Heating a trailer while under tow

[swimmer_spe]

I may moving during the winter. It will be a 4 day drive with my trailer up here in Canada. I plan to put my house plants in the trailer.

What is a safe way to heat the trailer above freezing for the 4 day journey.

How dangerous would having the furnace on be? Other ideas?

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Is there a thermostat? Or just a low medium high setting? If there is a pilot light it may blow out, so I'd use caution when running the furnace while trundling down the road.

swimmer_spe wrote:
Oh, I should have added, my furnace does not need battery power.

[Old-Biscuit]

swimmer_spe wrote:
Oh, I should have added, my furnace does not need battery power. Dead battery really only means my breakaway brakes don't work.

For some reason, I have always been told to turn off the propane tanks while under tow for safety.

In the OPD valve assembly on propane cylinders is a spring loaded shut-off valve. Hose has to be connected to cylinder in order for propane to flow.

In the big green nut on hose (ACME Nut) is a floating ball bearing that will shift towards hose end and shutoff propane flow if line/hose etc. breaks downstream (excess flow check valve).
Also inside that ACME Nut is a thermal fuse.......it will melt in a fire and cause excess flow which then trips excess flow check valve.

Dang propane cylinders are more safe than vehicle fuel tank. So having them valved in and using the propane while in transit is safe.
Measures are in place just in case

[christopherglen]

My slides cover one of the 4 heater vents, other then heating the underside of the stove (in the slide) and burning propane - there is no real downside I have found from running the heater underway. In my case the smaller space with the slides in made it cycle less, and the 60 mph constant cold wind down the sides made it cycle more. The biggest issue you are going to run into is running the heater for 24 hours without plugging in will deplete most any battery bank, and the charge line of the TV is usually a joke.

Putting the plants in the bathroom with a few hot water bottles, which can be reheated (pour them into a pot) on the stove without using batteries. Other then that stay at campgrounds and plug in at night, oil filled heaters tend to hold heat for a long time, maybe one of those in the restroom would help as well.

[KD4UPL]

I guess technically maybe having the propane off while traveling is slightly safer than having it on. But, staying home would be safer yet. Leaving it off when camped would be safer than having it one, etc.
Use your camper as it was intended: run whatever appliance you need to and enjoy the travels.

[carringb]

I use my furnace too. Really, I have to otherwise the water lines freeze. It does go through a lot of propane though, so I'm considering adding a coolant heat exchanger with some dripless quick connects from the van.

[swimmer_spe]

Oh, I should have added, my furnace does not need battery power. Dead battery really only means my breakaway brakes don't work.

For some reason, I have always been told to turn off the propane tanks while under tow for safety.

[Old-Biscuit]

Nutinelse2do wrote:

sch911 wrote:
That's what the furnace is for. Never understood those who think it can't be run while underway???

X2

Dang trailers are 'self contained'

That is why furnace runs on DC power..so it can be used.

[Nutinelse2do]

sch911 wrote:
That's what the furnace is for. Never understood those who think it can't be run while underway???

X2

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Preheat the trailer with electric power for 24 hours. Set the thermostat to cycle.

I regularly travel with my furnace active. So long as it is direct spark ignition I doubt there will be a problem.

Expect the batteries to need charging each night of the trip.

[sch911]

That's what the furnace is for. Never understood those who think it can't be run while underway???

[KD4UPL]

I don't know any reason you can't run the furnace while traveling. Many people, including myself do it. There's nothing in my owners manual that says not too.
As for a 12v heater, there's no such thing as a 12v heater that would make any difference and also "not draw so much power as to deplete the batteries". The best you might get thru a factory charge wire is about 15A. That's only 180 watts.

[jaycocreek]

When we traveled with all the house plants we always had a catalytic heater running on the road.Always traveled with the catalytic heater on in our motor homes and campers.

Put the plants in the bathtub with door fixed open for the heat.

[LarryJM]

As suggested already, I would probably just run the furnace and keep an eye on things. Not sure if it's really recommended, but I've heard of others doing that w/o problems.

I recently bought a second camera for my non traditional backup camera system and have one to monitor the main interior space in the TT while on the road.

Larry

[noteven]

Check to make sure your tow vehicle is supplying 12v down the charge wire to the trailer. Preheat the trailer on shore power with the furnace running for 12 to 24 hours depending on the weather. Get it good and warm inside. Make sure the battery is charging from shore power like it should.

Load up and go, leave with full lpg bottles and leave the furnace running, plug in to some shore power during overnight stop overs if possible. 15 amp is lots to run the furnace.

The furnace uses fuel much faster during winter driving than summer vacation. Our truck camper will use close to 20lbs per 24 hours travelling in -10C to 0C conditions. It is 9ft with 16,000btu furnace. Depending on weather conditions the bottle that is supplying the furnace will have water vapour condensing on it or freezing on it. This can be an accurate "fuel guage" if liquid but I prefer the shake the bottle method in cold weather.

Safe travels.