Most Economical RV Heating ??

[offroad]

Veggie oil in a diesel is the cheapest. You can get it free. Sometimes.

 

[ganchan]

If I only needed 2-3 hours of warmth before bedtime, could I run a little electric heater off of a jumper pack, then recharge the jumper pack while driving the next day?

 

[LeeRevell]

Pretty fair sure you'd kill the jumper pack long before your two or three hours....... they have quite small batteries.

 

[ganchan]

Pretty fair sure you'd kill the jumper pack long before your two or three hours....... they have quite small batteries.

Dang. Somebody online mentioned that he was running a heater from a jumper pack, but I imagine it was one of the teeny hands-and-toes warmers. Would love to come up with a battery-based solution, though.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

You could run an electric blanket or heated seat cushion off a jumper pack... then recharge it.

 

[IGBT]

I measured an electric blanket power draw once and found it to be about 75 watts on high. It cycled on and off of course so was not 75 watts per hour.

Even if it didn't cycle, 75watts for 8 hours is easily done by a single deep cycle battery without dropping below 50% charge.

If you run it off of a small 90% efficient inverter, you will be drawing about 85 watts but the 10 watts of waste heat from the inverter doesn't go to waste as it is heating up your living space.

Figure realistically about 50 watts per hour with the cycling, or 400 watts over a 8 hour period. 400 watt hour. A 12V 125AH battery can give you 60AH without damage. 60AH at 12V is 720 watt hour.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

used a heated blanket while sleeping no prob. it does dip your battery quick but not as much as my fridge did.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Pretty sure I read on here about a heated seat cushion that used much less than a heated blanket. It would likely not be as warm as a heated blanket either. It was 12v though.

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0041...&dpID=41WBnesSNfL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

 

[jimindenver]

Electric heat is a hard thing to do on battery. Even my 8-D which weighs 160 lbs wont last long pushing a 200w heater and I have to tell you that 200w's isn't much heat. Maybe 7 hours but then it's all the way down and will require a good half a day or more recharge if you are using a plug in 10a charger. Actually it takes days for a full charge. I ran it down with a 100w bulb on a inverter, it took 14 hours to get to where it would rest at 12.1v. Then I put a 220w solar system on it for 5 brilliant hours of winter sun, I think it giggled. It needed 10 hours just to replace the 125 Ah taken and that doesn't account for tapering charge and losses.

Now that battery has 250 Ah. Your basic grp 24 has 75 Ah of which 37.5 Ah is usable. My grp 27 has 95 Ah, a grp 29 and 31 will go up to 110Ah and as always, half is usable. There isn't a lot of power in any of them. Also remember that at best, these figures are when the battery is new and fully charged. An older mistreated, under charged battery can have much less capacity.

Most of the time I hear people complain about a RV furnace sucking their battery dry is when they are new. They don't understand that the TV, incandescent lights, radio, phone charging and computer use all comes out of that little battery that came on the RV. I got lucky to get a grp 27, most get a grp 24. So even if they have a well charged new battery, they suck the life out of it and then expect it to run the furnace all night that they probably have set to 75 F.

I have also heard people say gee I put a trickle charger on it last night or it was plugged into the truck for at least a hour. There isn't enough power to keep the propane alarm from sounding off, much less run a furnace.

That's not to say that there aren't rigs that use more power but often it's a lack of understanding. We had seen so many horror stories about dead batteries and empty tanks that we barely used our furnace the first trip to the hills. We set it at 50 at night when it was in the 20's out and dressed warm during the day. Well the battery didn't die the first night, nor the second, in fact by the third day it was only down to 70%. Four years down the road we know the same battery will last the night and set the stat at 74* day and night. The battery will last a few days like that. ( at 10,000 ft, a unvented heater is a no no)

So understanding how much power you have, how to keep it charged up and how much power a device uses is really important. I see people using electric blankets and such, they have huge banks, solar and 3 stage converters. In other words, they are set up to do it properly.

 

[IGBT]

So understanding how much power you have, how to keep it charged up and how much power a device uses is really important. I see people using electric blankets and such, they have huge banks, solar and 3 stage converters. In other words, they are set up to do it properly.

Yes, that is us. We have four Lifeline group 31 12V AGM batteries rated at 125AH, 1100 watts of solar panels, a Midnite Classic 150 amp MPPT solar charger, and a 4kW Magnum inverter with built in 125 amp charger. We also carry 5 20 pound cylinders of propane and a Honda 2k generator lol. Boondock anyone?

 

[offroad]

Igbt - that's not boondock. You are a utility electric provider. Lol.

 

[jimindenver]

Yes, that is us. We have four Lifeline group 31 12V AGM batteries rated at 125AH, 1100 watts of solar panels, a Midnite Classic 150 amp MPPT solar charger, and a 4kW Magnum inverter with built in 125 amp charger. We also carry 5 20 pound cylinders of propane and a Honda 2k generator lol. Boondock anyone?

Nice!

I have no idea yet of what my finished system will be but I know I don't have the kind of room you have. We have run off of up to 720w of solar tracking, 345 Ah of battery, a 3000w PSW inverter, a 150w inverter and two 20 pound propane tanks. Even then we stop camping when it starts being below freezing day and night as the trailer isn't set up for it. We do have a brand new Champion 3500/4000 but so far it has been only exercised here at the house. I loath the day I need to rely on it and the crappy single stage converter in my trailer to charge the battery.

 

[Willy]

What people are forgetting here is that the older style RV furnaces used NO, let me repeat that, NO electricity. Often called a 'gravity feed' furnace, the valve body has a thin copper tube running from it to which is attached an elongated copper 'bulb'. This is what 'sense' the temperature and, being attached to a mechanical linkage (with a metal bellows) turns on/off the propane with pressure differentials caused by a change in temperature. Generally, these don't have a fan and work very well indeed. You can probably buy one at a wrecker for $50 or so. I use one that I've modified with a newer type valve body (12v and milli-amps of current). I've got 2 or 3 of the old style valve bodies kickin' around and might swap over. ..Willy.

 

[cdiggy]

Igbt - that's not boondock. You are a utility electric provider. Lol.

Rof,lmao!!!

 

[jimindenver]

What people are forgetting here is that the older style RV furnaces used NO, let me repeat that, NO electricity. Often called a 'gravity feed' furnace, the valve body has a thin copper tube running from it to which is attached an elongated copper 'bulb'. This is what 'sense' the temperature and, being attached to a mechanical linkage (with a metal bellows) turns on/off the propane with pressure differentials caused by a change in temperature. Generally, these don't have a fan and work very well indeed. You can probably buy one at a wrecker for $50 or so. I use one that I've modified with a newer type valve body (12v and milli-amps of current). I've got 2 or 3 of the old style valve bodies kickin' around and might swap over. ..Willy.

I remember these as a kid, too bad there isn't a modern version.

 

[Willy]

You might be surprised at how well those old units hold up. The one I have must be 30-40 yrs old.. and still doin' its thing. ..Willy.

 

[LucyImHome]

Willy, do you know roughly when they stopped making the gravity feed furnaces?

 

[Willy]

Willy, do you know roughly when they stopped making the gravity feed furnaces?

probably soon after they came out with the electric ones. people wanted 'forced air' heating like at home. Dickinson Marine makes them, but not thermostatically controlled, just hi/lo/off. Dickinson ..Willy.

 

[jimindenver]

If you could find one in good working order, they would be much better than the Buddy type heaters. IMHO

 

[Willy]

If you go to a wrecker that has a camper va from the 70's, chances are it'll have one in it. Also, a lot of slide-in campers had 'em. ..Willy.