Heated Floors

Google RV heated floors. Lots of info on it including electric vs hydronic, solar powered, and do it yourself options.

Lots of RVs have heated floors. If you walk up the path where the heating vent runs under, the floor is usually warm.

While you certainly can install heated floors there are some issues:
- They aren't particularly efficient with much of the heat going down and being blown away (ducted heat loses a bit but most comes out into the interior space).
- Electric heat is generally pretty limited. 1500w heater is roughly 5000btu. Your average RV furnace is 20-40,000btu. Even with a 50amp rig, you are going to be limited to maybe 15-20,000btu but 50amp rigs tend to be larger and have the larger furnaces.
- Liquid would be time consuming and expensive to install. Then you would have to develop a propane powered boiler system to feed it (electric would still face the btu problem)

Reality is most RVs get little or no cold weather use, so there isn't much market push to improve the heating systems.

Hi marpel,

My first class C was a Citation Supreme. It had a heated basement. It was great in cold weather.

I've winter boodocked at -37 C (-34 F)

You may find this thread has some excellent advice.

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24160748.cfm

Since my current class C does NOT have a heated basement I use these:

https://www.tempurtechmanufacturingllc.com/heated-magic-carpets

Heated floors,(liquid or 120 volt grids), ARE NOT designed to heat an RV. They are designed to keep the cold floor from bothering you. The ONLY heated floors I have seen are under tile floors. Doug

I can say this is the first RV we have owned with heated floors and I can't see us ever owning another rig without them. They do take the chill out of the interior and have actually made the coach too warm without any other heat source. We only stay in rv parks plugged in so for us that is perfect. Otherwise having to run the generator to power the floors would not be something we would do.

Thanks for the responses.

Marv

We have electric heated floors in our home. In the Kitchen and Living room under tile. It is a great way to take the chill off and keeps the room warm. We actually had to turn them down because they effect the whole house heat and wouldn't allow the heat to come on in the rest of the house.

I think they would work in an RV assuming you have a constant power source. If you were using it off grid, it would be a no go. Which is probably one of the reasons RV manufactures don't waste effort putting them in RV's. Most heat sources are inexpensive to put in, like a propane furnace or small fire place electric heat. I think if you were doing a remodel and changing the floors, it wouldn't be a bad investment assuming you always had power and could put them under hard floors. Radiant heat doesn't work under carpet.

We have heated floor in our bathroom. It is a cube heater in the basement set on medium. No more cold nighttime trips to p___.

marpel wrote:
Have read a number of threads over the years about heating an RV in cold weather and the issues with things like propane requirements as well as condensation etc. And along with those posts, a number of suggestions from others to mitigate these issues.

However, I can't recall ever seeing a post/discussion about heated floors (either electric or liquid) and wonder why this is not a viable option available to the average RVer (I understand some highend RVs have in-floor heating).

Why is that? Are there problems with this type of heating, and would this type of heating reduce condensation?

Marv

Hi Marv,

We do winter camp in our camper. Your quest for in floor heating questions are good, there may be a few misconceptions about the issues to over come. Here are some things to think through and my help explain why in floor heating may not have, or ever will, make into an "average" camper.

First off the condensation issue, this is a real issue in an "average" camper not built from the ground up to be a true all season camper. Even "some" campers that claim to offer a cold weather package, they fall short in dealing with the moisture. Cold weather packages and all season campers are different pending what the brand declares that comes in that package. Marketing plays into those buzz words.

I am going to make a big picture statement and then back it up where I am coming from.

If you had an in-floor liquid heating system, (assuming that is the type of floor heat you are are talking about) in floor heating will not change the condensation problems of the camper any different then the standard Atwood/Dometic Hydroflame or Suburban RV propane furnace used in many average and high end campers.

While both of those propane furnaces run on LP gas, and LP gas burning does create condensation in the burnt LP gas exhaust, the heat exchanger used in these furnaces never has the burning LP gas heat to be blown inside the camper. All that LP gas generated condensation blows outside. The gas burner flame and fresh outside air mixture heats the inside of a closed pipe of sorts steel heat exchanger and exhausts both left over heat and the condensation created, outside. An inside blower, moves camper inside air convected heat coming off of the outside of the heated steel heat exchanger around in the camper. These old school RV furnaces I mentioned above are approx, 75% efficient.

So changing to a floor heated system of circulating liquid has not changed anything in-regards to all the trapped moisture in a camper.

Some of the larger moisture generators inside a camper are; people breathing, the LP gas range top or oven during cooking, washing dishes, taking showers etc.

There are ways to deal with and help remove the inside moisture, but the more effective practical ways do not relay on the heating system. Attic vents (vents the trapped moisture in the attic of the camper), compressor driven dehumidifiers, and the simplest, venting the living space and being mind full of limiting trapped moisture. And a big one, understanding how inside moisture is created and then work towards addressing the moisture issues. None of this moisture mitigation deals with how the heat was created.

And then, there is the way the "average" camper is made and sold. It will cost more labor and materials to install an in floor mounted recirculating liquid heating system. And if you are going to spend the extra $$$ on the heating system, well are you going to spend the money on double pane windows or storm windows, attic vents, heated enclosed water tanks, thicker walls, doors etc?

My thoughts only, but I would predict for an "average" camper to be sold, the increased costs will not sell to an average RV buyer. It takes someone who wants, needs, and is willing to pay for; better walls, floors, ceiling, wall and floor insulation, better totally enclosed heated tank compartments, a vented attic, better insulated windows, and doors as a starter.

What would help more then the in floor liquid heating system is a higher efficiency LP gas furnace, more in the mid 90% efficient along with the other upgrades to keep heat in and cold out and deal with the trapped moisture. All these items just plain cost more.

Think about it, does the in floor heating fit with an "average" camper?

Hope this helps.

John

Aside from the obvious and probably some unexpected costs and challenges of installation, you’re burning a ton of electricity. Let’s not pretend a hydronic system is even remotely feasible.
Best option for heated floors is a his n hers pair of heated socks or slippers….