RV Furnace or Space Heater?

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by dzwiss

Have you tried running your Mr. Heater off of the low pressure yet? How does it work?

Works great, it's supposed to be low pressure. The quick connect lines you buy for them to hook to grill tanks have regulators on them from factory. You either have to buy the one with no regulator (sometimes hard to find) or have one made.

I'm no propane expert but that leads me to believe there is a small regulator inside the heater where you screw in the small 1lb bottles or they are low pressure bottles like hiking stove bottles? The quick connect on the heater requires low pressure according to manual

[jloco]

Originally Posted by Screwby

I tied into my propane line behind my stove, added a quick connect hose and ran it to an access panel in my lower cabinet. Now I can run my Buddy off the onboard propane instead of constantly changing those little bottles.

If you're tying into the RV propane system for the 'Buddy', why not just set the thermostat and use the RV furnace when you need heat, day or night?
Is the buddy that much more efficient? I would think the RV furnace would provide better, more even heat throughout the coach. You're burning RV propane either way.

[bansai]

Originally Posted by 01tundra

We set our gas furnace to 50F and run our electric unit heater as primary heat to save on propane. Even when it's down into the mid 20's at night our furnace rarely every kicks on.

I bought our heater at Lowe's, it has a low setting of 750W and a high of 1,500W and a tip over safety switch, works great!

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-5-1...stat/999929400

X2

[Ed m]

Originally Posted by JonDirk

Newbie question here... I'm putting together a shopping list of must-have items (water pressure regulators, power monitors, etc..) and am wondering how many of you fine folk use only your rv furnace when plugged in at a campsite or do you use space heaters?

I'm not 100% clear on the rv furnace. Will it run off of electricity only or does it use propane, or perhaps both are required. Scratching my head on that one. I've noticed a lot of YouTube videos where people are boon docking (or even plugged in) and prefer to use space heaters (either electric or portable propane.)

And how effective are the heat pumps? They run solely off electric, right??

Any help or feedback on heating my rig and what I should order from Amazon for my essentials shopping list, would be of great help.

Thanks.

The furnace heats on gas and uses electric to operate the fan. Some ac units have a heat strip which you can run instead of the furnace to provide heat. Mine dosent have a strip so i purchased a small ceramic cube heater that works great in the trailer during the winter.
I usually will set up and run the propane first to take the chill off quickly then turn the thermostat off. I then plug in the heater and let it work its magic.

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[Dustdevil]

We use the RV year-round here in Ca. So, heating is a useful tool. And we visit campgrounds with hookups as much as we boondock. We may do it a bit different than others, though. We like a very cool "house" overnight. So, when boondocking, we don't turn the RV furnace off at night, we just turn it down to 52-55. In colder weather, it comes on in the wee hours, but keeps it reasonable. No space heater, because that would require the generator when boondocking. We turn the heater up during the day when we are there, turn it off when we leave. We just spent last weekend boondocking in the desert, and daytime temps were in the 60s, while nighttime was around freezing. Worked like a champ. Furnace came on around 4am all three nights.

We just added the space heater for use with hookups, because we won't use up the propane for the furnace that way, and we don't need it really warm at night in there anyway. A little space heater goes a long way. Then in the morning, when we do want it warm, just turn on the furnace and turn off the space heater.

An earlier post warned that the underbelly area is not heated by the space heater. That's correct, and if you are concerned about freezing pipes etc, and your furnace DOES heat the underbelly, it's wise to leave that set well above freezing for that reason alone. I have just recently replaced some of the ducts on our Seneca, and I happen to know one of those ducts is specifically for the underbelly, and it works.

[SkiSmuggs]

Originally Posted by JonDirk

Is your space heater electric or propane (with the small 1 pound bottles)? I've been researching the Mr. Heater Big Buddy which can operate at 4,000 9,000 or 18,000 btu but not sure if I should go that route or an electric space heater.

I bought a Mr Buddy after a chilly night at a Walmart when it appeared my batteries weren't up for an all nighter.

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by jloco

If you're tying into the RV propane system for the 'Buddy', why not just set the thermostat and use the RV furnace when you need heat, day or night?
Is the buddy that much more efficient? I would think the RV furnace would provide better, more even heat throughout the coach. You're burning RV propane either way.

From what I've read the RV furnace is actually very inefficient, some say around 60%. The buddy heater draws no electricity unless you use the small built in fan to push the air around better. That tiny fan is sipping electricity compared to your big RV furnace and is much better at heating where you need it. If your talking a big 5th wheel or huge TT then maybe its a different story in effectiveness. If I was heating a bigger space I'd maybe run another fan to push air around more. Boondockers are very fond of Big Buddy heaters as they save tons of propane by not heating the whole trailer, just where you need it. Boondocking/Dry Camping is all about being super efficient with your resources and a big RV furnace drawing power and fuel to heat areas of the camper your not in at the time is counterproductive.
I also take comfort in having a backup heater just in case my furnace takes a crap in the middle of a trip.

[gypsmjim]

We never had electric before - just a gravity propane furnace that needed no power. Have also used a Mr Buddy to supplement when it got down in the single digits.

Now we have power and a conventional modern forced air RV furnace. Boy, what an improvement......LOL.

If you already have power to keep the battery charged, you need nothing other than your RV's furnace. If you don't have power, buy 2 Buddies (one for each end), crack a window, and you should be OK.

[starcraft69]

We use both our fireplace and RV furnace. I would say always carry a space heater just in case. If your going to be a weekend camper and not long trips I would say just use the RV furnace it is easy and made to do the job. If the little extra cost of propane will bust you I would say RVing may not be for you. With that said go out try both and have fun dont sweat the little things

[01tundra]

Originally Posted by starcraft69

If the little extra cost of propane will bust you I would say RVing may not be for you.

For some of us with a single 20# bottle it's not about cost, it's more about why not use an electric heater to avoid having to go get the tank filled as often. Especially when staying in a CG where you're already paying for electricity .

[gypsmjim]

We have a 20 pounder on the tongue and 3 spares. We always have heat. I don't find electric heat all that comfortable. The forced air RV furnace is awesome - just like home.