interior heating question

[smoke20]

I've only used my t/c a few times in in cold outdoor temps but every time I have I've had trouble keeping temperature regulated or evenly distributed.

While at a local campground this weekend the temp was 28 degrees friday night and about 38 degrees Saturday night. My camper is insulated and has a propane furnace with a wall mounted t-stat and I also carry a tower style electric heater which I use mainly be cause I have shore power at the campground and why burn propane if I don't have to. But this past weekend as with cold trips before I can't keep the camper comfortable in the bunk at nite. its roasting up their or too cold it seems I can't find a happy medium. I kept the t-stat set on about 70 deg and the the electric heater only has two settings high and low... high is too hot and low was to cold. It does the same thing on jus the propane furnace alone too.

I feel like its an air flow problem and was jus wondering if any body else experiences this and what I could do about it. I also have a doutherm rooftop a/c unit so I could turn the fan on low (a/c off of course) and maybe it would circulate the air better? Also thought about putting a "heat strip" in it because its says its capable for one but I read some stuff about Dometic saying not use a heat strip due to a fire hazard with plastic cover.

[Wes_Tausend]

Fish 'n ' Grits wrote:
RoyB -- Thanks for the tip about the O2COOL fan. I got one and I'm impressed! It moves a lot of air QUIETLY! Only thing, mine didn't come with the DC plug in your picture. Did you get it separately?

In case RoyB doesn't get back to us, I was curious about the extra 12v adapter too, since our Walmart-store O2COOL only came with the 110v adapter. The image properties in RoyB's post came from Amazon.com, but I can't find the same exact image url associated with it's sale page. But I did find a nearly identical picture with a similar fan linked below:
http://www.amazon.com/O2-COOL-Rechargeable-Energy-Efficient/dp/B001RIZEIC/ref=pd_sbs_hg_5

In the past I noted that I could build an adapter to run ours off the 12v camper system. But it be easier to just buy one.

Wes
...

[Fish__n___Grits]

RoyB -- Thanks for the tip about the O2COOL fan. I got one and I'm impressed! It moves a lot of air QUIETLY! Only thing, mine didn't come with the DC plug in your picture. Did you get it separately?

[covered_wagon]

I moved the thermostat to the bunk area further away from the furnace. This helped alot. Before the manufacturer had the stat just above the furnace... Go figure!

Now I can turn it up before getting out of bed and set the bunk to a good sleeping temerature.

[Driftwood132]

I use a sleeping bag ,use the gas heater or a small electric heater if I have power on the low setting .Always set it by the door away from bedding that might fall from the the overhead sleeper.
Last weekend I also boondocked and it was in the 20's ,I keep the furnace set at 60 degrees ,it always seems colder up in the cab over, maybe I'll try a small DC fan . It used a lot of gas last weekend, never got out of the 30's in the day but I did use the ceramic heater some on generator to off set using so much gas.

[Wes_Tausend]

...

In quite cool weather, we sometimes use a rather large, flat 110v quiet radiator heater that has 1 degree digital adjustments and a remote. It is possible to adjust it to perfection from anywhere within, even inside our 30' trailer camper, including bed. No device surface ever gets too hot to touch. Finally, a single lo-temp-rated opened sleeping bag also makes a toasty extra top quilt in cold weather without disturbing our normal bedding.

For a fan we use the same O2Cool fan shown earlier.

Even when we boondock, this fan works great as a battery powered unit, indoors or out in hot weather. I think it runs for 18 hours on D cells, or nearly indefinately on the camper 12v system with a custom adapter. If you buy one, make sure it includes a 110vac/12vdc power supply as I have also seen them offered as battery-only with no power adapters.

When we did camp with our past TC, a great addition was a sheet of styrofoam under the mattress, and I do prefer an electric blanket in mildly cool weather while my DW leaves her side off. One advantage to an evenly heated electric blanket over a heated pad, is that the blanket never develops trapped hot spots where one is lying.

I hope to talk DW into another TC soon... for traveling.

Wes
...

[gregdennis53]

In addition to heaters, you might try putting a 1 1/2 or 2" thick piece of rigid foam insulation under the mattress. The "floor" of the cabover area in a camper has very little insulation, and the cold can creep up through the mattress. It made a huge difference in our Lance.

Happy Camping!

[free_radical]

smoke20 wrote:
I've only used my t/c a few times in in cold outdoor temps but every time I have I've had trouble keeping temperature regulated or evenly distributed.

While at a local campground this weekend the temp was 28 degrees friday night and about 38 degrees Saturday night. My camper is insulated and has a propane furnace with a wall mounted t-stat and I also carry a tower style electric heater which I use mainly be cause I have shore power at the campground and why burn propane if I don't have to. But this past weekend as with cold trips before I can't keep the camper comfortable in the bunk at nite. its roasting up their or too cold it seems I can't find a happy medium. I kept the t-stat set on about 70 deg and the the electric heater only has two settings high and low... high is too hot and low was to cold. It does the same thing on jus the propane furnace alone too.

I feel like its an air flow problem and was jus wondering if any body else experiences this and what I could do about it. I also have a doutherm rooftop a/c unit so I could turn the fan on low (a/c off of course) and maybe it would circulate the air better? Also thought about putting a "heat strip" in it because its says its capable for one but I read some stuff about Dometic saying not use a heat strip due to a fire hazard with plastic cover.

I think you should get better electric heater,such as those small ceramic ones,
I have one and its thermostat works perfectly,with unlimited amount of setings and is quiet too..I keep it close enough to reach from the bed and adjust the seting if it gets too warm..
I also have Espar and at its lowest setting keeps the TC just right in any temps,as I have R-10 insulation everywhere..
its one darn expensive heater but really worth it as its uses very little diesel and power..

[mkirsch]

I tried sleeping with the furnace once. Couldn't do it. The %$#@ thing would come on once per hour and wake me up.

Now I just pile on the blankets if it gets cold, and only run the furnace during waking hours.

[niftypkg]

Economy is my motivation. First leave DW home and take the dog. ( DW won't step in the camper anyway.)Then no complaints. Economy = discomfort. MYPop up is a compromise between storing a hard body and fitting in the garage but discomfort looms.

[SugarHillCTD]

We use 2 LL Bean camp sleeping bags (flannel inside, the 2 bags zip together) during the colder trips.

Do keep in mind that using an electric heater may keep your furnace from turning on and the furnace is what keeps water lines from freezing in colder weather.

[Jeepers92]

We just use a small, oscillating heater, seton the stove to circulate the heat. We have a little buddy propane if we are boo docking. I removed our installed propane to put a recliner in its place. The camper came pretty well insulated.

[Gary_Gadget]

We do a lot of early spring and late fall camping. We use a electric heated matress pad with individual controls for warmth at night. That way you can easily adjust the heat of the bed with out getting out of bed to adjust the thermostat. A pad is under you, so the heat raises unlike a heating blanket which is on top of you. With out shore power we start the generator to power the matress pad for 10-15 minutes to warm up the bed before we turn in.

[steve68steve]

My wife loves electric blankets - we use one in the house all winter. Before our TC, we camped at electric sites so she could have her blanket in the tent.

On shore power, it translates well to the TC. I set the thermostat to 55 or 60 and we're toasty under the blanket. If the temps really drop, the furnace will kick on. If not, we're not heating the whole camper and burning propane.

If we were going to dry camp in the cold, I'd do sleeping bags, down comforters, etc. It's much easier keeping the humans warm than the whole camper.

Our furnace does seem to cycle between "too hot" and "too cold" also. It's a small volume to heat and a cheap thermostat. In the mild temps we camp in, I think the duty cycle of the furnace is just too short - a smaller furnace running a longer cycle would provide more even heat, and less "overshoot" of the set temp.

[FreeLanceing]

I too use a small electric heater. I don't run it at night when sleeping or when I am gone for the day. If the fan on these things quits it can go into a melt down like a reactor without cooling water. If you do a google search there are videos that show what happens when the fans sticks.