' which really just sets the power level, not really the temperature. Instead I use LUX Win100 controllers with their own temp. sensor and the heater plugs into the controller. The advantage is that power output will actually increase at lower night temps and it will drop to zero during the day without my touching it. On days with big temp swings, I can leave the trailer at 7am with the heaters still running and return at 4pm with the heaters off and the A/C running.

I have camped for several days with temps in the 20's, the propane furnace shut off, so no heat to the basement or holding tanks, yet the fresh water tank, pickup tube and water lines did not freeze.

CHEAP HEAT

the bear II wrote:
Number 2 but use a light bulb in the basement.

The forced air heater set at 58 degrees just in case the electric heaters can't keep up.

This is what we do