Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have been trying to find a good inexpensive heater for while we are sleeping..
Any ideas?
I dont want to die.. But i cant afford to buy a full out furnace...
5x8 6' ceiling.. window and skylight if that helps..

How about something like this... the cover is removed so you can see the candles...



Mike...

I'm going to get one of these at Camping World. Vornado Vortex Heater.
I would post a link but I don't know how to to all that fancy stuff.

Hazel

mikeschn wrote:

He said he didn't want to die.

Even when I was tent camping only, a ceramic heater has always been enough for me in such a small area. I think it'll be enough in the CTC too.

dog812 wrote:I have been trying to find a good inexpensive heater for while we are sleeping..
Any ideas?
I dont want to die.. But i cant afford to buy a full out furnace...
5x8 6' ceiling.. window and skylight if that helps..

Dog,

Where do you camp i.e., typically places with hook-ups or more like boondocking? I ask because it makes a difference in heater recommendations. If you have access to 110v AC electric a small electric heater will work wonders and can be left going all night. If no 110v AC electric then gas is the likely option but the "Will kill you thing" is for real.

The pics below show a small electric heater I found at a thrift/second hand store for something like $7. It is small but has a two speed fan and a built in thermostat and runs off of 110v AC. The trick is to find one with a fan built in to blow the warm air around. It is shown next to a 700 Watt small microwave oven for size comparison. It is tiny but puts out a lot of heat, more than enough to keep our 6x10 CT conversion toasty in temps down to 30 degrees outside (that's the coldest external temps we have camped in so far).

The 1st pic shows the front (business end) of the little heater where the heat comes out. The 2nd pic shows the back end where the controls are.

If your CT is insulated it doesn't take a lot to heat it, at least that is my experience.

What we do, if we don't have a 110v AC hook-up, is to go without heat through the night then get up, fire up the Honda EU2000i generator and turn the little electric heater on for an hour or two while we wake up, wash, prepare breakfast, etc. then shut it all down and go about our day hiking, bird watching, etc. When we get back to the CT in the evening we, again, fire up the generator and run the little heater for an hour or two then shut everything down and crawl under thick comforters to sleep for the night. Works for us.

Don

Here is what I use for heat in my trailer.....works great and wont kill you

If you have access to electric, a ceramic heater is all you need.

If you don't, then safe options start getting expensive. Like this for example. However, it's very safe.

http://www.ducktec.com/itm00026.htm

On the other hand, the unvented heaters can kill you.

Mike...

And those "expensive" forced-air propane furnaces start to look downright cheap when you look into the diesel heaters such as Espar or Webasto.

But if you'd rather not have propane, and a 110 hookup is unavailable..... they're golden.

step out of the camper and light the fire ring. You did bring your chemical logs didn't you??

I've got the 12k BTU Atwood Furnace linked above in my late '80s TT w/marginal Insulation. It's relatively quiet, and heats a 8' x 14' x 6.6' H space just fine while drawing the low Amps specified. 12k BTUs might be too much for your volume. Just an FYI; I know that's not your preferred solution here...

Both a pal and I have used 'Little Buddy' Heaters with integral Oxygen Sensors. Mine worked fine in an uninsulated, 'leaky' Tuff Shed @ 9,000' elevation. My same Heater shut off sometimes in his custom, 10' x 10' Shed w/small Loft at ~8,500' elevation; we insulated it very well. So, in this sample-of-one-Heater scenario, the Oxygen Sensor worked fine.

I'd be comfortable using a Catalytic Heater IF I came up with a fail safe, small Vent to let in a bit of Oxygen at Floor level.

See a thorough discussion here...

RV heater Discussion

I have a Camco Wave Heater. Fishing a flexible low pressure gas line thru a window from the propane bottle outside. With the windows and vent open sufficiently (so you won't die), works well to take the chill off.

With the small unit, it raises the temp about 25 degrees in my 1" insulated 6x14, Just enough for 3 season camping (down to ~30 or so).

Like everyone else said if you have hook ups a cermic or quartz heater works very well unless its very cold.. We camped in our 6x14 trailer with just a 1500 watt quartz heater with temps down in the teens. It knocked the chill off but never really got warm. Above 30f outside it would do pretty good. In the new larger trailer I just went with an RV furnace.. I got a good deal on ebay. was around 360 for a brand new 21,000 BTU furnace.. I love it and it only pulls a few amps when running. I'm looking forward to our winter trips this year! A plug in heater is limited to around 5500 BTUs because of the wattage. They pull around 1500 watts. To give you an idea of power usage my Honda 2000Ui generator is only rated for 1600watts.. So it takes the whole generator to run one small bathroom style heater.. If you can swing it gas is a MUCH better option for heat inless you always have hook ups. The other concern is what if you loose power in the middle of the night at the campground? I'll still carry my electric heater and take advantage of the campgrounds power when I have it, But I'm very glad I installed the furnace...
It really comes down to what kind of camping you do and how cold of weather we are talking about.

I ended up going with an Attwood 12k propane furnace. It is more than enough for my 7x16. I tried using a 1500 watt ceramic heater, and it would not heat up the trailer sufficient to work in it. I tried using a Big Buddy catalytic heater with the hose adapter to an external tank last winter while working on the partially insulated CT. In ~20 degree weather, I found that the Big Buddy on high ( approx 18K btu's) would run me out of the trailer in less than 30 minutes. I would turn it down to meduim (approx 9k btu's and it was still a litle too much, but I could open the door for a few minutes and cool it down some. On low (approx 4500 btu's) it was not quite enough to maintain the temp in the CT. That is why I chose the 12k Attwood. It is approx 9200 btu's of useable heat. That and its very low current draw was the deciding factor. The Big Buddy heaters have a pretty good reputation from what I could find on the internet. If you go that direction, I would highly recommend the remote tank set up. In your size CT, one of the Big Buddy heaters on low would probably me more than adequate to keep your CT toasty.

Anyway, I am more than happy with the Attwood 12k. If you have reliable electric power, I would seriously consider a ceramic heater. Otherwise, the Big Buddy would be my choice.

Mitch

In case a used Atwood that meets the Budget spec is used, I'll point out a few details.

1. They're everywhere. Parts are easy to find; they're easy to fix and keep running. They've been made 'the same' for a long time.

2. I like Thermostat-compatible Heating solutions. They save energy, and auto-adapt to Weather conditions if, say, Wind is pulling heat out of the Trailer suddenly in the wee hours. You can use fancy Setback Thermostats, too.

3. I retrofitted a PCB from 'Dinosaur Electronics' to one of my Atwoods. It tries to light the Furnace 3 times, and then times out and quits trying. This saves the Battery should you run out of Propane. Otherwise, the attempts to light continue nonstop [at least on the older Furnaces]. I had to mod mine because the Thermostat breaks the Ground connection; not the 'usual' +12 VDC side, as is convention now.

4. Heated Air gets pushed around by the Fan.

5. For what they do, they are incredibly compact.

We use 'Astrofoil', like 'Reflectix', under our bottom Sheet. Body Heat is retained. Trailer temp can be significantly lowered at night.

The dirty little 'not too secret' is that Little Buddy and Catalytic Heaters produce Water Vapor as a byproduct. So, Trailer humidity increases. Some folks sure don't like that side effect, and/or don't like dealing with it...