Question on Heating

[Sparkz]

Now that the cooler weather has arrived in the Northeast I will need to run the heat at night. We will be camping at a location that doesn't have electricity available and doesn't allow generators to run at night.

Will my heat run with only 12 VDC and propane or is it only a/c powered? I assume it will run with battery only power, but I'd like to know beforehand.

Thanks in advance.

[Mopar_Earl]

It's 12v. As long as you have decent battery power, it will run over night.


Earl

[Jagiven]

The furnace electronics are 12 volt. The fan is a power hog. It can drain a single cheap battery down in a single day.

When boondocking without a o generator, we tend to manually rurn the furnace on and off. Usually turn it on at night and back off before bed. In the miffle of the nighr if we get up to go to the bathroom, and if it is cool, well turn it on for a few minutes., then back off. In the morning turn it on to warm up the tt. This is how we extend the battery life.

[RogerR]

Your furnace fan draws about 8 amps of 12 volt power every hour or actual run time. In addition to that your fridge, LP/CO monitor draw a small amount of power continuously. Lights, water pump, tv, USB chargers for phones, etc. will all draw power from your battery.

Based on that a simple group 24 battery may have 40 usable amps so that 8 amp draw while the fan is on will eat up the battery capacity if you can't recharge it.

Get a simple battery monitor to make sure you don't go below the safe minimum before harming your battery. 12$ on Amazon, plugs into the cig socket. Read up on battery care information -- https://www.rvtechmag.com/tech/22_batteries.php

Most people agree anything under 12.0 volts will damage the battery in the long run.

[RogerR]

[Isaacs]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

The furnace electronics are 12 volt. The fan is a power hog. It can drain a single cheap battery down in a single day.

When boondocking without a o generator, we tend to manually rurn the furnace on and off. Usually turn it on at night and back off before bed. In the miffle of the nighr if we get up to go to the bathroom, and if it is cool, well turn it on for a few minutes., then back off. In the morning turn it on to warm up the tt. This is how we extend the battery life.

X2--This is what we do. Get some good sleeping bags and stay cozy!

[CAG]

X3 on using it only before and after bedtime. We even follow that procedure with shore power. I am not fond of a furnace kicking on and off all night and waking me every 20 minutes.



If you are camping in freezing weather and have a heated underbelly you will need to set the thermostat to somewhere around 40-50 so that some warm air goes to the water lines/pump to keep them from freezing up.



Shortly after I purchased the toy hauler I went on a turkey hunt (Spring) at 7500 feet altitude. I had not had a chance to switch over to two 6-volt batteries so was running the one 12 volt that came with the unit. At 2AM I woke up to the furnace fan struggling and when I tried to start the generator the battery was flat. I was up at 2AM jumping the battery to get the genny going.



Moral of this story is a single 12 volt will die before morning.

[Old and soft]

Just unloaded my tent camper. Been boondocking at deer camp for 20 + years. 30 amp with all the options +15k btu furnace. Added the largest deep cycle battery off the shelf at napa. Furnace frequently ran for 9 hours straight. Hooked up my f250 to the battery with jumper cables for 3 hours every evening. Never ran out of juice for the furnace. Does empty a 20# tank in 2 nights tho. Usually stay for 7 or 8 nites. Have had highs in the upper 70's to a low of -8f one night. My boots froze to the floor that night. Hoping the furnace does not run as much in the new tt.