So made a trip to Stoddard over the weekend. It got pretty cold overnight. The catalytic heaters I got didn't stay running, probably an oxygen depletion problem :eek: . So I need to look at furnaces. Anyone got any knowledge, advice, sources, etc. I am going to upgrade the 12V in the trailer and I already have propane. I need some more storage so I am going to build a cabinet that I can put the furnace in. I have no idea how they mount or vent, or anything.

Thanks. :D

http://www.campersworld.com/product-view.php?product_id=3332:7196

You're talking a furnace like that right?

http://www.campersworld.com/product-view.php?product_id=3332:7196

You're talking a furnace like that right?


That kind. I am still looking for some explanation as to how much I need. From the picture it looks like it would mount on the floor with the vent thru the outside wall and ducting to the interior. This would work well for me. I'll need to get some fans to circulate the hot air from up top down, since the trailer is sooo tall. I am definately going to need more 12v power and some solar chargers. :D

Anyone installed one of these themselves? I wouldn't mind having it done, but I haven't been real impressed with most of the RV places I have had work at, plus I need to build a cabinet for this to fit in.

I have a truck camper that I picked up this summer and I have been working on the furnace for the past week getting ready for deer hunting and there really isn't much to it. Mine is installed in a cabinet and it is basically a self contained unit. It consists of a tin box with an intake/exhaust vent out the side of the camper - a propane feed, 12v feed and wall mounted thermostat. Mine is amost 20 years old and I have been able to buy parts for it from a local appliance parts house (for half as much as the RV places charged) and simple so there isn't a lot of electronics to go bad. It seems to work really well and it heats up my camper very quickly.

I have a truck camper that I picked up this summer and I have been working on the furnace for the past week getting ready for deer hunting and there really isn't much to it. Mine is installed in a cabinet and it is basically a self contained unit. It consists of a tin box with an intake/exhaust vent out the side of the camper - a propane feed, 12v feed and wall mounted thermostat. Mine is amost 20 years old and I have been able to buy parts for it from a local appliance parts house (for half as much as the RV places charged) and simple so there isn't a lot of electronics to go bad. It seems to work really well and it heats up my camper very quickly.


Good to know. Thanks :D

I put one of these in a trailer I had and it worked great although it was not as tall, no power needed, no noisy fans and no dead batteries in the morning
Olympian catalytic heater
http://www.baja.net/trailer4sale/heater_th.jpg

I put one of these in a trailer I had and it worked great although it was not as tall, no power needed, no noisy fans and no dead batteries in the morning
Olympian catalytic heater
http://www.baja.net/trailer4sale/heater_th.jpg


I picked up two catalytic heaters and they keep shutting off on me. I think they have some safety shutoff in them so I am a bit worried about wether I am going to kill myself or not. Until I build the dinette/bed area we are sleeping on an aerobed on the floor.

Its gonna take alot of battery power if you dont have anywhere to plug it in.

My two yellow tops survived a night of the furnace running nearly all night. I swear it ran for 45 minutes out of each hour during that 10 hour night.

The two big 6 volt batteries I have seem to handle it even better.

Worst case - you just fire the truck up to charge the batteries.

Well the currently electrical system is insufficient in my trailer. I am planning upgrades including solar planels to charge and maintain batteries, a medium sized invertor, and two big 6 volt batteries in the tongue. I am also looking into getting the factory dual alternator bracketry for the PSD and add a big alternator solely for the trailer.

In fact I am going to run by the local RV shop and check their prices on the big batteries. The kid left the light on in the bathroom and completely drained the single 12 V battery I have now and I don't think it is going to fully recover.

Anyone got a good local(Temecula/Murrieta area) source for 6 V batteries?

The height of that big old trailer can't be helping you... do you have any way to move the air vertically, so you don't wind up sleeping in the cold spot?

I recollect back to my folks' cottage -- the loft bunks were toasty and folks downstairs were always bitching about how cold it was!

Randii

Worst case - you just fire the truck up to charge the batteries.
Ill bet the others around you would just LOVE that

Provided you're in some sort of campground and u dont have a power hook up.

The height of that big old trailer can't be helping you... do you have any way to move the air vertically, so you don't wind up sleeping in the cold spot?

I recollect back to my folks' cottage -- the loft bunks were toasty and folks downstairs were always bitching about how cold it was!

Randii


In the back just above the ramp there are two batteries for the hoist and upstairs winch. I have been staring at those thinking i should be able to find some fans I could mount there that would circulate air from the upstairs forward around the ramp. This should help with the AC as well since I want to put that upstairs. I need to find some fans that don't draw a whole lot of current so I can run them off the batteries or inverter and not drain them completely. I shouldn't need a hole lot of airflow.

Ill bet the others around you would just LOVE that

Provided you're in some sort of campground and u dont have a power hook up.


Yeah especially when the Exhaust back pressure valve closes on my straight pipe PSD. That thing sounds like a Jet. :laughing:

If I had known the generator was going to be as loud as it is, and its jus annoying loud not obnoxious loud, I would have ponied up a bit more for a quiet Onan. Oh well.

Just find a quiet 3-5 HP honda motor and run an alternator off of it. Run it for and hour per night and you should be covered. That should be less than a gallon per night.

You can bolt a real muffler to it and then you will barely hear it.

Bringing this thread back up because I STILL do not have a furnace(which has made the wife very unhappy, especially when it got down to 20 on the lakebed last year :eek:). I have the money budgeted to get this done, and I have a friend who will get me a good deal on pretty much anything I want.

So I need it to be big enough to easily keep my monster at say 55 all night when it is 20 or below outside. I am working on the insulation but unfortunately there is no affordable way to get above R6ish on a big section of the side walls(upstairs ramp clearance). The upstairs and lower section and roof will be R12+.

I want a ducted unit I can duct into the bathroom, the front and the rear. I would like it to be able to heat up from say freezing to comfortable in less than an hour, but I am also planning on just getting a big 120V heater to do this when I can. I am also going to be adding some fans up front to circulate the upstairs air down/up to help with the temperature "zones" in this thing.

So the big question is how big do I need? I have heard 5,000 BTU should be enough, but that does not make sense to me. Some have said their haulers work great with 15,000 BTU units others have said I need at LEAST 30,000 BTU.

Anyone have any real advice from experience or based on proper calculations? Electronics I can figure out, I am just not that familiar with heat transfer calculations, especially thermal lost and R-values. :D

Thanks guys, ready to order, just want to make sure I get the right unit. :D

What size is your cat heat? I have an Olympian 6100 with little/no insulation and I always run it on low with all windows and both roof vents cracked and that is with outside temps to +10f. Medium or high will bake you the f out regardless of outside temp. Even with it on low I regulate temps by opening windows/vents farther. If I could do it again I would use a much much smaller cat heater.

Cat heaters are over 99% efficient so they really heat the space much better than the vented furnaces, but they require you to crack several high and low windows/vents or the oxygen sensors will shut them down. Comparing an xxx BTU cat heat to an xxx BTU ducted furnace is not apples to apples. I have never had my 6100 shut down on low oxygen. The heater needs something like 1 square inch of fresh air for every 1000 btu so 6-7 square inches for the 6100. Just cracking each window and vent 1/2 inch is way more than 6 square inches total.

For me the 30,000btu you were recommended seems way excessive. I don't know how big your hauler is, maybe it is huge, but 30,000 btu will suck a 20 pound propane cylinder from full to empty in 12 hours. I have a big propane patio heater that is only 40,000 btu and it is like standing next to a campfire. If it is a vented furnace then figure at least 1/3-1/2 of those BTU's are going right out the chimney without heating the space. With cat heat you keep over 99.9% of your BTU's in the rig.

If it were me I would figure out what was wrong with your current cat heat before you tear it all out and replace it all. Cat heat works well.

What size is your cat heat? I have an Olympian 6100 with little/no insulation and I always run it on low with all windows and both roof vents cracked and that is with outside temps to +10f. Medium or high will bake you the f out regardless of outside temp. Even with it on low I regulate temps by opening windows/vents farther. If I could do it again I would use a much much smaller cat heater.

Cat heaters are over 99% efficient so they really heat the space much better than the vented furnaces, but they require you to crack several high and low windows/vents or the oxygen sensors will shut them down. Comparing an xxx BTU cat heat to an xxx BTU ducted furnace is not apples to apples. I have never had my 6100 shut down on low oxygen. The heater needs something like 1 square inch of fresh air for every 1000 btu so 6-7 square inches for the 6100. Just cracking each window and vent 1/2 inch is way more than 6 square inches total.

For me the 30,000btu you were recommended seems way excessive. I don't know how big your hauler is, maybe it is huge, but 30,000 btu will suck a 20 pound propane cylinder from full to empty in 12 hours. I have a big propane patio heater that is only 40,000 btu and it is like standing next to a campfire. If it is a vented furnace then figure at least 1/3-1/2 of those BTU's are going right out the chimney without heating the space. With cat heat you keep over 99.9% of your BTU's in the rig.

If it were me I would figure out what was wrong with your current cat heat before you tear it all out and replace it all. Cat heat works well.

I have two of the buddy heaters. I know about the efficiency of cat heaters. The problem with them is the don't heat the space. They heat surfaces. This has not worked well for us. My wife will be happier with a furnace.

I've looked at these platinum cats before and have heard really good things about them. Anyone have any experience with them? I have a spot that I could put one, just not entirely sure if it would work the way I want it to.

http://ventedcatheater.com/6.html

I really want even heat in the trailer, not sure that we would be happy with the radiant heat these cat heaters put out.

So I ended up picking up an SF-20 off craigslist for a good deal. I still need to get the right vent cap for it, but I started working on the cabinet to hold it.

The furnace will be on the bottom below the drawers. It will vent out the front of the cabinet, into the bathroom, and two vents to the rear on the side of the cabinet. The left side has a shelf and room for my stove, cast iron cookware, folding firepit, and more. Both drawers will be used for clothing and misc stuff. The top drawer has a divider, the bottom is wide open. Wife seems to not want her stuff mixed in with mine or the teenagers, understand on the last part. The top lifts us to access the storage in back, and the front door lets me access an area where I will put some plastic totes for things like toiletries.

I plan on finishing the front of the drawers and the side with white laminate, and stain/finish the rest. Some trim pieces will be added to clean it up a bit. Nothing fancy.

I need to build a fold up mount for a TV to fit on the side of the cabinet that will pivot so we can see the TV from the front or back of the trailer. I need to figure out how to latch the front door and drawers. I need to finish up the insulation and paneling and finally I need to locate one a folding dinette set, like the ones from Flexsteel. Should be a cool place to hang out once its done.