Does Furnace Run on DC Power??

[BigSur2]

A friend and I are planning a trip where we might have to stay overnight in a parking lot the first night in. We both have TTs. Can we run our furnaces off of DC Power?

[BigSur2]

rbp111 wrote:
BigSur2 mentioned that he has a portable propane heater that is safe to use inside the trailer. I have a Mr. Heater-Big Buddy which I use in my fifth-wheel trailer. I would advise BigSur2 that is the way to go. You can utilize the devise which refills the small propane tanks from a larger one, say a 20lb tank. That is much cheaper than have to purchase the small tanks. Or he could do what I did, that is have a quick connect put in the trailer and go directly to the two 30# tanks.

I would recommend a the use of the portable propane heater because, in my case, it has a battery (3 D cell batteries) which operates the fan. And if you don't have the fan, that is ok, it still heats up the trailer in time. But as the people have said before me, the trailer heater will use up the battery power in no time.

Yessir!! Big Buddy is what I use also.

[bikendan]

GaryLee4 wrote:
I guess if you have a generator you could use it to charge your battery at night?

not a night, unless you're boondocking.
every campground i've been too, public and private, don't allow running generators at night.
most have certain generator hours, during daytime.

[Strabo]

Run the heater, see what happens. Your camping, so what if the battery dies. Get another blanket, your not in a tent. 🙂

[MrWizard]

Speak

at 7amps from a 100w panel
No way 14 amp hrs put your battery back at full charge

voltage might have been close to normal,

BUT Amp hrs from running the furnace blower, were not fully replaced
battery not fully charged, no matter what you think
try that for a week,
in just a few more days, those batteries would not make it through the
night
maybe you got a majic blower that only draws 3 amps and only needs to run two hours total for the whole night
what was the temp inside the RV ?

maybe you do camp in a parallel universe, where the laws of energy use are different

not trying to be ornery, but what your saying doesn't match my experience with furnace blowers and 100w of solar

[Kevinwa]

If it is cool at your home you can run a simple test as to how long it can last with the furnace running.. unplug the power cable and turn the furnace on for the night, set the furnace uncomfortably high so it is forced to run most of the night. Go to sleep and the next morning check your battery level. If it is a single night stopover without power and your next night is powered then you don't have to worry about how low your battery is in the morning, as long as you make it to morning.

Just remember on your stopover night to unplug the camper from the tow vehicle, so you don't drain that battery by morning. It would suck to be stranded with a dead truck. This of course doesn't apply to fords, as they have a relay that shuts the charging cable to the trailer off with the key.

[DrewE]

GaryLee4 wrote:
I guess if you have a generator you could use it to charge your battery at night?

Of course you can--and also during the day and at twilight, assuming that's acceptable wherever you are. Many campgrounds have generator hours that do not extend overnight, some have fairly restrictive hours (such as a couple in the morning and a couple in the evening). Obviously that sort of limitation doesn't apply to boondocking situations.

[GaryLee4]

I guess if you have a generator you could use it to charge your battery at night?

[bartlettj]

PUCampin wrote:
I am fortunate, my 22ft trailer has a ducted furnace that only draws around 4.2A when running. It's an Atwood 8520 20KBTU Unless it is really cold we leave it off at night, I am a light sleeper and it wakes me up even though it is actually very quiet. If we do need it, even using a 40/60 minute duty cycle, for 8hrs only 22.4AH are used. I know most larger trailers have larger furnaces with larger current draws

Yeah, I have the same furnace, it works well. I've stayed out in 30 degree weather for 4 nights on a set of 2GC's with it set at 65. However, an additional complication is that a lot of trailers have a spill duct into the space under the trailer to keep the black and grey tanks from freezing. I don't have this. If you have a trailer like this I'd consider plugging that up so you keep more of your warm air inside. I also keep my bathroom door shut so I'm heating less of the trailer when its cold.

You can't just slow down the fan motor because the same motor is used for the blower as for the exhaust vent.

[Crabbypatty]

While sleeping some of the cold you feel is actually coming through the mattress from below. The under spaces arent heated and you could also be over the outside storage. Place under your mattress 1/2" blueboard or 1/2"celotex. It will make a big difference as does flannel sheets.

[Bobbo]

SpeakEasy wrote:
Wow. I feel like I'm reading about a parallel universe here.

Last weekend I was boondocking. I have nothing special in terms of a battery. Outside temps overnight were in the low 40's or upper 30's. I had the TT furnace keeping me relatively warm (set at about 55 degrees) all night. Furnace was running as needed; no where near constant.

I had started out with my battery fully charged. In the morning, my charge was down to about 3/4 or 2/3 depending on which gauge I looked at. (I didn't measure with my voltmeter.)

After 2 hours of bright sunlight (7:00 AM to 9:00AM) my 100-watt solar panel had the battery back up to full charge.

It sounds like I used a lot less power than some of you are reporting.

This is in a 23-foot TT. Ducted.

-Speak

Low 40's to high 30's isn't that cold. The example I gave earlier the nighttime temps were high to mid 20's. Also, your thermostat at 55 is good. That is just a little over the 50 that I recommend, and a LOT under the 65 that taught me my lesson.

[PUCampin]

I am fortunate, my 22ft trailer has a ducted furnace that only draws around 4.2A when running. It's an Atwood 8520 20KBTU Unless it is really cold we leave it off at night, I am a light sleeper and it wakes me up even though it is actually very quiet. If we do need it, even using a 40/60 minute duty cycle, for 8hrs only 22.4AH are used. I know most larger trailers have larger furnaces with larger current draws

[korbe]

SpeakEasy wrote:
Wow. I feel like I'm reading about a parallel universe here.

Last weekend I was boondocking. I have nothing special in terms of a battery. Outside temps overnight were in the low 40's or upper 30's. I had the TT furnace keeping me relatively warm (set at about 55 degrees) all night. Furnace was running as needed; no where near constant.

I had started out with my battery fully charged. In the morning, my charge was down to about 3/4 or 2/3 depending on which gauge I looked at. (I didn't measure with my voltmeter.)

After 2 hours of bright sunlight (7:00 AM to 9:00AM) my 100-watt solar panel had the battery back up to full charge.

It sounds like I used a lot less power than some of you are reporting.

This is in a 23-foot TT. Ducted.

-Speak

Yes. That is why those rules of thumb of one battery per night is just too general because of differing batteries and the furnace cycling times. Running my batteries from a full charge down to 50-percent is using about 110 amps. And with my furnace using about 7 amps it would take about 15 hours of constant use to get my batteries down to that 50-percent. And if the furnace cycled off half the time then it would take 30 hours.

But if you are trying to conserve battery power while dry camping, that 7 amps can be a large portion of overall battery usage.

[SpeakEasy]

Wow. I feel like I'm reading about a parallel universe here.

Last weekend I was boondocking. I have nothing special in terms of a battery. Outside temps overnight were in the low 40's or upper 30's. I had the TT furnace keeping me relatively warm (set at about 55 degrees) all night. Furnace was running as needed; no where near constant.

I had started out with my battery fully charged. In the morning, my charge was down to about 3/4 or 2/3 depending on which gauge I looked at. (I didn't measure with my voltmeter.)

After 2 hours of bright sunlight (7:00 AM to 9:00AM) my 100-watt solar panel had the battery back up to full charge.

It sounds like I used a lot less power than some of you are reporting.

This is in a 23-foot TT. Ducted.

-Speak

[allen8106]

korbe wrote:
I tested my furnace fan and it measured 6.7 amps.

Mine draws 6.4. with no gas flow like on cool down and draws 6.9 when gas is flowing.