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Heat While Boondocking


Twotoes

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I know my heater runs on propane but requires electricity to run the thermostat and fans. Can I run my heater on 12v battery power or do I need 110v shore power or generator? I will be on the road in 2 weeks and stopping for a few nights at truck stops so I need to know if I can get heat while not hooked up to shore power. Thanks for your help.

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Our furnace uses 12 v power if we are not hooked up to shore power. It will work as long as the batteries are charged. We haven't tried for more than 1 night at a time and it would depend on how often it has to run on how long your batteries will last. We could then use our generator if needed to recharge the batteries and/or to run the furnace, as long as we have more than 1/4 tank of gasoline to run the generator.

Pat DeJong

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I know my heater runs on propane but requires electricity to run the thermostat and fans. Can I run my heater on 12v battery power or do I need 110v shore power or generator? I will be on the road in 2 weeks and stopping for a few nights at truck stops so I need to know if I can get heat while not hooked up to shore power. Thanks for your help.

What RV do you have? Most furnaces run on 12 volt.

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12V runs thermostat and fans but with factory batteries the best you could get would be two days and keep in mind that your fridg needs the 12 V to tell the propane when to kick in.. A catalytic heater is the best way to go for heat no electricity required.

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A small Mr Buddy worked for us although we didn't sleep with it on. Worked great as a fast warms up

Ron & Linda

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Be very very careful with catalytic heater in an enclosed space. As far as running the furnace on battery power it depends on how much battery you have. If you have about 216 amp-hour (typically at least two 6 volt batteries) available then you should have no problem getting through the night. Be sure to shut down all unnecessary items. Unplug wall chargers, unplug sat receivers (simply turning them off is not enough), and things like that.

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We also use a big buddy heater when boondocking. We also do not run it when sleeping for safety sake.

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We put a ventless bedroom size propane fireplace in our livingroom. 20 K is plenty big enough to heat the whole 40' MH. No fan needed by it is available. Hooked it up to the propane from the fridge. If it is freezing for more than a couple of days we turn the furnace that heat the basement.

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We also have a catalytic heater. It is very efficient and cost effective. Ours is a Wave 8 unit. Per the manufacturer's instruction, we open slightly both an upper and lower window to ventilate the trailer. We also make sure the CO detector is operational for safety. No battery required for an excellent heat source.

Warren & Sandy

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This is what we have been using for seven years. We connect it to a 20 lb tank with a hose out the front window. The hose requires having the window open which provides ventilation.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Kozy-World-KWP112-Vent-Free-Infrared/dp/B000KKO4PW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453431483&sr=8-1&keywords=kozy+world+heater

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Depending on the temperatures, you may need to run the heater to pump heat into your basement where your pipes and tanks are. As others have said, the heat is propane but the fans to move the air are 12V - and they can suck a surprising amount of juice out of your house batteries so understand what the load is.

 

I like propane catalytic (safely done) but wanted to make the point that it may not be pushing heat to protect some of your systems in extreme cold.

 

Good luck!

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We also have an Olympia 8. It has kept the main cabin of 34' fifth wheel in the 50's when outside temperature at night has gotten down to the teens. We like to sleep in the 40's/ We had the propane plumbed so that there is an outlet under the fridge and the heater is attached to the movable islande

 

Catalytic heaters emit only water and carbon dioxide. The danger is from depleting the oxygen in the cabin so the recommendation is that at least 3 square inches of window be left open. We leave windows cracked on both sides of main cabin plus windows in bedroom. The fatalities have occurred in small tightly bound tents and the deaths have been from anoxia (oxygen depleted).

 

You can heat the basement with the incandescent bulbs that most basements have. These are usually 30 W (we did not replace these with LED) and will keep the basement in 30's when outside temperature is in teens. We have about 9 kW-hrs of LFP and so have no problem running these with battery alone when boondocking

Reed and Elaine

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We also have an Olympia 8. It has kept the main cabin of 34' fifth wheel in the 50's when outside temperature at night has gotten down to the teens. We like to sleep in the 40's. We had the propane line to the refrigerator plumbed so that there is an outlet under the fridge. the heater is bolted to the movable island.

 

Catalytic heaters emit only water and carbon dioxide. The danger is from depleting the oxygen in the cabin so the recommendation is that at least 3 square inches of window be left open. We leave windows cracked on both sides of main cabin plus windows in bedroom. The fatalities have occurred in small tightly bound tents and the deaths have been from anoxia (oxygen depleted).

 

You can keep the basement in the 30s when night time temperatures are in the teens by leaving the incandescent lights on in the basement. We have around 9 kW-hrs of LFP so we can do this while boondocking.

Reed and Elaine

 

Reed and Elaine

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Reed, check your facts before stating the output of the combustion process.

 

Um.. did I miss something? :blink: Do you mean he failed to mention hydrocarbons? Not all combustion processes are created equal, and I don't mean to put words into Reeds mouth, but it's generally pretty well accepted in the layman's community that CO and moisture are generally the only ones mentioned as they are generally understood to be the most significant byproduct of interest when using a catalytic heater inside of an RV. (moisture leading to condensation issues and CO stifling da peoples ;)). Hydrocarbon emissions would certainly contribute in a very small part to hypoxia, but not anywhere near so much as having a campfire or barbecuing anywhere near your rig. :lol::D

 

I don't believe he was trying to educate everyone from an absolute scientific perspective. At least I did not take it that way.

 

If anyone is interested, here is a link to a report by the CPSC (Consumer Protection Safety Commission) entitled, "CO Emissions from a Portable Propane Catalytic Heater". (aka: "more information than you will ever want to know about catalytic heaters in a confined space")

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Read his post again, slowly. Thank you for an excellent link, and the use of the proper chemical symbol.

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