It got down to 28 degrees here last night. I had my little electric heater set up to help with the propane heaters I have. I never run the thing unless I'm sitting here. Anyway, I turned it off a few hours ago........I still had it plugged in, but was turned off. I was just changing batteries in a flashlight, and heard something, and then looked over at the electric heater and it began to smoke. I unplugged it and took it outside. It actually melted some of the plastic. Again, it was off, just sitting there. Sooooooooo, please be careful. I usually don't even leave it plugged in when not in use...but today I did, and......who knows what might have happened it I was sitting here. Brian

I had the same thing happen. So now days we cant use an electric heater without watching it. Cheap foreign products. After looking at various propane and electric heaters it makes the factory rv furnace seem pretty good.

I have had that happen with CFL bulbs, normally if I am not using something I will unplug it. I always unplug portable appliances like toasters and mixers. JMO

Just curious, was that the type with electronic controls? (digital readout and all that stuff)

I even do abit more in that I very seldom crank up the thermostat on the electric heaters much above 50%.Running full "ON" they all get very hot and the electric cords also get hot... To me you are just flirting with disaster.We use the oil-filled electric heaters all the time in our trailers unattended. Great back up heat source. We picked the oil-filled type heaters for their inherent safety feature as there is no visible open flame or red hot cores, no burnt dust smell and they also are very quiet with the only noise you hear is an occasional click. You won't have to worry about a mouse on fire running around the walls of the trailerWe use the standard tall oil-filled heater in the big trailer and the low profile ones in the POPUP trailer. Over the winter months I have these set for a #3 setting and plugged into one of those THERMO CUBE electric adapter. These will turn on when the temperature gets below 35 degrees and then turn off when the inside temperature get over 45 degrees. Roy Ken

ScottG wrote:Just curious, was that the type with electronic controls? (digital readout and all that stuff)It had a series of buttons you'd push to select temp, and on/of and oscillate, No LED readouts or anything fancy. I don't even remember where I bought it. Brian

Electric Heater, BE CAREFUL | Good Sam Community

Pangaea_Ron
Explorer
Jan 06, 2015
kevden wrote:
Pangaea Ron wrote:
My insurance agent said to put an electric heater on the open oven door for a bit more protection.

I would need insurance to pay for the ER visit after I fall from walking into the open oven door.:S
I bought a couple electric heaters for use in the camper a couple years ago, but immediately returned them for a refund after reading many online reviews complaining of smoke and fire from the units. Two different brands, one was a pelonis oil filled, and I cannot remember the brand of the other ceramic unit. So for now, we just use the rv furnace. I looked into the permanent baseboard units, but the kids are still too young to keep their toys and blankets away from it. I think that I could get away with one in the bathroom, though, where there is no heat duct from the furnace.

Oh please. . . is that smoke that I smell?
kevden
Explorer
Jan 06, 2015
Pangaea Ron wrote:
My insurance agent said to put an electric heater on the open oven door for a bit more protection.

I would need insurance to pay for the ER visit after I fall from walking into the open oven door.:S
I bought a couple electric heaters for use in the camper a couple years ago, but immediately returned them for a refund after reading many online reviews complaining of smoke and fire from the units. Two different brands, one was a pelonis oil filled, and I cannot remember the brand of the other ceramic unit. So for now, we just use the rv furnace. I looked into the permanent baseboard units, but the kids are still too young to keep their toys and blankets away from it. I think that I could get away with one in the bathroom, though, where there is no heat duct from the furnace.
Daveinet
Explorer
Jan 05, 2015
pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

GFI is not going to do anything for an overload.

clhamon wrote:
We only plug ours into GFI receptacles with the assumption the GFI will trip if anything happens and before a fire starts.
Typically the fire is not going to start from an overload or an electrical short. Most of the time, a fire is going to start from a poor internal connection. Heat causes poor connections, so the simple fact that the internal connections are in close proximity to heat, means they are much more susceptible to failure. That fact coupled with the fact that they operate at a high current means the are very prone to failure as they age.

The safer aspect of the big oil heaters is that the heat is dispersed over a large area, so the heat is less intense where the electrical connections are. That type of design is going to be less prone to fail.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Jan 05, 2015
Hi,

GFI is not going to do anything for an overload.

clhamon wrote:
We only plug ours into GFI receptacles with the assumption the GFI will trip if anything happens and before a fire starts.
clhamon
Explorer
Jan 05, 2015
We only plug ours into GFI receptacles with the assumption the GFI will trip if anything happens and before a fire starts.
John___Angela
Explorer
Jan 02, 2015
On edit. Just checked and Amazon seems to have several makes as well. Most if not all do not come with thermostat so don't forget to add it to the order. This is done because if you have a string of them you only need one thermostat. We didn't go that way and we put a thermostat on all of them. All ours are 500 watts or smaller depending on location.
John___Angela
Explorer
Jan 02, 2015
BillyandKris wrote:
John & Angela, What is it and where did you buy them? I have never seen this type. Details please. Looks nice.

Good morning. They are just run of the mill baseboard heaters available widely. But you need to get the 120 volt units. Available from 300 watts to 1500 watts. Do some hunting around the web. Ours are made by Ouellete out of Quebec but there are a bunch of manufacturers out there.

If you have problems let me know and I'll find the place we bought ours from online.

Good luck.
BillyandKris
Explorer
Jan 02, 2015
John & Angela, What is it and where did you buy them? I have never seen this type. Details please. Looks nice.
John___Angela
Explorer
Jan 02, 2015
Thats why we went with a few of these permanently installed in several locations throughout the coach. No plastic, no electronics, manual thermostat, zero clearance. Paintable and they just kind of blend in.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Jan 02, 2015
Hi,

I got my 1/2 size oil filled heaters at Walmart. They draw about 462 watts each and have a thermostat and one heat setting.

BillyandKris wrote:
For RoyB: You wrote: low profile ones in the POPUP trailer

We also use the oil-filled radiator type heaters. They are awesome. We do not use them when traveling because they are heavy and our camper is not that large, but we are stationery now so they work great. I once bought a really small one, but it was junk and didn't heat anything and broke immediately. Can you tell us what your low profile one is and where you got it? THANKS