How much difference will 1500 watt heater make

[Izzyblueye]

For us taller people it serves another purpose. It's called head room.

[John Hilley]

Hopefully, this will be the last reply from extreme cold weather. Last night was -20 degrees F. With the 1,500 watt electric heater and the furnace set to 50 degrees F and the foil insulation in the side windows, it maintained 50 degrees F in the living area. The heated water area was at 5 degrees F. It is now up to -10 degrees F and the water compartment is at 9 degrees F.

[troth]

John, thanks for the data. I guess the upshot of this trial was to learn that a 1500w electric heater will help maintain temps inside the coach. But if outdoor temps drop below say 20*F, we better be running our furnaces more so the few heated bays get more heat...

Do you think if your furnace thermostat was set to a more "livable" 65 degrees, that the underfloor bays would have stayed closer to 32*F?

I don't think I would be camping in -20* weather, but I might endure a night or two at +10*F...

[Izzyblueye]

JOHN: The only answer is----- Get out of town as fast as you can.

[RedGuy]

I use a 1500 watt holmes and it will keep my 24ft TT at 65 deg all the way down to about 30 deg by it self. Saves on propain big time, plus with my old 25,000btu Atwood Furnace once it gets down into the 30's it runs almost continously to maintain 65 deg. I haven't yet used my TT much below 30 deg, but if I'm plugged into a 30amp power soarse I can also run my air conditioner heat which give me another 15,000btu of electric heat. Thinking about making a weekend trip in a couple weeks and I'm figureing I should be able to keep toasty by running my holmes heater and furnace, It'll prbably be getting down to about 5-10 deg at night. I'll only have 15amp power available so I won't be able to run the roof top heat.

[John Hilley]

Originally posted by troth:
John, thanks for the data. I guess the upshot of this trial was to learn that a 1500w electric heater will help maintain temps inside the coach. But if outdoor temps drop below say 20*F, we better be running our furnaces more so the few heated bays get more heat...

Do you think if your furnace thermostat was set to a more "livable" 65 degrees, that the underfloor bays would have stayed closer to 32*F?

I don't think I would be camping in -20* weather, but I might endure a night or two at +10*F...

I think it would keep it at about a 20 degree differential with ambient outside temperature. Better if I added insulation. A 100 watt light bult keeps it above freezing down to 0 degrees.

[CMcCardell]

I've been running slide-in truck campers for years, 4 seasons in Wyoming, and try to avoid winterizing. In both the Lance and the Arctic Fox, I've installed two $15 10 amp 12V heaters in the cabinets to keep pipes from freezing while driving.

I've now got an '04 Adventurer (35U) - I was thinking of installing a couple of heaters in the basement areas (haven't looked to see where would be necessary yet), switched from the coach. Would the alternator keep up with the battery drain? Would that work, do you think, to keep the basement areas warm enough down to 10 degrees or so? The heaters don't do all that much but in enclosed spaces in the truck campers have done a great job to keep things liquid.

- Clay

[John Hilley]

Originally Posted by CMcCardell

I've been running slide-in truck campers for years, 4 seasons in Wyoming, and try to avoid winterizing. In both the Lance and the Arctic Fox, I've installed two $15 10 amp 12V heaters in the cabinets to keep pipes from freezing while driving.

I've now got an '04 Adventurer (35U) - I was thinking of installing a couple of heaters in the basement areas (haven't looked to see where would be necessary yet), switched from the coach. Would the alternator keep up with the battery drain? Would that work, do you think, to keep the basement areas warm enough down to 10 degrees or so? The heaters don't do all that much but in enclosed spaces in the truck campers have done a great job to keep things liquid.

- Clay

Most of those 12 vdc heaters are about 300 watts. One of those in the Adventurer should be enough. The alternator could probably keep up with two if you wanted, however the furnace keeps that compartment slightly warm while traveling. I have plugged in a 100 watt trouble light at home it has kept the water bay above freezing. I believe your waste tanks may benefit more from the furnace than mine do. The only problems I have had is the waste valves freezing up. I make sure I get RV anti-freeze down into the waste valves.

[Easyrider]

We use 2 1500 watt electric oil filled heaters made by Lakewood and sold in many big box stores. 1 up front on the dog house cover and one 2/3s of the way back just outside of the bath area. Has kept our motorhome nice and toasty with outside temps down to about 20. We also insulated the dog house for sound control and have the extra benefit of it helping with temp control too! We set both heaters on the 1500 watt setting until the rv starts to warm up then back both down to the 900 watt setting. Nice thing about these heaters- no noisy fans to listen to, just nice quiet radiant heat. An electric mattress pad is the final piece to the puzzle of how to stay comfy on cold nights! Just remember to run your furnace to protect your water bays when the temp is going to dip below 20.

[ctcamper]

I use two of the 1100 models from Pelonis:


http://www.pelonis.com/discfurn.htm

Once it's warmed up with furnace or by driving with the engine/dash heater on, they keep it warm. They use a little less energy and put out enough heat to keep things at a stable temp.