Traveling with the furnace running

[Padlin]

Have a small fifth wheel, very little insulation, heading to FL in February from MA.

I know some folks shut off the gas while traveling, I'm not of tha camp and have no problem running the fridge on gas while I travel. Any reasons I can't run the furnace? Do folks do such? I have read where motorhomes are designed to be able to run with the furnace on, does that hold true of fifth wheels and trailers too?

[ependydad]

I just did this accidentally and it was kind of glorious to arrive to a warm camper. 🙂

[hawkeye-08]

I plan on running mine when traveling in the cold... I was reminded here to check registers when the slide is in. I think I have two that are covered so will need to think on that some...

[JaxDad]

Old-Biscuit wrote:

stetwood wrote:
When sitting still at 15 degrees the temperature in windless conditions is 15 degrees. Traveling at 60 mph, the windchill is like -11 degree. Therefore your furnace will need to work as if the outside temp is -11 degrees when traveling.

Wind chill does not affect inanimate objects. Only living creatures 'feel' the affect of wind chill.

The effect of wind chill is to increase the rate of heat loss and reduce any warmer objects to the ambient temperature more quickly. It cannot, however, reduce the temperature of these objects below the ambient temperature, no matter how great the wind velocity.

Wind chill doesn't affect an inanimate object like it does a human, but a warm object of any kind exposed to a strong airflow will absolutely cool off much faster than it would in still air.

There is also the issue of heat loss due to air being forced in and out of the RV by the highway speed wind it's exposed to.

[rhagfo]

Old-Biscuit wrote:

stetwood wrote:
When sitting still at 15 degrees the temperature in windless conditions is 15 degrees. Traveling at 60 mph, the windchill is like -11 degree. Therefore your furnace will need to work as if the outside temp is -11 degrees when traveling.

Wind chill does not affect inanimate objects. Only living creatures 'feel' the affect of wind chill.

The effect of wind chill is to increase the rate of heat loss and reduce any warmer objects to the ambient temperature more quickly. It cannot, however, reduce the temperature of these objects below the ambient temperature, no matter how great the wind velocity.

X2

[Old-Biscuit]

stetwood wrote:
When sitting still at 15 degrees the temperature in windless conditions is 15 degrees. Traveling at 60 mph, the windchill is like -11 degree. Therefore your furnace will need to work as if the outside temp is -11 degrees when traveling.

Wind chill does not affect inanimate objects. Only living creatures 'feel' the affect of wind chill.

The effect of wind chill is to increase the rate of heat loss and reduce any warmer objects to the ambient temperature more quickly. It cannot, however, reduce the temperature of these objects below the ambient temperature, no matter how great the wind velocity.

[time2roll]

Turn it on at the last fuel stop or the last 30 minutes before arrival.
Works fine. I do this when visiting the snow. Propane use is not an issue.

[stetwood]

When sitting still at 15 degrees the temperature in windless conditions is 15 degrees. Traveling at 60 mph, the windchill is like -11 degree. Therefore your furnace will need to work as if the outside temp is -11 degrees when traveling.

[Cummins12V98]

noplace2 wrote:
Except, for this one, I rarely post here any longer. I come in to read occasionally. This thread is particularly poignant. The silly folly of my fellow mankind is endlessly amusing. Running a furnace going down the road? Seriously? "Because I can" is just a mess of an answer.

Thanks for the enlightening post.

No go back to "I rarely post here any longer. I come in to read occasionally" 😉

[rhagfo]

ga80486 wrote:

beemerphile1 wrote:

Padlin wrote:
I don't understand the "sucking the heat out", have you tried it?

Thought it would take an hour to heat it up, will try it on a cold day at home.

Thanks

In still air, a structure has an envelope of slightly warmer air around the outside. Driving down the road will prevent that envelope from forming and the moving air will literally suck the heat out much worse than if parked.

I guess the wind don't blow in Ohio 'eh?

Interesting subject, we just cam home from the coast thought about it in the way out as temps were in the low 30's, but chose not to.

When we came home, DW forgot to turn off the heat. :)The trailer was nice and warm inside, don't know how much it ran, but may run it on the trip out next time with T-Stat set at about 55, not 65. :B

[noplace2]

Except, for this one, I rarely post here any longer. I come in to read occasionally. This thread is particularly poignant. The silly folly of my fellow mankind is endlessly amusing. Running a furnace going down the road? Seriously? "Because I can" is just a mess of an answer.

[Cummins12V98]

Duplicate post

[Cummins12V98]

Bottom line is it's your money, experiment and do what works for you.

[Lantley]

We could all debate if it's practical or necessary all day long. However unless the slides are blocking the ducts, I think the furnace will work in most trailers

[Padlin]

Enough have tried it without problems, I'll give it a shot. Won't know how I make out till Feb when we head south. If I remember (asking a lot) I'll post the results.

My FW is a fiberglass egg, along the lines of a Scamp or Casita, but a bit bigger. Might be somewhat more airtight then most, but it's only got a 1/2" of foam insulation, thermal windows, and foam insulation on the underside. Fresh and grey tanks are underneath and unheated.