Running 2 space heaters

[Riwright]

Space heaters pull a lot of current (mine pulls about 11 amps), you can only run one per circuit.

This normally means you can only run one space heater in the camper.

Some people run a second cord out to the power pole and into the 15A plug, but the place that I camp has 30A service only for a lot of spots.

The trailmanor has a 30 amp plug. The incoming power is split into two circuits. One circuit runs the air conditioner and the other circuit runs everything else.

As I was looking at the wiring diagram it occurred to me that you could make a small modification that would let you run two space heaters in the camper.

I plan to simply reroute the never-used outdoor plug to the same circuit as the air conditioner. I can run the plug for the second space heater through the flap and into the outside plug. As long as I don't run the air conditioner and the space heater at the same I'll be in good shape.

[Padgett]

Most space heaters also have a lower (typ 800W) setting. That is all I have needed in my RV down to freezing. Mine also has a fan inside so I place it low and position so air is circulating but not on me.

If you need more, why not use the propane furnace ? Is that an option ?

[Bill]

It should work quite well. And if you do try to run the air conditioner and a heater at the same time, the worst that will happen is that you will pop the breaker for the "air conditioner". HOWEVER, you should replace the unused outdoor outlet with a GFI outlet. At present, it is part of a GFI circuit; when you rewire it, it won't be.

Bill

[Riwright]

Thanks Bill, I hadn't thought of that.

The propane furnace wakes us up as it cycles on and off all night. Other than that, it's fine, puts out lots of heat.

[BTBlazer]

if you have a microwave outlet across the hall from bathroom it has its own 20amp breaker easy fix. micro 8 amps heater 11 amps or dont use at same time

[tgpmd1]

I posted this info a while back on how I keep the TM warm and use two space heaters.

"We have only camped a few times in the cold, but mid November in the low 30's was the coldest. We used air conditioning foam (gray from hardware store) under all the flaps. For the large flap up near the front, we used leftover pink foam cut out of two large pieces to insulate that area. It's hard and we cut to fit in the space. We a 1500W twin ceramic heaters we use for heat in the main area. I also have two 200W small space heaters we use for the bedroom areas. When taking a shower, the 200W is nice to heat up the bathroom. Remember that there will be quite a bit of condensation each day to deal with. Mostly in the windows. We haven't been braved a trip longer than 3 days in cold weather. We did not have hook ups, so didn't need to worry about a hose line freezing. Good luck!"

Since I posted this, we just upped the 1500W heater to this model http://costcocouple.com/bionaire-digital-ceramic-tower-heater/ which works even better than the twin heater we had before. We put on the counter above the fridge and let run all night long and it is programmable, oscillates and worked great. We still use the 200W in the bedroom on the TV shelf that came with our TM.

[moaboy]

Has anyone tried one of those canister dehumidifiers CW and other RV places sell? Would it be effective in the above situation?

[tentcamper]

We went camping for the first time with the TM a few weeks back. Each night it dropped into the low 40's. We only brought one 1500 w heater and it did great. It only ran about 20% of the time and keep the camper at a nice 70 degrees.

Base on its performance I would think one heater is good for us until about 30 degrees. When its going to drop below 30, we will bring our second heater and run it on the 800 W setting. We never had an issue running the two heater one on 1500W and the second on 800W, with our previous campers on a 15 amp breaker.

For dry camping we bring our 8K BTU wave heater, I still need to plum in a quick disconnect on the Low pressure line. With this camper and the performance of the 1500 w elec heater. I think the 8K BTU heater should be good to about 30 degrees before the furnace kicks in.

[rickst29]

For dry camping we bring our 8K BTU wave heater....
Don't forget: Catalytic heaters avoid creating as much CO as flame heaters, but they still consume lots of oxygen. You need ventilation from outside in order to use one safely!

[tentcamper]

Very true. You need to leave the vent open a 1/2 to 1 inch.

In theory cat heater don't create any CO or HC. They create CO2 and H2O. But if the oxygen get to low they create lots of CO.

[tentcamper]

But getting back to elec heaters. I'm going to look at the 120/20 amp source for the AC to tap into and add an outlet in the camper for the elect heater. I figure I will never run the AC and an electric heater at the same time. I will home run a line and put a 20 amp GFI plug on the end.

I believe the AC 120 is in the junction box that is below the camper just below the fridge.

[mecicon]

Two ceramic space heaters with adjustable temperature setting (smaller than a toaster) two different outlets; one pointed to the front, another to the rear. We set the propane to 65°F and it rarely comes on all the way down to 0°F.

The propane heater has way too much temperature variance (gets too hot, and allows it to get too cold) and is rather loud. We store them under the seat when not in use.

No fumes, no ventilation, no propane.

[tentcamper]

What we found to keep an even heat in the camper, was to put the heater on the front left burner of the stove. Pointed directly at the front corner of the bath.

It ended up with about 1/2 the air hitting the kitchen sink side of the bathroom wall and circulated back around the front half of the camper, and the other 1/2 of the air moves down the hall and around the rear bunk end since the stove top is about bunk height. Now we had to move it during daytime and just point it at the front.

We have only done it this way with outside temps down into the low 40's. But it seemed to keep the camper temps balanced.

[mecicon]

What we found to keep an even heat in the camper, was to put the heater on the front left burner of the stove. Pointed directly at the front corner of the bath.

It ended up with about 1/2 the air hitting the kitchen sink side of the bathroom wall and circulated back around the front half of the camper, and the other 1/2 of the air moves down the hall and around the rear bunk end since the stove top is about bunk height. Now we had to move it during daytime and just point it at the front.

We have only done it this way with outside temps down into the low 40's. But it seemed to keep the camper temps balanced.


Very ingenious for 40°. :cool: But at 0° it's a little different.

[funpilot]

Newbie question. I thought heat strips in the A/C would heat the inside of the TM...

[Riwright]

Not all units have the heat strip installed. Mine does not.

Looking at the specs it seems like the heat strip puts out about 5000 BTU, same as an ordinary 1500 watt space heater.

The main propane furnace is the "big heat." Mine is 17,500 BTU.

If the trailer is well buttoned up 5000 BTU gets me about 20 degrees difference between the outside temp. You mileage may vary.

By "button up" I mean.

Towels across all the flaps
A towel across the bottom area of the door
Curtains closed
Reflectix behind the curtains
Rolled fleece blankets along the three outside edges of the bed
Glad Press and Seal to seal off the roof vents

[Bill]

That heat strip is described by the air conditioner manufacturer as a "chill chaser", and the Owner's manual is clear that you cannot expect it to replace a furnace.

Bill

[moaboy]

Should be called the "warming strip" kinda like a plate warmer:)

[tentcamper]

I think the heat strip heating feels more cooler because of the larger air movement and it always moving air even when the demand has been met by the thermostat.

[volvofan]

I am wintering over in my 94 2720 (see post in general discussion forum on skirting for details and photos). I am running a 6/9/1500w oil-filled radiator plugged into the outlet near the range and a 6/1200w electric element with fan on the floor by the collapsed dinette table running off of an extension cord from the outside power hookup. Even without the skirting or the Thermozite on the windows (both of which I just installed this weekend), and without doing any extra insulating of the flaps, it gets downright toasty in here even with temps in the low 20s outside. With the Thermozite and the skirting, I am probably okay down to 0. If it gets colder, I replaced the AC unit with an AC/heat combo unit (LG LW7014HR) and used some excess Thermozite and skirting to block off the outside louvers. That AC unit is good for another 1260W, and if all else fails I can fire up the propane furnace.

Hope this helps!

Jon

[volvofan]

So it's mid-January now up here in the North Country, and we've had temps as low as -30 degrees F ambient, up to -45 with wind chill! On those ultra-cold nights, I am still running the oil-filled heater (moved to a shelf on the side of the wardrobe right inside the back bed area) and the fan heater, plus the heat unit in the AC. The fan heater is plugged into the campground on the service panel via an extension cord so it doesn't draw power through the trailer, which the ac/heat unit and the radiator both do (on separate circuits) with no problems. I run those two on their highest setting and the fan heater on the low setting or the plug gets hot. The fan heater sits on the dinette table. It all works like a charm, about 68 degrees in the main area, 73 or so in the back bed area. I am convinced that the thermozite on the windows, skirting around the outside, and 2" memory foam topper on the mattress in the back bed area make all the difference. There is so much snow on the roof that the door has some visible gaps to the outside... I turn on the bathroom exhaust fan so fresh air gets pulled in the gaps in the door, warmed, then pulled into the bathroom (warming it too) before being exhausted. Not a single drop of condensation, and haven't used propane once!

Still... spring can't come soon enough!

[funpilot]

I saw this thread before I ordered my TM. I had them install a new 20 AMP circuit so I can use it for heating. So, thanks for the insight. I promised them I would only use it when the A/C was not running. I also changed the faceplate to a red color.

[moaboy]

Volvofan, send us a pic of the TM? Although it might scare some of us down South...I did my time in Chicago in a VW Camper Van, so I do know what it is like to be cold...

[tentcamper]

I saw this thread before I ordered my TM. I had them install a new 20 AMP circuit so I can use it for heating. So, thanks for the insight. I promised them I would only use it when the A/C was not running. I also changed the faceplate to a red color.


Nice to have it added from the factory. I have that mod on my plate, but it's low on my current list. In the spring, after the first camping trip it will rise on the list.

[Padgett]

You didn't specify but suspect the two heaters on HIGH are pulling 1200-1500W and the small one 800W. Potentally that is 3800W or about 32A on 120VAC. That is more than the input line is rated and possibly only the cold weather keeping it in bounds.

Twere me I'd put an ammeter on the input cable (one of these (http://www.harborfreight.com/clamp-on-digital-multimeter-95683.html), a plug and socket from Home Depot or Lowes, and about a foot of #10-2 with ground makes a nice portable system)

[kempert]

I can run two 1500w heaters (on High) in my TM at the same time. I plug one in at the outlet near the upright cabinet next to the bed. I plug the other in near the furnace on the front slide. They do a good job until the temperature gets into the low 20s.

During a recent storm, we lost electricity and the furnace kept the bed end of the TM above 50 with the furnace set at 62. This was when the outside temperature was below 20 with constant winds of over 30 MPH. There were gusts in the 50 - 60 MPH range. Several nights ago it got down below 10 and the combo of the above heat sources kept the bed end of the TM at around 55 with the furnace set at 62.

[Padgett]

Just a note but the heater element for the Coleman Mach 3 roof AC is 1500W/5600BTU. With a nightime OAT of 45ish, it reached 76F inside and was going up when had to be throttled back.

Downside is that it moves a lot of air and is not very quiet (a much lower LOW fan speed would be nice)

[moaboy]

Kempert,
That is a lot of wind and cold!
Must have been pretty noisy with all that wind howling.
Not sure how well I'd sleep...but that is a good test.

[kempert]

The noise kept me from getting a good night's sleep. Sometimes the furnace kicking on will disturb my sleep but it ran for long stretches that night. My nose got cold so I slept with a stocking cap pulled down over it. Therefore, my ears were also covered.

[moaboy]

Well that is true, the colder it is, the longer it runs and does not cycle on and off as much. TM's are relatively well insulated but not really 4 season rv's.