Keeping TM in the 70's at 30 temp?

[BigCheesHead]

I'm about to purchase a new 2023 2720QB. I live in AZ and have a bit of a cryophobia (fear of the cold) and highly prefer my sleeping area to be in the 70s for comfort.

If I were to camp in places where it drops to 30's at night, would it be possible to keep the temps inside in the 70's with the builtin furnace? If not, can it be achieved by adding a heater body or an oil space heater?

[Bill]

Originally Posted by BigCheesHead

If I were to camp in places where it drops to 30's at night, would it be possible to keep the temps inside in the 70's with the builtin furnace?

Yes, with two caveats. First, the furnace blower is noisy. You may get tired of hearing it cycle on and off all night. Second, you really need to have a campsite where you can plug in to electric service. If you have the common Group 24 or Group 27 battery setup, and are planning on boondocking (no electric service), and you run the furnace all night, the TM battery will be dead before morning.

Can it be achieved by adding a heater body

I'm not sure what you are referring to, but if you have a 1500-watt electric heater plugged in, you will be fine.

or an oil space heater?

NO NO NO! You must never run a combustion heat source inside a closed RV. Combustion generates carbon monoxide gas, which is poisonous and will kill you! This goes for all forms of combustion, all fuels, and all heaters will warn you not to do this. That drama being covered, I will also point out that there is at least one propane catalytic heater that advertises it is safe to run indoors. I've never had the courage to try it, but many of our members say it works safely and well. Look for Big Buddy catalytic heater.

Bill

[Bill]

Separate issue. You mention temperatures that drop into the 30s. If temperatures drop below the 30's you have another problem - water lines may freeze.

Bill

[BigCheesHead]

Thank you Bill. Over the New Year week we've rented Cruise America 19 foot RV trailer and it did an amazing job keeping the interior at 75sh with temps in the upper 30's outside with a full hookup at KOA while using less than a gallon/night of propane. I was hoping to have a similar experience with the TM.

The #1 reason I want to go with a TM is due to gas savings. The Cruise America trailer which weighted ~3,200 pounds reduced mileage from 14 to 8 MPH (Jeep Gladiator 37 inch tires with 5 inch lift). I just want to make sure that I'm not sacrificing warmth over gas savings.

Yes, I do have the Big Buddy 18,000 BTU that I've been using while tent camping that I would reprovision for TM.

[commodor47]

Here is a link to a thread that will offer some insight to your question. Post #3 recalls our stay in Bisbee, AZ during a 100 year freeze.
https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...ghlight=bisbee
Dick

[BigCheesHead]

Originally Posted by commodor47

Here is a link to a thread that will offer some insight to your question. Post #3 recalls our stay in Bisbee, AZ during a 100 year freeze.
https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...ghlight=bisbee
Dick

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and your 69/4 temperature pic gave me the confidence to proceed forward with my purchase. Thank you!

[rich2468]

It's pretty easy to heat a TrailManor well into the 70 degree range with a single 1500 Watt electric heater (adding a fan or two for air movement) at 30 degrees outside temperature.

If you're staying at a KOA or other campground with electric power at the sites, you're paying for electricity whether you use it or not. I will not argue the safety aspects of a Mr. Heater Buddy, but will say that you're pretty much 100% safe from Carbon Monoxide poisoning when using an electric heater and one will certainly do the job under your use case.

I've camped under colder conditions in a larger TrailManor (2922KB) and only used the furnace when wanting to heat up the camper quickly following setup.

[larsdennert]

Originally Posted by Bill

NO NO NO! You must never run a combustion heat source inside a closed RV. Combustion generates carbon monoxide gas, which is poisonous and will kill you! This goes for all forms of combustion, all fuels, and all heaters will warn you not to do this. That drama being covered, I will also point out that there is at least one propane catalytic heater that advertises it is safe to run indoors. I've never had the courage to try it, but many of our members say it works safely and well. Look for Big Buddy catalytic heater.

Bill

Oil space heaters use electricity to heat the oil that circulates in the radiator. There is no combustion involved. They are great because there's also no glowing element exposed to create other fire hazards. Also PEX plumbing does a great job surviving freezing temps especially because most of it is inside the trailer.

[Kmikesell]

Wife and I spent a BRISK camping outing a year ago in Lava Hot Springs ID... Over night temps were in the low TEENS (It was very cold outside) all we used overnight was an electric heater (1500 watts, on shore power). Inside temps hovered around 65. We used the furnace to warm up the trailer before bed. That and the comforter we use kept us surprisingly warm all night. (Exempt when the propane detector kept going off and I had to go outside and shut off the propane tanks!)

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by BigCheesHead

I'm about to purchase a new 2023 2720QB. I live in AZ and have a bit of a cryophobia (fear of the cold) and highly prefer my sleeping area to be in the 70s for comfort.

If I were to camp in places where it drops to 30's at night, would it be possible to keep the temps inside in the 70's with the builtin furnace? If not, can it be achieved by adding a heater body or an oil space heater?

We have a "Mr Heater Buddy" (I think that's what you are referring to). Last year, we were camping in the mountains (Julian, CA) and it was between 15* and 30* all week. When we used Mr Buddy, it would get too warm at night (for us) and we ran the Mr Buddy heater with just the pilot light (which puts out heat) and kept the furnace @ 63* as a back-up. The furnace came on several times at night and woke us up. The next night we opened a window and the ceiling hatch and Mr buddy did great on the low setting. The furnace never came on and we weren't too warm.

If you run Mr Buddy on low and leave a hatch open, it should do a good job keeping your TM in the low 70's (with outside temp ~ 30*). I can't even imagine putting it on high. It puts out too much heat for an unregulated furnace in such a small area. If the wind is blowing and it's really cold, one may need the high setting because the TM is pretty drafty.