Furnace size? Hot water tank?

[station29]

Hello, I'm getting some things together to convert my 36' enclosed gooseneck trailer to a toy hauler. I'm not sure what size furnace I'll need to heat it. The entire trailer is open and won't have a walled off area for the toy's. Most of the camping is done in Colorado in the mountains from the spring until fall. I want a furnace that will heat the trailer and won't drive me crazy with fan noise.
I'm also in the market for a hot water tank. It will be two people in the trailer most of the time and the trailer will have propane and a generator if that helps.
Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Rainier70]

On the furnace size I don't know off hand. Is your trailer insulated? The way to get a ballpark idea is to figure out the cubic ft of the area and then get find out how many btu s are needed to heat that much space. For that big of an area, it's going to need a fan to move your heat around.

If you are going to be in the same room with toys like dirt bikes or ATVs, they do occasionally leak or vent gas fumes. If it was me, I would put a wall up or move them outside when camping. Just my opinion.

[Redneck Teepee]

Try this as a guide

http://www.calculator.net/btu-calculator.html

[MtnDon]

I'm also in the market for a hot water tank.

RV water heater; suburban or atwwod make 6 & 10 gallon models. Choose from pilot light or direct spark ignition.


Furnace... be aware they suck up electrical power for the blower. Insulation will cut down the run time and save battery power. I would not want to live/sleep in the same space as the motorized equipment myself. The wall idea sounds good to me.

[GerryS]

Before you go all water tanky, seriously look at tankless. I believe Atwood makes one that's conventional RVs but there are also a number of freestanding ones you are now seeing all over the place....perhaps you can do some external mount or make a hanger with quick releases like I was planning before I realized we don't need enough hot water to warrant the inconvenience...

[hankaye]

station29, Howdy;

I'm also in the market for a hot water tank.

RV water heater; suburban or atwwod make 6 & 10 gallon models. Choose from pilot light or direct spark ignition.


Furnace... be aware they suck up electrical power for the blower. Insulation will cut down the run time and save battery power. I would not want to live/sleep in the same space as the motorized equipment myself. The wall idea sounds good to me.

I'll add to what MtnDon said, I live in a 30' 5th wheel RV so a small amount of experience;

* Water heater, go with the direct spark, nothing worse than having the flame go out in the middle
of a shower. The wind has been known to blow out the pilot on occasion.

* Furnaces for your size (BTU's), generally have a outlet that pushes the heated air down into the
ducting which runs below the floor and up through registers. There are some that have vents on the
sides and an arrangement of tubes with small holes drilled into them may do the job ,,, just an idea.
Any way the RV type furnaces run strictly on 12 vdc you'll need so good batteries or a source of 120 vac
the run a battery charger.

hank

[bdosborn]

We have a 6 gallon Atwood RV water heater in our trailer and it's plenty big enough for my wife and I to each take a shower without running out of hot water. We take "navy" showers, meaning that you turn the water on, soap up, turn the water off, scrub down, turn it on to rinse, etc. It's scary how much water you can use during a shower, especially when you only have a 20 gallon fresh water tank. We fill the 5 gallon grey water tank up with two showers, even with the "navy" shower.

We have a pilot light water heater and I prefer that over the direct spark type. Yeah, the flame has blown out once or twice but it's not a big problem as the water stays hot for half a day or so without the pilot and it only takes 20 minutes for the water to get hot on the main burner. The standing pilot keeps the water plenty hot so the main burner never comes on except when you light it for the first time and it doesn't use hardly any propane. I think it actually uses less propane overall than a direct spark and it doesn't require any power.

We love the hot water heater, it was easily worth the hassle of installing it. I have an external hose connected to the water heater (kind of like the one shown below) that makes cleaning the DO a breeze and of course washing dishes inside is snap.



Bruce

[MtnDon]

We use a pilot type as I have found that once hot our normal hot water needs are provided for by just the pilot heat/ I fact I turn the control back to pilot only once warm. It also needs no electricity at all to operate.