Dry Camping - Heat with Propane, or electrically w/Inverter?

2oldman,

Mine is not loud either.

For those that want to use no power there are many vented combustion heaters. They may cost more--but would you drive on tires that have aged out?

wopachop wrote:
At night if youre watching a movie and dont want to hear the loud furnace use the catalytic heater..

This is where I must be different from all others. My furnace is not loud.

Its all of the above. Some dry campers have kids and adults who watch movies and play games. Which normally requires the genny running.

Anytime the generator is running crank your electric heaters.
At night if youre watching a movie and dont want to hear the loud furnace use the catalytic heater.
In the middle of the night set your thermostat and use the furnace. Should be just fine with all that battery power you have.

edit: to be clear sometimes at night you can watch movies using battery power and the inverter. or a laptop. so obviously the generator would be off and ideally you would have quiet heat.

pianotuna wrote:
I'm concerned about CO production and other combustion products. .

And water vapor.

A furnace is designed for this but a lot of peeps sure want to avoid that. I have a buddy heater but it sure doesn't heat anywhere near what my furnace can, and it really eats propane.

dedmiston wrote:


I agree in theory, but I also think it depends on the cubic feet volume of the trailer. Ours is a 44' fifth wheel with three slides and high ceilings. Our buddy heater won't burn through all that O2 in one night.

I am not concerned about O2 depletion. I'm concerned about CO production and other combustion products. All blue flame heaters do produce CO. Low level exposure is not good.

Every year some folks die in my Province from CO. It is not even news anymore.

Do like my wife does and have things automated. By the time she gets up, the Buddy heater has automatically come on. Additional heat has been generated buy the automatic stove top coffee maker. Her morning comfy clothes even automatically get inserted under the covers to pre-warm via secondary heat absorption. Very efficient. No worries about tanks freezing either as they would just get automatically repaired too.
25 yrs to build up the software to automate all these things. But the up keep is pretty basic as the machine is pretty simple/ not complex. Maybe takes a bit longer at this point as some parts are showing wear due to their age....

If you must use battery power for heat... at least use a heat pump as you will get about 2.5 times the BTU by moving heat vs creating heat from resistance. Propane is still a better choice for most conditions.

Let's say SHTF and you are surviving, not camping...
Save batteries at all cost! If, IF you have enough solar to run an electric heater and have extra to also charge batteries to full during the day then that is an option only during the day and will save propane (because SHTF and propane no longer available).
The furnace fan will use a lot of battery overnight also, so that will deplete batteries. Yes, u can just recharge batts the next day on solar, but every time u deplete a battery it dies a little.
True camping means getting a sleeping bag that will keep you warm. You can stay toasty warm at 10 degrees in a bag with no external heat. In the day time you will be moving around so would want heat then if you are stuck in the camper.
I would never, even in prosperous times, use batteries to heat a camper.

phemens wrote:
As with others, we use a Big Buddy propane heater. I installed a quick connect to a fitting that runs a hose outside to a separate 30lb tank that it shares with the camp stove. Provides plenty of heat until we go to bed, at which point we fill a couple of hot water bottles to keep our toes toasty. In extreme cases when we know it will go below 0C, we set the RV furnace to 12C. Do not leave a Mr. Heater running while you sleep!
As reference, I have 6 100A LIFePO4 batteries, with 1200w of solar. Typically I wake up to 70% charge, but we are heavy users - residential fridge, coffee makers, TV and media center, cell phone booster, etc. On a sunny day I’m charged by noon. On a day like today, which is overcast, I pulled out the generator as I was down to 60% this morning (all my percentages of remaining battery are based on available capacity, I set it to 80% to be conservative, or 480AH of usable capacity).

I wouldn't even think about the generator with 60% in the morning but then I wouldn't think of the generator with 60% after dinner. 60% will still give 30% in the morning that's enough for the Mr Coffee pot and run the microwave for breakfast. Then let solar do what it can the rest of the day. 50-55% at 7pm is my pull out the generator and run it for an hour to dump 100ah (25%) in. If in the morning it's going to be just a poor solar day due to rain or heavy overcast then I'll run the generator for 2 hours dump a 200ah in and take what ever the solar will produce.

ktmrfs wrote:
my issue with the unvented heaters (buddy etc.) is that for every gallon of propane burned you release 3+ quarts of water into the trailer air.

Good point. I wouldn't like that. And you're most certainly not going to have open windows.