Space Heaters in a fifth wheel

[Curlida]

We are still newbies at this and if the moderator needs to move my question, please do so. We are preparing to take another trip and I am always cold, so I asked my husband if it would be okay to use a space heater to supplement the heat in our unit.
He didn't know for sure and thought it would be a safety issue. Does anyone out there use space heaters, or ever need them? We have furnace heat for the bedroom and kitchen area, but only the fireplace heat in the living room. Thank you for any help in this
matter.

[RAS43]

donn0128 wrote:
1500 watt electric heaters work very well as supplimental heat sources. I ran one almost all of last month while camp hosting. Setting the furnace to 60 or so at night to keep from freezing. Just be careful, you likely wont be able to operate much else if the heater is running.

As mentioned by others, the fix is to run a separate extension cord to the 20 amp outlet in the box and snake it inside past a slide seal. Then the heater is on it's own circuit. I've done this for a number of years with good results.

[DutchmenSport]

We have 2 different ceramic style heaters in our camper we use when camping in colder weather. If plugged into electric shore power (and you've paid for your campsite), then you are saving YOUR propane to run the furnace by supplementing with electric heat (that you paid for with the campsite).

However, one thing you do need to mindful of. Your camper can only pull so many amps (either 30 or 50). In my camper, I've tripped the circuit breaker (inside the camper) when I turned (2 heaters) at the same time on the same circuit. And do not attempt to plug in an electric skillet too! You'll pop the breaker! No problem. Unplug something and reset the breaker.

But to answer your question: Yes! You can very comfortably run an electric heater in your camper. Just make sure you have somewhere safe to put it. We put one on the kitchen stove top. That spot is made for heat.

Second one sits on the bathroom floor facing our bed room (our bathroom has 2 access doors). This way they are not surrounded by something that could catch fire, and they have lots of air flow.

[wa8yxm]

The only problem I've had using space heaters is this: Motor home and Traier wiring often uses "Quick Boxes" these are not really up to a long term 12 amp load.. And I started smelling HOT WIRE.. Others have had outlet failre (so have I but that was a different issue)

On low or Medium (900-1000 watts max) you should be OK. but on HIGH (1500 watt) I would worry. IF you smell hot wire, SHUT IT OFF and post..

What did I do about it?

Well on my coach it was an easy job so I added a couple breakers and ran 12 ga wire.. one from each breaker... To proper house type 15/20 amp outlets in a proper outlet box.. Wire bent around a well tightened screw.

WOrks well.

[RoyB]

We use the OIL-FILLED 1500WATT Electric heaters. I picked this model because they do not have an open flame or visible red hot core. They are quiet running and 1500WATTS of heat is 1500WATTS no mater how you produce it... I personally like the low profile version of this heater verses the tall ones.


If we need some more heat to be pushed around the room this type heater is perfect for sitting one of those O2COOL 10-inch 120V-12VDC-Dcell type portable fans behind them...

I feel this is the most safest type portable electric heater for us - Have no problem running it all night long or unattended in our trailers.

We usually run an extension cord in from the camp ground pedestal connected to their 20AMP SERVICE connections just for the Electric heaters when running from Electric sites.... This does not take away any power from our 30AMP Connections...

We use the Electric Heaters as primary and the propane furnace set to a low heat number for back-up...

As others have mentioned we can't stand the noise of the propane heater fan as well as the bite from the propane fumes generated from the propane furnace.

Also like said above if the temps are going to get very cold it over-night is a good idea to use the Propane Furnaces so the underbelly area around the tanks are heated to keep them from freezing up...

Roy Ken

[Old-Biscuit]

Space heaters are OK for taking the chill off

IF you have an enclosed/heated underbelly only the RV furnace will supply warm air to that area.

So use furnace and supplement with space heater

[rwbradley]

We use two for cold weather and almost never use the furnace as it uses propane and we are usually on a hookup site. One is the standard little cube ceramic heaters, we use it during the day as it pumps out more heat and we only use it when we are around to keep an eye on it. It will heat things up quite nicely. We have a second Oil heater (looks like an old fashioned radiator). It is fan less has a lower wattage and in our opinion we feel safer keeping it on when we are not around or when we are sleeping. It does not heat up as fast or as hot but is good to keep it from getting too cold (at night or when not around), and the cube just gets used to top us up to a more comfortable room temp when we are near by.

[valhalla360]

Yes, just be careful with them and don't exceed the amp rating of the circuit it is on.

Usually just use it when it's cool but not cold to take the chill off. If it gets cold, we the furnace takes care of it.

[turbojimmy]

The short answer is yes, it's okay to use them as supplemental heat.

Whether it will be effective depends on how cold it gets. Here in the Northeast, a 1,500 watt space heater won't even begin to heat my motorhome in the winter. I have to run both furnaces to make it comfortable. And I put an electric space heater up front by the cab because the furnace design is not fabulous - I have no heat ducts in the front 10 feet of the rig. The furnaces will take the chill off up front, but the space heater fills in the gaps nicely.

[Lantley]

I can heat my entire 5'er using space heaters only. I seldom use the loud inefficient furnace

[donn0128]

1500 watt electric heaters work very well as supplimental heat sources. I ran one almost all of last month while camp hosting. Setting the furnace to 60 or so at night to keep from freezing. Just be careful, you likely wont be able to operate much else if the heater is running.

[Jayco-noslide]

We very frequently use a Vornado heater as it does a great job of circulating the heat and keeping it constant with a thermostat. We don't even use the furnace until it gets below 35 or so. Of course the interior size of your unit is a factor. Space heaters cause a lot of house fires when improperly used but we even run ours all night sitting on a hard surface and completely away from flammable material. Most RVers run heaters to use the campground's electricity instead of our propane. I'm not sure they present any more danger than the furnace or water heater does.

[trailerbikecamp]

Many people use small space heaters i their RV's. Some use a small "ceramic heater" bought at your local department store. We use a radiant heater inours. They work well to keep the unit warm.

With ours we don't use the furnace at all. The heater keeps the whole fifth wheel warm.

Personally, we don't leave the heater on when we are not there, or while out visiting friends for the evening. When get back it only takes a few minutes to warm up once the heater is turned on.