Heater Question

[WilliamsFamily]

Ok, the next question I have for you guys is about the heat unit.  I understand I can get either a furnace or a heat unit installed in the AC unit (or both).  What are the advantages / disadvantages of these options?

The one used unit I looked at already had an AC unit installed, but the dealer mentioned that it wouldn

[AustinBoston]

Ok, the next question I have for you guys is about the heat unit.  I understand I can get either a furnace or a heat unit installed in the AC unit (or both).  What are the advantages / disadvantages of these options?

The one used unit I looked at already had an AC unit installed, but the dealer mentioned that it wouldn

[wavery]

Ok, the next question I have for you guys is about the heat unit.  I understand I can get either a furnace or a heat unit installed in the AC unit (or both).  What are the advantages / disadvantages of these options?

The one used unit I looked at already had an AC unit installed, but the dealer mentioned that it wouldn

[dthurk]

There are probably as many solutions as there are campers.  We use a small Pelonis electric heater.  We've been camping with temps in the 30's and had the camper in the mid-seventies with this one heater.  I added an extra 20 amp circuit that can be direct connected to the campground outlets to be able to add a second heater if needed.
 
We've not tried dry camping to date.  If we did, I might consider using a Mr. Buddy Heater, but not without doing A LOT of research on it.  There's some amount of controversy surrounding using one of these in a camper.  Propane only, though, wouldn't use up any precious battery power when dry camping.

[batsignal2]

Our past pop-up had a furnace, the one we have now I just had a heat strip installed within the AC unit.  Again, I agree with Austin about noise, etc. but it did a great job keeping the pop-up warm (when it worked properly).

We found we do most of our camping within campsites that have hook-ups.  The heat within the AC unit is very good at taking the chill and dampness out of the air, but it will not warm up the camper during extreme conditions.  We camp early Spring through Late Fall.  We take another portable electric heater and cord to run it directly to the electrical box at the campsite if necessary.  This past year, we used the spare heater one time and it was more just to make sure our one year old was warm enough, not for the rest of us.  The heat strip has worked great for us, in fact we hardly ever turn it up all the way.  I had the strip installed when I did the AC unit and it cost an extra $80 (including installation).

If I was going to choose which I like the best, it would be the heat strip option but mainly because of ease and camping in areas with hook-ups.  If I did not have hook ups as much, I would probably lean the other way.

[wavery]

There are probably as many solutions as there are campers.  We use a small Pelonis electric heater.  We've been camping with temps in the 30's and had the camper in the mid-seventies with this one heater.  I added an extra 20 amp circuit that can be direct connected to the campground outlets to be able to add a second heater if needed.
 
We've not tried dry camping to date.  If we did, I might consider using a Mr. Buddy Heater, but not without doing A LOT of research on it.  There's some amount of controversy surrounding using one of these in a camper.  Propane only, though, wouldn't use up any precious battery power when dry camping.

My brother has one of those Mr. Heater Buddy:
http://store.yahoo.com/cspoutdoors/mrheatporbud.html

He has a 28' TT and it doesn't do the job in anything lower than 40 degree weather. It doesn't put out a lot of heat. He offered it to me and I declined. I think that he sold it on eBay.

The PU is much harder to heat than a TT for obvious reasons. You might want to find someone that has one and check it out.

[Kelly]

Our past pop-up had a furnace, the one we have now I just had a heat strip installed within the AC unit. Again, I agree with Austin about noise, etc. but it did a great job keeping the pop-up warm (when it worked properly).

We found we do most of our camping within campsites that have hook-ups. The heat within the AC unit is very good at taking the chill and dampness out of the air, but it will not warm up the camper during extreme conditions.

 
My Jayco actually has both.  Previous PU had a furnace.  We don't camp much later than early October and have found the furnace to work quite well at keeping us all warm.  The downside for us is its location ... right across from the dinette that DS sleeps on (and next to my bed   ) which makes it way down at the end of the PU from the bunk the girls sleep on.  When we go late in the season I bring the electric blanket, set it real low and put their sleeping bags on top.  They stay nice and toasty.  It doesn't wak me up when it cycles on and the kids have never complained.  (It does wake me up if it seems to go a long time between cycles!)

If you don't set your thermostat too high you should be okay with propane.  I used ours at the end of last season without refilling the tanks (2) that I'd used all summer.  Ran it both nights around 65 and still had propane left over.

I haven't used the heat strip cuz everything I heard was what batsignal2 just said ~ good for taking the chill and dampness out of the air, not so good at heating.  I like heat!

Let us know what you decide.

[dthurk]

My brother has one of those Mr. Heater Buddy:
http://store.yahoo.com/cspoutdoors/mrheatporbud.html
 
He has a 28' TT and it doesn't do the job in anything lower than 40 degree weather. It doesn't put out a lot of heat. He offered it to me and I declined. I think that he sold it on eBay.
 
The PU is much harder to heat than a TT for obvious reasons. You might want to find someone that has one and check it out.

I've never used one of these, but BTU's seem to be adequate for what we've done in the past.  A 1500 watt electric heater is rated at about 5500 BTU's.  We've found it adequately heats the camper down into the upper 30's.  Mr. Buddy is rated at 4,000 and 9,000 BTU's.  If we've been OK with 5500,  9000 should be more than enough to handle the job.  On the other hand, they don't seem to use much propane.  Could it be the BTU ratings are inflated?

[wavery]

I've never used one of these, but BTU's seem to be adequate for what we've done in the past.  A 1500 watt electric heater is rated at about 5500 BTU's.  We've found it adequately heats the camper down into the upper 30's.  Mr. Buddy is rated at 4,000 and 9,000 BTU's.  If we've been OK with 5500,  9000 should be more than enough to handle the job.  On the other hand, they don't seem to use much propane.  Could it be the BTU ratings are inflated?

Not sure about the rating but I know that my brother is happy with his little 1500W eclectic heater also. He can run that off of the generator but has to run the propane guzzling furnace, at night, when he dry camps (which is 90% of the time). He is always complaining about the amount of propane that he uses so his wife bought him the Mr Buddy Heater. The difference may be the small fan in the electric heater which distributes the heat better. One might try using a small 12v fan in conjunction with Mr Buddy .

I just HATE being cold. I nearly froze to death (literally) in Antarctica    on my boat and now when I wake up and it's cold, I panic. Come to think of it, maybe I'm not the right one to comment on heaters :p .

[ScoobyDoo]

The first nite we spint in our PUP was COLD! ( Chirstmas eve, '04) I don't know what the temp was but when we were sitting up I poured some coffee in the sink, remembered to take the cap off gray water drain and it was frozen. We sat a 1500 watt heater on the fridge,on high.I had a little buddy, on pilot, setting where I could reach it from bed.(We didn't sleep in the bunkend) Had another propane heater setting,off, where it would shine on the PP. This year I left the Buddy in the in the truck and used 3 1500 watt heaters scattered around the trailer. Any time me or DW got cold we would turn on the nearest heater. If the wind isn't blowing it is not hard to stay warm.

[tlhdoc]

I understand I can get either a furnace or a heat unit installed in the AC unit (or both). What are the advantages / disadvantages of these options?
 
The one used unit I looked at already had an AC unit installed, but the dealer mentioned that it wouldn

[dthurk]

I have a furnace and a Carrier Air V with the heating element.  I use the AC heat much more than I do the furnace.  I am comfortable down into the 30s with just the Carrier AC running on heat.  I also use a portable Buddy heater and a ceramic cube heater depending on where we are camping and how cold it gets.  I hope this helps.

Wow, tlhdoc, you've got EVERYTHING! :theking:

[tlhdoc]

Wow, tlhdoc, you've got EVERYTHING! :theking:

Well not everything, but with years of camping our style has slowly evolved and we have acquired a variety of equipment.