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Old 02-18-2013, 08:09 PM   #1
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Catalytic Safety Heater

I'm thinking of buying a catalytic heater for my Jayco 1206 and was wondering if anyone out there has used one in a tent trailer and how well it worked.

I rented a hard walled trailer once that had one in it and the heater worked surprisingly well. We were up at an altitude of 10,000 feet and I heard that the Mr. Buddy heater cant work at that altitude. The other plus for me is that it doesn't use the battery so battery power isn't as big an issue as opposed to using the forced air heater that came with the trailer.
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Old 02-18-2013, 08:57 PM   #2
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I have not used one, but I know people that do and they do work.
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Old 02-18-2013, 09:00 PM   #3
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We grew up using Coleman catalytic heaters in a tent and then popups, and survived just fine, but with what I know today I would not sleep with any unvented combustion source in a tent or trailer, you can get CO poisoning even in a tent. And of course there's always the fire danger. If you must, perhaps only use it until you go to bed, and then layer on the down comforters!
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Old 02-19-2013, 07:05 AM   #4
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I too grew up with the Coleman catalytic heaters in a tent. Back in the 50s-60s they were boss to have...
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Knowing what I know now as well as knowing a couple of camper friends that have had serious effects with Co poisoning I don't think I would do it again...

The only one I would even consider now is the vented WAVE 6 propane heater.
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Hopefully you can find cabinet space in the POPUP to accommodate something like this...

We do alot of camping off the power grid in our OFF-ROAD POPUP camper and the built-in propane furnace is just way too hot for us to use. The furnace drives us out of the trailer being so hot. It also uses the VERY LOUD DC fan which is also very power hungry. Ours draw 6-8 AMPS from the battery system.

We are considering changing to a HYDRONIC 6-gallon Hot Water Heater mod which a few others have done and worked out great for them... This mod to our hot water system would replace the propane fired furnace and the AQUA HOT 100/200 unit would be installed in the location of the removed furnace. The hot water doesn't take much propane to keep the water temp up and the 12VDC axial fans also operate with a big reduction in current drain as compared to the propane furnace fan. I'm looking at a 50% reduction in battery usage as far as making heat is concerned. The cost of this mod is probably going to be around $350... The AQUA HOT 100/200 heater and the hot water water pump being the high cost items. the Aqua Hot 100 is rated at 4000BTU and the 200 model using two AXIAL FANS is 6000BTU...



Roy Ken
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Old 02-19-2013, 07:19 AM   #5
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One recent mod to the POPUP trailer using the HYDRONIC Water heater mod looks like this in his POPUP.

He took out a drawer and mounted his heat exchanger in that locations... Looks great to me...





He actually spent a few weeks camping above 10,000 feet using this setup last year and it worked great. No issues at all keeping warm and toasty in his POPUP...

Roy Ken
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Old 02-19-2013, 11:58 AM   #6
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I have the big buddy heater and it worked well camping in the mountains in Canada last summer... wished I had had it when I had my tent trailer.
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Old 03-04-2013, 07:06 PM   #7
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Thanks for the help! I actually bought a Olympic wave 6 heater and have officially broken it in. I took the pop up to the high desert and camped for two nights. First night it was freezing in the high 20's low 30's. 6,000 btu's isn't enough btu's to heat the whole trailer under these conditions. So what I did was directed the heater at the bunk and sure enough it worked. kept me comfortable all night long without the power drain or the noise. Second night I used the forced air heater and yes it heated the whole trailer but ran almost all night long and drained the battery. Under less extreme temps I'm sure the wave 6 will be fine.
Never did the CO/propane alarm go off or the fire alarm. I'm happy with its performance.

Again thanks for all the info and suggestions.
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Old 03-08-2013, 09:23 PM   #8
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I wanted to do something like this before there was a commercial solution in my old trailer. Did some research and come close to doing, but then needs for a bigger trailer pop up (grand-kids) and now the bedroom is so far from the water heater I don't think it would work well.

Maybe if I could pump the hot water heated air into the ductwork, but that seems like a bit too much work

Like you, I love the idea, report back on how it works out if you move forward....

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Old 09-25-2017, 10:25 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyBraddy View Post
I too grew up with the Coleman catalytic heaters in a tent. Back in the 50s-60s they were boss to have...
Attachment 6514 Attachment 6515

Knowing what I know now as well as knowing a couple of camper friends that have had serious effects with Co poisoning I don't think I would do it again...

The only one I would even consider now is the vented WAVE 6 propane heater.
Attachment 6516 Attachment 6517

Hopefully you can find cabinet space in the POPUP to accommodate something like this...

We do alot of camping off the power grid in our OFF-ROAD POPUP camper and the built-in propane furnace is just way too hot for us to use. The furnace drives us out of the trailer being so hot. It also uses the VERY LOUD DC fan which is also very power hungry. Ours draw 6-8 AMPS from the battery system.

We are considering changing to a HYDRONIC 6-gallon Hot Water Heater mod which a few others have done and worked out great for them... This mod to our hot water system would replace the propane fired furnace and the AQUA HOT 100/200 unit would be installed in the location of the removed furnace. The hot water doesn't take much propane to keep the water temp up and the 12VDC axial fans also operate with a big reduction in current drain as compared to the propane furnace fan. I'm looking at a 50% reduction in battery usage as far as making heat is concerned. The cost of this mod is probably going to be around $350... The AQUA HOT 100/200 heater and the hot water water pump being the high cost items. the Aqua Hot 100 is rated at 4000BTU and the 200 model using two AXIAL FANS is 6000BTU...



Roy Ken

Can you tell me about the water pump and one way valve you show in the picture? What size pump do you need? Seems like you are probably creeping back up to 5-6amp draw.

Thanks,
Eric
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