Furnace heat not working when on shore power

open the filter access door on your living area AC. If it has a heat pump or heat strip it will say that in that location. Mine is a heat pump controlled by the thermostat. I prefer to run both the fireplaces instead.
Dave

there is a aftermarket electric heat option for rv furnaces. they will not put out the heat like propane does though.rv furnace electric heat option

CObroker wrote:
It definately eats the propane, lol. The batteries are fine, we usually boondock pretty high up in the mtns where it drops into the 20's and 30's most nights. The heater runs quite a bit.

Was just hoping that for the few times early and late in the season, when we happen to be at campgrounds, that there was an electric option since it looked like it from the thermostat.

We will just use a portable electric heater to augment the propane in those situations.

It's all good!

it takes a lot of heat to keep a small sized enclosure warm, trailer, house doesn't make much difference. One there is lots of surface area to radiate heat even though there isn't much volume. Second, lots of windows don't help.

So a 35K BTU heater in a 200 sq ft trailer is more stressed than a 80KBTU furnace in a 2400 square foot house.

10X difference in sq ft, but only about 3x difference in furnace. and the 85KBTU will keep the house warm below 0F, but the trailer will struggle at 32F.

It definately eats the propane, lol. The batteries are fine, we usually boondock pretty high up in the mtns where it drops into the 20's and 30's most nights. The heater runs quite a bit.

Was just hoping that for the few times early and late in the season, when we happen to be at campgrounds, that there was an electric option since it looked like it from the thermostat.

We will just use a portable electric heater to augment the propane in those situations.

It's all good!

Another example of a poor dealer PDI.
To not explain to a newby customer that the furnace is propane only, is inexcusable. :S

propane furnace eats fuel, and will kill a battery in no time if not on shore power. if your plugged into shore power turn the furnace off and use electric heaters.

CObroker wrote:
there are no manuals that address anything close to this issue. There are hardly manuals at all.

If you post the make/model of both the furnace and air conditioner the options and manuals can be found.

ok, thanks. We love the trailer, just didn't quite understand the thermostat operation or infrastructure design.

I think the small portable electric heater option, when plugged into campground power, for the early spring and late fall trips will work great to supplement the propane furnace operation.

thank you all for the help and replies!

I'd say operating as expected. virtually all RV furnaces are propane only.

when asking for electric heat it, if it is available will be through the AC ducting, usually in the ceiling. And it will be either an electric heat strip around 1500W, which will not provide much heat, and the air coming out will not be much above room temps. that is designed to keep the trailer warm, not warm it up. Or it will be through the AC operating as a heat pump, again with ceiling ducting. should be warmer air and higher capacity.


you can upgrade the furnace to electric but again to get anywhere near the heat you get from the furnace you will need a 50A service or more. A 30KBTU furnace, say at 75 percent efficiency, nets 25k btu. 25K btu on electric is about 8KW, 1.5KW is the typical portable heater and that draws about 12A on 120V.

I believe the furnace is propane only, not sure. I think the heat strips, or lack thereof, in the air units is the answer. Just don't know for sure. Also, do not know if there is a furnace 'upgrade' that we can get that will function both electric and propane.

Or do we have to have 'heat strips' installed and then connected to the thermostat?