Bill & Lisa, VA
Thanks for the thoughts. You hit it on the head exactly. My best friend is gone but definitely not forgotten. I am now charting a new course through life without her help and friendship.
And Seniorsedona. I like your idea of the Mr Heater and it has been debated before. Although the efficiency is outstanding, one has condensation and oxygen usage to deal with.
Efficiency: It really bugs me to walk past the furnace outside and feel the immense amount of heat blowing out unused in the exhaust stream. It seems more than half the calories are dumped overboard. I don't think this is necessary, but maybe it is done to either a) make the furnace smaller or b) reduce condensation in the flue. Too bad. It leaves something to ponder.
Condensation: In Arizona, I would guess that normally, there is absolutely no condensation problem at all. So for all practical purposes, the furnace wouldn't be needed unless I want to quickly warm the TM up after coming "home". This would conserve battery, propane, and minimize condensation.
Oxygen: However, I do worry about the oxygen. Depleting that can be fatal and it would happen at night when I would not notice it. In my Coleman, I would notice getting 'light headed' if I ran the Coleman gas lantern and stood up. Apparently the CO concentrated near the cieling -- perhaps because of the heat of the lantern. A solution I am interested in is to install an oxygen sensor with alarm that could alert me to this condition. These are rather costly, require wiring, and one doesn't want it to fail or to be turned off or to have a depleted battery.... The solution I have heard for this is to leave a vent cracked somewhere. This can solve the oxygen problem, but it is quite subjective. Obviously, the TM is colder with the vent open and one will be wanting to minimize the size of the vent. One might also argue that the TM already has a lot of 'pneumonia holes' thru which ventilation air flows.
Has anyone experience with an Oxygen sensor to deal with this issue successfully?
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