Quiet heater that doesn’t drain batteries ?

[Jwpup]

Hi,

I’m new to the RV world, just started making family trips in a new travel trailer (forest river wolf pup). But temperatures are dropping and the heater that came with the camper is horrendously loud. It wakes us up every time it kicks on at night.

All of our camping is without hookups and we are trying to find out if there’s a better alternative for heating the unit at night, without a noisy fan, and without draining the batteries. Any ideas?

Thanks,

John

[ktmrfs]

Monaramblee wrote:
Because we dont like the constant noisy cycling on and off of the furnace while sleeping i lower the thermostat to 50 ish at bed time. This way the furnace usually doesnt come on until early morning depending on the outside temp. Then in the morning i bump it up to 70 ish and go back to bed for an hour.

ditto, but we have a setback thermostat set to come on at 7am. Furnace coming on is our "alarm", wakes us up, then wait a while to get up, trailers warm.

[C_Schomer]

Darn dictation… That was supposed to be eliminated. Sorry

[Dtank]

C Schomer wrote:


That illuminated 100% of the odor.

:)..:@..:B..:D

.

[Monaramblee]

Because we dont like the constant noisy cycling on and off of the furnace while sleeping i lower the thermostat to 50 ish at bed time. This way the furnace usually doesnt come on until early morning depending on the outside temp. Then in the morning i bump it up to 70 ish and go back to bed for an hour.

[C_Schomer]

I’m using a big buddy heater for the first time this fall. I cracked a window open too far the first night and the heater still worked great on low but it got a little cool sleeping by that open window. Then I went to cracking two windows open about 1/4 of an inch, one front and one rear of the five, and that works perfectly.
I put the heater in the middle of the trailer and the first couple of nights when I only had one front window cracked open, I noticed a slight odor at the rear of the trailer and that’s what prompted me to also crack a window at the rear. That illuminated 100% of the odor. We’ve had windy nights and two windows being only slightly cracked open has very little effect on the heating.
I used to wake up every time the roaring Atwood furnace came on, but not anymore. Besides getting a good nights sleep, now... The propane last about three times as long. Craig

[RJsfishin]

I use 2 olycat waves unvented, w oxy sensors on them. sips propane and uses no power perfectly safe. Been using these for 40 years. Something like 10 million sold. All vented heaters are just wasting propane w/ 50% of the heat going out the vent. A little condensation yes, no problem

[covered_wagon]

One diode on the fan power wire made mine quiet enough to sleep. It slowed it down just enough to stop the rumbling that it used to give off when running full rpm. The factory tech told me that I could do this w/o creating any problems prior to adding the diode.

The diode will reduce the voltage somewhere around a half of a volt. Even batteries are running low it still functions fine, but you need to call a company tech to be sure it's okay to do this modification.

[pianotuna]

ICamel,

And still recommending an unsafe plan to others.

[ICamel]

I have been using a Wave catalytic heater for seven years in our RV's. First in a 5th wheel and now in our truck camper. Yes, I use it while sleeping. Yes, I am aware of the risks and choose to use it responsibly.

Hi Don! I'm still alive:)

There are literally hundreds of thousands of products that can kill you(or not). Just look how many items carry the California Prop 65 warning. Given some naturally occurring chemicals found in the State of California I am surprised no one has insisted that California be labeled as containing “chemical(s) known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm.”

[doxiemom11]

We have heard "roaring" furnaces, water heaters and they all needed an adjustment to run quieter. Wonder if yours in normal sound, or if an adjustment for the oxygen/propane blend needs to be done. You should ask someone who has camping experience to listen to it outside and inside and tell you if it sounds normal or seems noisy to them.

[CavemanCharlie]

As a alternative you could get one of these.

https://www.amazon.com/TOHUU-Thermostat-Control-Camping-Parking/dp/B08LD8YCCT/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2...

They are made for truckers to put in their sleeper cabs at night. You would have to carry a second type of fuel because they run on diesel. I don't know how noisy they are but, I don't think they are to bad.

There are videos of them on You Tube. Some people put them in their campers. I have thought about it and may do it on my next TT.

Oops, on edit I see that someone already recommended this. Me Bad.

[StirCrazy]

free radical wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:

free radical wrote:

Look up Espar diesel heater or its Chinese knock off copy which cost much less.
Espar is pricey but well worth the money.
Search YT on how to instal,

I have been watching a series on yuo tube about them. the chinese knock offs of the other design are pretty much the same thing as the real one. are you running one? I am wondering about replacing my furnace with one.

Steve

I have Espar using about two galons diesel a week in winter in small TC.
No problems after five years.

No idea about quality of those chinese made ones,youd need to ask people using those,,
Try Foresty forest chanel for example

which size did you end up getting a 2K or 5K.

Steve

[free_radical]

StirCrazy wrote:

free radical wrote:

Look up Espar diesel heater or its Chinese knock off copy which cost much less.
Espar is pricey but well worth the money.
Search YT on how to instal,

I have been watching a series on yuo tube about them. the chinese knock offs of the other design are pretty much the same thing as the real one. are you running one? I am wondering about replacing my furnace with one.

Steve

I have Espar using about two galons diesel a week in winter in small TC.
No problems after five years.

No idea about quality of those chinese made ones,youd need to ask people using those,,
Try Foresty forest chanel for example

[pianotuna]

KLYoung wrote:
Don't forget that you might need to run your furnace to keeps your tanks under the trailer from freezing.

(EDIT: I think you mean "don't" instead of "do forget".

Replace the return air grill for the furnace with a twindow fan. In my case, that pressurizes the heating ducts and prevents freeze ups. On high fan speed it draws a scant 27 watts.