2008 8.5x18 Full timer project -> begin!

[Rainier70]

Nice table for those "warm" winter evenings!

Good that you got a lot with electricity. That makes the heater problem easy.

[Chilly Willy]

Nice table for those "warm" winter evenings!

Good that you got a lot with electricity. That makes the heater problem easy.

Actually it worked out real well... discovered last ight that my generator isnt designed for below minus 15.... conked out when we hit minus 22 around 8pm.... sure enough the -15 threshold is in the manual. Not on the box though. Why they put crap like that up for sale in alberta is beyond me.

Last night was my first 'heated' evenning in the trailer, and the little 1500 watt space heater took it from minus 22 ambient around 8pm to comfortable (for me) by 1am. Thats with the outside temp around -27, and still incomplete insulation. Also some crazy frost buildup where tbe fresh air exchanges.

[Chilly Willy]

Even the antifreeze in the gas station windshield wash containers froze.

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Chilly willy

I hope you don't have a Honda 2000 ? That would be OUCH !!!

I would think if it was running it would keep going unless something with the gas carberator ?
happened at -15 or so

Did you keep track of how much elec WATTS your using NOW & latter
It would be great to compare elec use with & without insulation
Especially at minus -40

Cheers Jerry

[Chilly Willy]

Chilly willy

I hope you don't have a Honda 2000 ? That would be OUCH !!!

I would think if it was running it would keep going unless something with the gas carberator ?
happened at -15 or so

Did you keep track of how much elec WATTS your using NOW & latter
It would be great to compare elec use with & without insulation
Especially at minus -40

Cheers Jerry

I'll get the generator details later... its in the cold room and i'm finally relaxing in my warm zone

I did actually check my watts sice the office here messed up and gave me an electric bill intended for the previous occupant. I turned the heater on at roughly 8pm last night, and checked my kwh at 11am today. Other than the heater i've had an led bulb turned on plus some minor drilling. Used 13 kilowatts. At 15 cents per kwh it costed me 2 dollars to heat this up. Right now its minus 22 outside and the heater on 1500 watt setting seems to be running 25 percent of the time to maintain a cozy temp... so roughly 6 cents per hour.

At minus 40 I couldnt say whether this 1 heater could keep up... as long as it keeps it over minus 10 me and the dogs can sleep comfortable... frost from breathing would be an issue. With no insulation 2 heaters going full time might make it livable if you dress warm... again frost would accumulate on any metal that sinks from the interior space to outdoors. From experience that frost would keep adding up to become a thick sheet of ice.

[Chilly Willy]

[Chilly Willy]

The hanger wires were wrapped around a self tapping metal screw, then lightenned between that screw and a washer when the screw was tightenned to the U-channel frame. Two wire ends then hung down, almost 2 feet per end.

Slid two insulation boards and the wallboard onto the wires using clamps to hold it all up.

Attatchment device was a 1 inch bolt, with a washer and a nut pre tightenned. Also another larger washer big enough to pass over the nut, plus a second nut sitting loose.

Held the bolt sideways against the roof and wrapped the wires between tbe nuts, and hand tightenned the loose nut as hard as possible to bind the wires. Then clipped off the excess wire.

Stood on my toes to push the ceiling insulation and wallboard up tight, giving me a bit of slack in the wire. Turned the bolt so the threaded end passed up into the wallboard hole.

Again stood on my toes to press the roof material up tight, and turned the bolt which in turn twisted the wires... untill enough resistance such that all the slack had been taken out.

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Chilly willy

EXCELENT IDEA .... With the ceiling bolts, let me think & I think I can have some improvements.

13kw over 15 hours that's a lot of elec juice, but since your walls arn't done I'm sure your numbers will come down

I'm getting about 225 watts at 100 cooling down to 70 - so that is a delta of 30 = 225 watts per hour

Now minus -40 heating to let's say 50 deg inside is a Delta of 90 so 3 x 225 watts should do the trick 675 watts per hour
But I'm counting 7 x 18 x 6' high , now when I only do the upper bed bunk area which is 6 x 6 x 3' I save over 50%
Using only a cheap curtain as a divider.

Also generally it takes more energy for cooling the same deg of Delta vs heating ?

Keep more data & we can compare

[Gonefishin]

Ottct: I dont think he's heating that much. His -40 is C. I think. So, heating is prob more like -40 to about 10 to 15C. maybe it doesn't affect your calculation anyway, but its over the top of me. Olny thing I know about the delta is thats where the river flows in.

[Prem]

Woodstove solves all such problems in one fell swoop.

[Chilly Willy]

Woodstove solves all such problems in one fell swoop.

Wood stove is ideal, even if its just the backup heat source. If we lose electric power here I'll freeze up quick. A lot of people running propane will too since units requiring a blower will shut off. Also with the labor shortages this province experiences sometimes the propane just doesnt get delivered.

It's too cold still to do much on my trailer, but once we warm up a bit I'm going to defrost that cold room
and remove the separating wall... insulate the whole thing and have a larger room. Now that my plan is to stay put rather than a mobile unit my priorities have shifted.

[astrotrailer]

My Atwood furnace draws 2 amps at 12 volts when the furnace is running. I have 225 amp-hours in a pair of T-105 batteries and 240 watts of solar connected to a Sunsaver MPPT solar charger. Even in the winter months I have plenty of solar charging capability to top of the batteries each day. I feel much safer sleeping with my heat exchanger propane furnace than I would with a wood stove in my trailer. My trailer is only 5x8 so I couldn't stay far enough back from the stove to not get burnt.

I use all the power for multi night astronomy imaging events in the warmer months. I run a couple of laptops and a pair of astronomy mounts and cameras from about 10PM until 4AM in the summers months. I also power an 12 volt Engel freezer to keep my food frozen and to make ice for the cooler.

[hankaye]

Chilly Willy, Howdy;

astrotrailer, is correct about the RV type propane heaters, they run off of 12vdc.
So if the power goes out you can still stay warm till the power comes back on or
run a genny to re-charge the batteries.

hank

[Hiflyer]

Or a marine stove. The dickinsons draw 0.2 amps at 12v

http://www.dickinsonmarine.com/propane.php

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Ottct: I dont think he's heating that much. His -40 is C. I think. So, heating is prob more like -40 to about 10 to 15C. maybe it doesn't affect your calculation anyway, but its over the top of me. Olny thing I know about the delta is thats where the river flows in.

I got some really bad news for you -40C. Happens to exactly equal -40F

And 15C is about 50 deg - so we are still at Delta 90F