Heater?

I use a pair of Envi heaters to heat my basement family room in my sticks and bricks home. They work well for that use - my house (including the basement) is very well insulated. I don't think I'd want one in an RV though. Things to consider: No fan is great for silent heat (what I wanted in the basement), but convection heaters are slow to heat a space completely, and will heat a poorly insulated space very unevenly.

While the Envi heaters don't take any floor space, they do take wall space (they're not all that small) and you can't put anything in front of that wall space if you want good convective circulation.

Most RVs are not all that well insulated, don't have a lot of open wall space, and generally one wants to be able to turn the heater on and have the trailer be evenly warm within a half hour or so. This sort of heater isn't really going to do that (perhaps in the back bedroom of a Class A? might work ...). Also, you'd likely need more than one. 425W isn't a lot of heat.

The whole 100% efficiency thing (with a fan): There's a TINY TINY TINY amount of energy from the fan (and possibly the heater element) that ends up being converted into RFI that gets fed back into the power line, and lost. :) (Well, okay, it's not "lost" - it ends up as heat too, but most probably heat outside of the space being heated, so lost to that space at any rate.) For heat, 100% isn't actually very good. Heat pumps typically operate in multiples of that. (How? They don't create heat directly, they just move it from one spot to another.)

dewey02 wrote:
Looks interesting, John and Angela. Would you provide a name of the product and/or a link? Thanks.

Good morning. Here is a thread I posted after installing the initial two. Additional info including the manufacturer and vendor website is in this thread. Hope this helps.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25686130.cfm

dewey02 wrote:
Looks interesting, John and Angela. Would you provide a name of the product and/or a link? Thanks.

Assuming those are 120v baseboards, I have a small one, too. I have it wired for freestanding operation and put a thermostat directly on it. Mine's a King brand, made if you can believe it not just in the U.S.A., but right here in Washington State!

Length determines wattage on such units- smallest King makes is the 350 watt, which is 27" long. Link to specs/choices

Looks interesting, John and Angela. Would you provide a name of the product and/or a link? Thanks.

We have four of these permanently mounted in various locations in the coach. Some are 300 and the others 500 watt. They provide even quiet heat throughout the coach. If the coach is cold (mornings or after being away for a bit) we will bring the coach up to temp with the two propane furnaces and then us electric to maintain. We also have under laminate heated floors. It all makes for dead quiet very even heat. It was fairly easy getting them all wired in using mostly existing circuits. They are spread fairly event over three circuits.

bhh wrote:
Anyone used one of these for a heater when hooked to shore power? It would seem to be quiet, compact, and at 425 watts, plug friendly.


Envi Heater

Yes. We have a very similar one. It works great, hangs on the wall like a flat screen TV, is absolutely silent (has no fan) and heats the bedroom very well on the low heat setting. Also has a thermostat so it maintains a constant room temp. We paid $20 for it at a discount store. Amazon has it for $80.
Delonghi Micathermic Heater - Amazon

And here's a photo:

425 Watts is less than 1/3 of the capacity of the 1500 Watt cube heaters. You can pick the ceramic heater up at Walmart, Home Deport or any number of places for $30.00 and have 3 times the heating capacity.

We run two 1500 Watt heaters in our 50 amp coach at times. Just make sure each is on a different circuit breaker. We have use two 1500 Watt heaters on 30 amp service. Just be aware of what else you operate.

Ken

I use a 1500 watt oscillating ceramic heater that I bought at Best Buy for $25. Blows out heated air and warms up the MH just fine. Makes very little noise.

I have been using a el cheapo 1500 watt heater for years. I just run a heavy duty extension cord through the slide to the power pedestal's extra 110 outlet. That one I can run on high without worrying about tripping anything in the fiver. If I need more I can always hook up my second one on low to an inside outlet.

Here is a statement from that independent review posted earlier.

"The heater only requires between 150-450 watts of power, the variable power tuned by an easy-to-use dial at the top of the unit, so we'd leave it on a few hours before we needed to be in the room, close a door, then return to find the room comfortably warm instead of unnaturally hot or ineffectively cold (about 10-15 degrees)."


Run it a few hours to get it warm, i think not. I can warm up my camper in about 10-15 min with my 1500w ceramic heater, or in less with my furnace.